Episode 4: Power to Make versus Creativity

In the fourth episode of The World of Liesbet,

I recorded my very first solo reflection.

After three interviews with guests who inspired me in many different ways,

I felt the need to explore a topic that keeps showing up in my own life and work:

the dynamic between power to make and creative energy.

For a long time,

I believed these two forces were opposites.

One is structured, linear and focused on execution.

The other is soft, intuitive and nonlinear.

One helps you plan.

The other helps you imagine.

One uses timelines, budgets and milestones.

The other reveals ideas you did not know were waiting for you.

Over the years,

I have come to see that both are essential if you want to be an agent of change.

Power to make is the energy that turns ideas into reality.

It is the force that allows us to deliver, to organise,

to move things forward in a structured way.

We need this energy when we want something to actually happen.

Creative energy is different.

It often arrives in quiet moments.

In colours,

images

or sensations.

It opens new ways of seeing.

It connects dots that seem unrelated.

It invites questions and possibilities you cannot fully plan in advance.

I see these two energies in myself all the time.

One of the clearest examples is my drawing practice.

I love working with colours and black lines,

especially in moments when my mind needs space.

I think in images first, long before I find the words.

During the Easter holidays of 2022,

I made a drawing about a woman who needed health care,

but her data was scattered across different sources.

At that moment, several networks were trying to organise access to health data,

but they were not talking to each other.

My drawing helped me understand the problem before I could verbalise it.

It was only later that this visual became the seed for concrete action:

• a landscaping exercise that mapped parallel initiatives,

• a position paper on the rise of data spaces,

• and a symposium that brought different actors together.

• and many more concrete activities...

This is the dance between creative energy and power to make.

One opened the insight.

The other brought it to life.

In the podcast episode,

I also shared one efficiency tip that helps me stay organised,

and one creativity tip that helps me reconnect to intuition.

I decided to explore only one of each to keep the episode focused and grounded.

The other tips will follow in future episodes.

Listen to the episode via this link.

Thank you for reading and for being part of this journey.

Change begins in small, intentional moments.

I hope this reflection invites you to explore your own balance between dreaming and making.