Transcript
A (0:02)
Welcome back to Insights Unlocked. In this episode, I'm joined by Natalie Nixon, creative strategist, author and CEO of Figure 8 Thinking. We dive into our framework from her new book Move, Think, Rest and explore how rethinking productivity can lead to more creativity, better collaboration and stronger business results. We also talk about burnout, intuition, and even how AI can be a creative partner. Enjoy the show.
B (0:31)
Welcome to Insights Unlocked, an original podcast from User Testing where we bring you candid conversations and stories with the thinkers, doers and builders behind some of the most successful digital products and experiences in the world, from concept to execution.
A (0:51)
Welcome to the Insights Unlocked podcast. I'm Nathan Isaacs, Principal Content Marketing Manager at User Testing and our guest today is Natalie Nixon. Natalie is a creative strategist, award winning author and CEO of Figure 8 Thinking, where she helps global organizations transform how they innovate by blending wonder, rigor and human centered design. Welcome to the show, Natalie.
B (1:15)
Thank you, Nathan. It's great to be here.
A (1:18)
Natalie, you've become well known for helping leaders rethink creativity and productivity, especially with your new book, Move, Think and Rest, which I believe you were just telling me that it was selected as one of the best productivity books for the year. So congratulations for that.
B (1:37)
Yeah, the next Big Idea Club select is one of the 12 best productivity books of 2025. That's high praise. I was really thrilled to hear that.
A (1:47)
Yeah. And it's not the only praise your book has received. I mean you've a lot of, you know, just somebody needs to just type your name into a Google search and, and they'll see all the news articles about, about you and the book and, and kind of what you're talking about and what we'll be talking about today. For listeners who may be meeting you for the first time, can you give us a quick snapshot of your journey and what led you to the all this work?
B (2:10)
Yeah, the short of it is that I've done a lot of different things and I finally got to a crossroads in my life where I was able to merge and converge all of those varied interests and experiences. I have a background in cultural anthropology, I have a background in education, both I was a middle school English teacher in my 20s and also a university professor for 16 years. And I've worked in the fashion industry in as an entrepreneurial hat designer as well as in global sourcing for division of the limited brands. I actually started my current company, figure 8 thinking as a side hustle. While I was an academic, while I was a professor, I gave a TEDx Philadelphia talk in 2014, proclaiming that the future of work is jazz. And that talk catapulted me into getting invited into companies to help them build more improvisational ways of working. And I was doing so many of these engagements. John, my husband, said, babe, this is a thing, you should formalize it. So I did. I created Figure 8 thinking as a side hustle and woke up a year later and realized I'm actually having a lot of fun with my side hustle and decided to give it a try full time. Have not looked back. And what I do as a creativity strategist is I help leaders and organizations catalyze creativity's roi. Because in my experience and from my perspective, there's not a fuzzy dotted line between creativity and business results. There's a solid bolt line.
