An Interview with June’s MINIMAL Speaker: Lee LeFever

Lee LeFever is the founder of Common Craft and author of The Art of Explanation. Lee and Common Craft are known for explaining complex ideas in short, animated videos. Since 2007 Common Craft’s videos have been viewed over 30 million times and and today his mission is to help professionals become better explainers. We had him answer a few questions to get us amped up for his talk on June 13!

CMSEA: How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?

LL: To me creativity is defined by the idea of choice. We all have more choices than we realize and a big part of being creative is being intentional about the choices we make, whether it’s making art or building a career. At Common Craft, we try not to do things because we’re supposed-to or because of someone else’s expectations. Instead, we do them because we’ve made a conscious and personal choice. In the end, our own version of creativity comes down to these choices, large and small. 

CMSEA: Where do you find your best creative inspiration?

LL: Outside. Dog walks have produced many of our best ideas. Getting away from the screens and desks seems to get the juices flowing like nothing else. 

CMSEA: What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

LL: I would tell a young me that creativity isn’t a specific thing, but a way of thinking, of approaching the world. As a young person, I saw creativity as something that happened in art class. You went in, got creative, and left. Today I see that creativity is embedded in every part of life and can be the secret sauce that makes nearly everything better.  I would tell a young me that creativity is lens through which you view problems, opportunities, steps and more. 

CMSEA: Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings?

LL: Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal.

CMSEA: Us, too, Lee. Us, too.

CMSEA: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

LL: Probably getting blackout drunk with a Russian gangster on the trans-siberian railway in 2006. You can see him at the end of this video. 

CMSEA: What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)?

LL: Over the holidays I sat my parents down in front of a camera and did oral history interviews with them. Despite being known for video production, I had never done live action interviews in that way. I learned about lighting and sound, editing with Final Cut and how to piece together a couple of hours of footage into a story that captures their lives. I showed my whole family a rough cut last weekend and they loved it. This project was incredibly rewarding and I learned a ton about video, but also the history of my family.

Thanks again for joining us, Lee! There’s still room for you to join us for his talk, “Optimizing Happiness by ‘No’” and you can grab your tickets (or hop on the wait list) right here.