Creativity Isn’t the Point with LEGO's Mike Cass & Neurodevelopmental Biologist Dr. Michael Barresi
Listen to the Episode
If you’d like to hear the full conversation, you can listen on your preferred platform:
🎧 Apple Podcasts → Click Here
🎧 Spotify → Click Here
📺 YouTube → Click Here
Some of the best conversations aren’t planned.
For years, Mike Cass, Michael Barresi, and I have met for coffee almost every Friday. No agenda. No productivity goals. Just time to check in on life, work, parenting, and whatever questions happened to be sitting closest to the surface.
We call it the Friday Coffee Gang.
This episode was never meant to be part of the podcast. It started as a practice run — a way to test the format before bringing on guests.
But within minutes, it became obvious: this was the show.
Three friends thinking out loud. Interrupting each other. Laughing. And occasionally landing on something meaningful by accident.
“Creativity isn’t a personality trait.
It’s often just curiosity in motion.”
Creativity Wasn’t the Point
What surprised me most wasn’t how “creative” the conversation felt.
It was how often we talked about curiosity instead.
Mike pushed back on the idea of being creative at all, describing his work as the result of curiosity, communication, and connecting people. Michael talked about how art and science have always been intertwined for him — and how doubt and impostor syndrome still show up, even after years of experience.
That tension — between curiosity and self-doubt — became the thread that tied everything together.
Impostor Syndrome Doesn’t Graduate You Out
One of the most grounding parts of the conversation was how normal doubt still is.
Not early-career doubt. Not beginner doubt. Experienced, accomplished, still-questioning-yourself doubt.
Impostor syndrome doesn’t disappear with success. It just gets quieter — or more familiar.
The goal isn’t to eliminate it.
It’s to stop letting it drive.
“Impostor syndrome doesn’t go away with success. You just learn how to work through it.”
Play Is Still Fuel (Even as Adults)
Another theme that kept resurfacing was play.
Not play as procrastination. Play as movement. Play as exploration. Play as a way to get unstuck.
Running. Drawing. Building. Wandering. Stepping away long enough for your brain to reconnect dots you didn’t know were related.
Play doesn’t disappear when we grow up.
We just stop giving ourselves permission to use it.
Parenting Without a Formula
Parenting entered the conversation naturally — as it tends to do when you talk long enough.
Despite similar environments, all of our kids have taken very different paths. Engineering. Art. Performance. Science. Storytelling.
There was no formula.
Just space. Support. And a lot of trust.
Which might be the most honest answer we have.
The Through-Line
This episode stayed in the series because it captured something real.
Not a framework. Not a how-to. Not a definition of creativity.
Just a reminder that curiosity often matters more than labels — and that being kind to yourself is a creative act in its own right.
So I’ll leave you with this:
What if creativity isn’t something you are — but something that happens when you stay curious long enough?
Listen to the Episode
If you’d like to hear the full conversation, you can listen on your preferred platform:
🎧 Apple Podcasts → Click Here
🎧 Spotify → Click Here
📺 YouTube → Click Here
New episodes of This Podcast Needs a Name explore how creativity, curiosity, and play actually show up in real life — across different disciplines and perspectives.
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