Every magnet holds two opposing poles - the north and the south pole in one unifed whole. This is not odd. At some point, innovation and governance came to be seen as polar opposites. Create sense brings these two poles together into one magnet.

Strategy defines the north star and a magnet navigate towards it. Good governance, partnered with grounded innovation, ensures the organisation arrives at the destination.

Create sense builds bridges between the two poles of governance and innovation.

1. Governance is the ‘city gates’ of our institutions and organisations. It is the site for leaders to generate meaning, ethics and common rules for the whole. When this turns into a site of control and compliance, governance becomes too bureaucratic and constrains the organisation with reactive undercurrents.

   Good governance enables forward action, even in uncertain times.

   This practice will focus on the patterns of interaction of leaders and their environment - with a goal of increasing trust and participation in the practice of governance by all.

2. Innovation is the application of creative intelligence to improve the current situation. Innovation is not about abstract ideas - it is only innovation if it is anchored to concrete outcomes.

   To innovate, the creative intelligence of each person needs to encounter the resistance of the real world, and to do this with persistence. A deep dive into the practice of creatives who are at the top of their fields finds these two values operating over the course of their (often mountainous) journeys.

A magnet unashamedly brings two opposite poles together. Fusing these two practices will drive more meaningful participation in governance and to enable purposeful innovation to be realised across many different fields, sectors and silos.

A cornerstone orients the the construction process and the final building.

With experience in the fields of governance and innovation in regulatory, corporate and research sectors, create sense translates research into action across four cornerstones of practice, attention, embodied cognition and meaning-making.

These four cornerstones are grounded in research from the fields of embodied cognition, organisational theory and attention. We collaborate with practitioners across a range of sensorimotor fields that are tactile, creative practices that have shaped human culture for centuries. This makes the research translation something that is experienced rather than taught, and it serves as a memorable substrate for practical leadership action. It is also a highly cohesive and enjoyable experience that invites deep reflection in a new paradigm.

As we encounter the world around us we sense our environment (physical, social, psychological) and in our actions and reactions, we create our journey, one (stepping) stone at a time. Leadership, like stone, is ancient, weighty and builds up over time.

Founded by Cecilia Warren, create sense is a practice-led, research-based partner for organisations seeking to build a creative intelligence capability.

Cecilia was a long standing company director of a research translation company, and is currently the Deputy Chair of a research institute at the University of Sydney. An occasional lecturer in transdisciplinary innovation, Cecilia has a broad governance and innovation arc having worked in regulatory, corporate and research sectors. Cecilia formerly headed the research division of a major Australian & New Zealand ASX corporation and has served as a federal Cabinet ministerial adviser.

An affiliate of the Governance Institute of Australia (GIA), Cecilia holds a Master of Creative Intelligence and Strategic Innovation from the University of Technology, Sydney and a Bachelor of Science / Arts from the University of Sydney