"Creativity has always been a selfless thing for me" (Sam Mensah-Bonsu bonus episode) - Daring Creativity

Summary5 min read

Daring Creativity Podcast — Bonus Episode Summary

Host: Radim Malinic
Guest: Sam Mensa-Bonsu (Creative Director & Experience Designer, Microsoft)
Date: April 3, 2026
Episode Theme:
"Creativity has always been a selfless thing for me" — Exploring how curiosity, generosity, and self-acceptance shaped Sam Mensa-Bonsu’s creative career, and the possibilities AI offers for creators.

Episode Overview

In this reflective bonus episode, host Radim Malinic shares four standout moments from his interview with Sam Mensa-Bonsu, a London-based creative director and experience designer at Microsoft. The episode dives into the value of standing out, the centrality of generosity in creativity, AI as an amplifier for ambition, and Sam's distinctive career pivots across diverse creative worlds. The conversation is an invitation to reconsider conformity, purpose, and the scale of your creative ambitions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Standing Out Over Fitting In

Sam reflects on early career pressures:
- Felt the need to blend in by dressing like others in corporate environments (e.g., suits at McKinsey)
- A boss's advice shifted his mindset:
  
  "You're not here to fit in, you're here to stand out purposefully. Your power and a company like this isn't how you stand out. Because at the time I used to come to work wearing like everyone else basically, and it felt good to wear a suit to work. It was like, that's not you and you don't need to do that. And your power is not in that." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [01:00]
Radim’s reflection:
- Sam’s journey underlines the real value is “holding your space”—not conforming for the sake of acceptance.
- The invited you, not a watered down version of you that tries to blend in.
  
  "There's about actually understanding that your difference is your value and that communicating that impact doesn't require conformity. Many creatives shrink themselves to fit the room they've worked so hard to get into. Whereas Sam's story is a reminder that room invited you, not a version of you that looks like everyone else." — Radim Malinic [01:58]

2. Creativity Rooted in Generosity

Sam’s design and creative philosophy:
- Creativity is a "circular system"—take inspiration and give back, triggering a domino effect of positive impact
  
  "Even from the beginning, my design philosophy, like my creative philosophy, has always been about homage, paying back, giving back, inspiring others. Because end of the day, it's an essence of free energy and free inspiration, essentially... I never really saw it like that until now, but absolutely, like, even from the get go, I've always been a case of giving back and an understanding that it's not for me to hold on to, it's for me to make things where I can give back." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [03:02]
Mentoring and inspiring others:
- Generosity is not something “earned” after success, it’s the engine powering progress from the start.
- Early actions (like tracing Dragon Ball Z printouts to inspire peers) revealed that giving back predated his professional career
  
  "That instinct never left. It shaped his movement, Youth worldwide, his mentoring work, his presence at Microsoft... Some just shows off that it's actually the engine that gets you there and it keeps you going once you arrive." — Radim Malinic [03:57]

3. AI as a Bridge to Bolder Creativity

AI’s promise:
- AI closes the gap between thought and creative action—making it easier to move from idea to execution, reducing paralysis and self-doubt
  
  "That's the main thing that I feel like AI has given us creatives is that bridging the gap of action, of thought and action, that gap being information and data. That's what we have now. We have that information now. That bridge of thinking and action has now been decreased or completely eradicated... and that in turn allows us to think bigger, to think about more things that we can do with it as well." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [04:49]
A non-hyped take on AI:
- Sam's perspective stems from experience—not hype—about where creators get “stuck”
- At Microsoft, his focus is on helping people “think bigger, move faster and use AI as a genuine creative partner rather than a shortcut”
  
  "And this take isn't that AI replaces the creativity, is that it finally gives the creative enough Runway to ask the questions that actually matter. It's a meaningful distinction and worth sitting with." — Radim Malinic [05:32]

4. Choosing Scale That Matches Ambition

From craft to reach:
- Sam discusses the shift from early wins (an influential poster) to realizing the potential of creating work that impacts millions (e.g., major apps at AKQA, Microsoft)
  
  "That's the reason why I also go back to that and say I can make it an influential poster, like an influence a few thousand people, or I can make an influential app, like an influence a billion people. And that that was what again made me realize, okay, eventually I'll get to the point where I am doing something along these lines designing for a co pilot." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [07:13]
Career pivots as creative recalibration:
- Movement from AKQA → McKinsey → Microsoft, with side stops at BFI and MTV, always chasing the place "where creativity could do the most"
- Sam’s story challenges listeners:
  
  "Am I playing at the scale my ambition actually deserves? Because not everyone needs to go to Microsoft, but everyone can ask themselves the question, is it something I can do?" — Radim Malinic [08:06]

Notable Quotes

"You're not here to fit in, you're here to stand out purposefully." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [01:00]
"Your difference is your value, and communicating that impact doesn't require conformity." — Radim Malinic [01:58]
"The goal is to always make something that aims to inspire the next person. That's like domino effects, essentially." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [03:02]
"AI... gives the creative enough Runway to ask the questions that actually matter." — Radim Malinic [05:32]
"I can make an influential poster... or I can make an influential app, like an influence a billion people." — Sam Mensa-Bonsu [07:13]
"Am I playing at the scale my ambition actually deserves?" — Radim Malinic [08:06]

Memorable Moments & Timestamps

Sam’s realisation on purpose and style: [01:00]
Generosity at the core of creative life: [03:02]
AI as a tool for action and scale: [04:49]
Reaching for greater impact and career pivots: [07:13]
Host’s challenge to listeners on ambition: [08:06]

This episode is an inspiring reminder that creativity flourishes when we embrace both our authenticity and our responsibility to others—while daring to match our ambition with the scale of our impact. Sam’s journey and reflections reveal that generosity is not an afterthought but a foundation, and that new tools like AI invite creatives to think and act bigger than ever before.

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Transcript9 lines

[00:01]
Host
Hey, welcome to another bonus episode of the Daring Creativity Podcast. As you can hear, my voice is just about being back to normal. And if you listen to the last week's episode, especially the bonus episode, I'm really sorry the seasonal cold got me, but I powered through anyway. I'm back to unpack some of the gems from this week's conversation, pulling out those moments that deserve a second look, and dig deeper at what makes them special. This week I was chatting to Sam Mensa Bontu, a London based creative director and experience designer at Microsoft. In our conversation, we explore what it meant to be building career on curiosity and generosity, how giving back became the foundation of everything Sam does, and why AI is our invitation to stop thinking small. The episode published a few days ago was titled Dare to Speak Every Creative Language and it features a beautiful snapshot of Sam's career to date. If you haven't checked out the full episode, let me share with you these four standout moments.
[01:00]
Sam Mensa Bontu
I had to learn these things and become so equipped and so believable and efficient in it that they believe that I've always been this way. But I hadn't. It's something that that was learned and taught essentially. So when I find myself in these rooms, one of my bosses at the time, he made me realize that you're not here to fit in, you're here to stand out purposefully. Your power and a company like this isn't how you stand out. Because at the time I used to come to work wearing like everyone else basically, and it felt good to wear a suit to work. It was like, that's not you and you don't need to do that. And your power is not in that. Your power has been able to be who you are, but still communicate value and impact the way you can to these other folks that wear suits and ties every day. And when I began to understand that, I felt a lot more comfortable in those rooms with the C suite leaders. Because end of the day all we're communicating is value and impact and you can have all the suits, all the fancy numbers, line jargon and elaboration.
[01:58]
Host
So Sam's career is a beautifully linear, non linear experience of different companies, consultancy companies. I don't know anybody else who used to work at McKinsey that is now a designer. And in Sam's case, he dressed for the career that he thought he had. And this, this moment is beautiful because he got told to stop wearing suits to blend in and instead of leaning into being different. I love this because is the word purposefully that is what matters. And as you know, potentially from my written work and for his podcast, I am very much the advocate of being the odd one out, standing out, like, holding your space where you need to be, because it's not about being contrarian or difficult. There's about actually understanding that your difference is your value and that communicating that impact doesn't require conformity. Many creatives shrink themselves to fit the room they've worked so hard to get into. Whereas Sam's story is a reminder that room invited you, not a version of you that looks like everyone else.
[03:03]
Sam Mensa Bontu
So even from the beginning, my design philosophy, like my creative philosophy, has always been about homage, paying back, giving back, inspiring others. Because end of the day, it's an essence of free energy and free inspiration, essentially. So we take it and we make things and we give it back to the world eventually. I don't know where it came from. That's a very good point to make. And I never really saw it like that until now, but absolutely, like, even from the get go, I've always been a case of giving back and an understanding that it's not for me to hold on to, it's for me to make things where I can give back. And the goal is to try and inspire others. I can show people I can give it out there if it does, amazing. But maybe sometimes it doesn't, and even those times, that's okay as well. But the goal is to always make something that aims to inspire the next person. That's like domino effects, essentially. Yeah.
[03:58]
Host
Some describes creativity as a kind of circular system. When you think about it, something in the universe gives freely and something we are obliged to return. What's beautiful here is that how early this showed up for Sam. I was really, really curious about it right from the start, thinking this is quite a responsible career. Because before Sam even had a career, before he had clients, he was already tracing Dragon Ball Z printout so he could hang something back. That instinct never left. It shaped his movement, Youth worldwide, his mentoring work, his presence at Microsoft. Some people think that generosity as something you earn the right to practice once you've made it. Some just shows off that it's actually the engine that gets you there and it keeps you going once you arrive.
[04:50]
Sam Mensa Bontu
And it may not always work, but at least now I'm on the road to making things, to producing things, making action. That's the main thing that I feel like AI has given us creatives is that bridging the gap of action, of thought and action, that gap being information and data. That's what we have now. We have that information now. That bridge of thinking and action has now been decreased or completely eradicated. Even now we can go straight from the thoughts, the AI to raw action, and therefore get creative ideas out faster and easier. And that in turn allows us to think bigger, to think about more things that we can do with it as well.
[05:33]
Host
The gap that used to be filled with doubt, delay and paralysis of not knowing where to start. What makes his perspective on AI so refreshing is that it doesn't come from hype. It comes from someone who spent years watching creativity get stuck between the idea and the execution. And you could argue that at Sam's role and Microsoft, the design experience is to help people think bigger, move faster and use AI as a genuine creative partner rather than a shortcut. And this take isn't that AI replaces the creativity, is that it finally gives the creative enough Runway to ask the questions that actually matter. It's a meaningful distinction and worth sitting with. I'm sure lots of people have a different view of on creativity versus AI and how much of the process should be aided. It made me laugh the other day seeing someone on LinkedIn complaining that Claude cut off their usage, like, oh, this is going to be, you know, this is going to be reset later on today. And they were complaining that for $20 a a month that they haven't got sort of an unlimited supply of sort of supported thinking. And I'm thinking is that how far we made it that we admit that we don't want to think, we admit that we want to help and we complain that we don't have enough of it because it wasn't that long ago where people were anti AI and now we complaining it's not fast enough or not strong enough or there's no bandwidth. So I think there is many different views. But I appreciate Sam's view on this because if you want something real quick, if you want to get that, you will get there. And the tools are here to use because they've been used by everybody else.
[07:13]
Sam Mensa Bontu
Like my first taste of that was an akqa. And that's the reason why I also go back to that and say I can make it an influential poster, like an influence of a few thousand people, or I can make an influential app, like an influence a billion people. And that that was what again made me realize, okay, eventually I'll get to the point where I am doing something along these lines designing for a co pilot. But, but now that we're here, yeah, it's a real challenge to actually fit those shoes and actually take it on. I can do it right? There's a lot of morality thinking as well. Is this the right thing to do is the right way to do it? And I think more than anything, I'm always just thinking about the user, what they need in the current moment in time, what makes their sort of experience as beneficial and useful as possible.
[08:07]
Host
The whole conversation with Sam was about many, many pivots. And those pivots are very much at the heart of Sam's career, in the moment when he stopped thinking about craft and started thinking about reach, realized those two are not mutually exclusive. When you think about it, it explains everything, seemingly unexpected moves. And if you haven't listened to Sam's conversation just yet, his story goes but he goes from Akqa to McKinsey, from McKinsey to Microsoft. There's internships at BFI, MTV. He's done really interesting run of micro pivots that got him to where he is today. And I think it's kind of the place where he's chasing the place where creativity could do the most. What really made me notice this moment and the Sam's story is that it challenges the question every creative person should ask themselves. Am I playing at the scale my ambition actually deserves? Because not everyone needs to go to Microsoft, but everyone can ask themselves the question, is it something I can do? Thank you for joining me on this bonus episode with Sam Ben Sabonso. I hope I can encourage you to listen to the full interview because it's full of generosity and humility and I'll see you in the next episode. If you enjoyed this episode and would like more accessible resources to help you discover your your daring creativity, you can pick up one of my books on themes of mindful creativity, creative business, branding, and graphic design. Every physical book purchase comes with a free digital bundle, including an ebook and audiobook to make the content accessible wherever you are and whatever you do. To get 10% off your order, visit novemberuniverse.co.uk and use the Code podcast. Have a look around and start living daringly.