John and Simon explore the creative wisdom of music producer Rick Rubin and what it means to bring creativity into everyday work and life

What does it really mean to be creative? In this Inbetweener episode, The Occupational Philosophers explore the insights of legendary music producer Rick Rubin, whose work spans from the Beastie Boys to Adele. Drawing on his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, John and Simon unpack practical ways anyone can bring more creativity, curiosity and openness into their life and work.

In this episode, Simon and John chat about

• Why creativity is not a job title or output, but a way of being
• The artist as a vessel, and how great ideas often come from creating the space for them to arrive
• Detaching from outcomes and letting the creative process unfold
• Why constraints and rituals are powerful tools to spark creativity
• Why originality is overrated. Everything is a remix
• Sensitivity as a superpower. How tuning in helps you see what others miss

Along the way, they cover Sistine Chapel replicas, rugby league fandom, urban sketching, and how sensitivity and curiosity are deeply linked.

Links and references

• The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
• English Sistine Chapel Replica Goring
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

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www.occupationalphilosophers.com

Their day jobs

JOHN Bowland Consulting SIMON www.simonbanks.com.au SIMON SHOWREEL

In episode 107, The Occupational Philosophers chat with the highly curious Dr Jochen Schweitzer, a strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship researcher and education leader at UTS, Director of the Executive MBA, advisor, and author.

His research, teaching and consulting focus on issues of strategy, collaboration, entrepreneurship and innovation with a special interest in design thinking, emerging technologies and open innovation.

Jochen was a visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) School of Design Thinking at Potsdam University. Before joining the UTS Business School, he taught at the UTS schools of Design and Architecture and Macquarie University. Jochen is a passionate educator who has taught at universities in the UK, Japan, China, the US, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand and won numerous awards, too many to mention.

He was a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a production engineer at Volkswagen and a program manager at the Goethe Institute. Jochen is also the founder of U.lab, an interdisciplinary think tank and platform for innovation projects.

Apart from his academic pursuits, Jochen is an active member of the entrepreneurship community and has mentored and advised numerous startups.

Interesting titles from co-authored papers

• A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Strategy
• Herding cats to co-create cross-university courses in record time
• Avoid being the Turkey: How big data analytics changes the game of strategy in times of ambiguity and uncertainty

So a very interesting guest!!

In this episode, the Occupational Philosophers explore:

• The five key attributes for an entrepreneurial mindset and behaviours
• How entrepreneurialism comes from 'doing it'
• The importance of building your own startup
• How Stoicism is a key part of entrepreneurialism
• What 90% of startups that failed haven't found
• The challenge of implementing design and design thinking in organisations
• If you want to solve a problem, start with what pisses you off
• Failing that, ask “what do you desire and what makes you itch?”
• Find your tribe, find your network, maintain it
• Why boards need to embrace curiosity and look around the corner
• What is Design Thinking?

As always, there is a thought experiment to stretch the mind. In this episode, it's Ferret or Fantasy? The start-up world animal kingdom.

There are also some listener questions, which are always a treat.

The Occupational Philosophers hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as they did making it.

Jochen Links

• Linktree (all links): https://linktr.ee/jochenschweitzer
• UTS Academic Profile: https://profiles.uts.edu.au/jochen.schweitzer
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jochenschweitzer
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3aWHIb4AAAAJ
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jochen-Schweitzer
• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1807-6720
• Academia.edu: https://uts-academia.academia.edu/JochenSchweitzer
• Personal/Project Website: https://besyd.com

Say Hello

www.occupationalphilosophers.com

Their day jobs:

• JOHN: https://www.bowlandconsulting.com/
• SIMON: www.simonbanks.com.au
• SIMON SHOWREEL: https://youtu.be/YZQdJI6qGvg

Hello and welcome back to 2025! (Noting the irony that is is now April...)

The Occupational Philosophers have returned from walking the Earth, exploring the heavens and astral travelling beyond the stratosphere - metaphorically and literally. Feeling refreshed, joyous and 1.27% more wise, they are excited for the new season of the show.

This episode combines the loves of both John and Simon: Great questions and raucous dinner parties.

As it's a new season, John and Simon explored a bunch of new dinner party questions that move beyond the usual, "What do you do?" (SNORE....)

These include:

• Is there a habit or ritual in your day that feels somewhat sacred and you don’t like to miss?
• You're putting together a diverse team you would love to work with. Who might they be and why?
• What’s something you’ve recently started looking at differently?
• What’s a question you wish people asked you more often?
• When do you feel most intellectually alive?

It's a curious discussion to kick off a most curious new season for a show that's a lot about curiosity.

Simon and John hope you enjoy the show.

Say Hello

www.occupationalphilosophers.com

Their day jobs:

• JOHN: https://www.bowlandconsulting.com/
• SIMON: www.simonbanks.com.au
• SIMON SHOWREEL: https://youtu.be/YZQdJI6qGvg