When life calls upon you resilience turns every struggle into a joyful struggle.
Mo Dhaliwal speaks about the resilience in the context of the farmer’s protests in India.
About the speaker
Mo Dhaliwal is a tech entrepreneur, strategist, and visionary leader—organizing people into movements that promote inclusivity and shatter cross-cultural barriers.
Building on years of digital development and marketing experience, Mo founded the agile creative agency Skyrocket, where he serves as the Director of Strategy proving branding and digital strategies for clients like HP, Yahoo, and Disney. As a passionate arts and culture advocate, Mo founded the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration, and has gone on to play leading roles on the boards of Vancouver Opera, Alliance for Arts and Culture, Coastal Jazz, as well as a member of the PuSh Festival Leader’s Council and president of the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society. And as a champion for social justice, Mo is an outspoken speaker and advocate for anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion, and helped launch the Poetic Justice Foundation which challenges structures of oppression and discrimination through intersectional advocacy.
How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?
Creativity is the discipline of serendipity—of generating perspectives and creating connections between disparate ideas in novel ways. I apply it every time I set out to solve an interesting problem.
Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
It’s more of a how than a where for me. Ideas come up late at night, if I’m walking or running alone, or when I’m in conversation with others. I generate the creative energy by either creating lots of freedom and empty space to sit alone and see what arises. I also generate creative energy by inventing deadlines for myself and creating pressure to solve something.
What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Ideas are cheap and easy. No one is holding a gun to your head saying you have to execute them. Be more free and wild in the generation of ideas and don’t get attached too early.
Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
Malcolm X. There was a real urgency and power to his message and his methods. We need his brand of creativity today.
What’s the most recent thing you learned (big or small)?
Farsi! I’m loving learning the language. My reading and writing is faster than my Punjabi now. Unfortunately, I don’t have the comprehension to understand what I’m reading. There are so many aspects where you can see the DNA of our ancient, shared history in the language.
What keeps you awake at night?
Insomnia.
What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
Creativity or what is considered creative expression is too polished. Creativity doesn’t have an aesthetic. Creativity is tapping into an energy, a potential that we’re all capable of accessing.
Where was the last place you travelled?
Iran! Loved it. Saudi Arabia right before that. Interesting times in problematic nations.
What books made a difference in your life and why?
Sapiens. It helped me become more forgiving of humanity.
If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Probably procrastinate.
What is the one question we haven’t asked that you want to answer?
What is the meaning of life?
Favorite quotes from this talk
