About Linda Naiman

Creative foundations

In today’s world of uncertainty and disruption, creativity isn’t a luxury—it’s a lifeline. As a creative intelligence consultant, I help leaders and teams tap into the creativity, resilience, and innovation that turn challenges into opportunities. My work lives at the intersection of creativity, leadership, and innovation, where experimentation and reflection spark transformation.

This work is grounded not just in study and practice, but in lived experience. Early in my career as a design consultant, I faced a severe creative block that led me to study creativity as a process for generating ideas—something I was never taught during six years of study at art and design schools. What I did learn, however, was to be a multi-disciplinary problem-solver.

In 1995, I began pioneering arts-based learning for business, blending creative practice with organizational development to foster openness, experimentation, and transformation. I later co-authored Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling, and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork (Wiley, 2003), the first book of its kind to explore how the arts can drive creativity and collaboration in organizations.

Working with leaders and teams

In practice, I bring a whole-brain approach to creative intelligence—integrating analytical rigour with artistic insight, systemic awareness (the impact of innovation on people and the system), and practical action. Clients appreciate gaining a clear set of methods and tools to manage the creative process, improve collaboration, make better decisions, and strengthen innovation outcomes.

Life and inspiration

I hold a BFA from California College of the Arts and a certificate in graphic design from Emily Carr College of Art + Design. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, I work with clients internationally and serve as an ambassador and former board member of the Vancouver Biennale.

Outside of work, I feed my creativity by attending arts and cultural events and hiking the trails of Vancouver’s Coastal Mountains. In 2025, I celebrated a milestone birthday by walking the last120 km of the Camino de Santiago — in one week. It was a journey that reminded me how creativity and endurance often travel together, and how important it is to take time for renewal.

Guiding principles

I believe the purpose of business is not just to make a profit, but to improve the quality of life for people and the planet. My mission is to make life and work a work of art — and to help others bring that vision to fruition.

Books

• Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling, and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork, by Arthur B. VanGundy and Linda Naiman (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2003, republished by Booksurge 2007)

• The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, contributor, edited by Ian Ziskin (Routledge, 2022)

Articles

• Inc.com Columnist: Cultivating Creativity at Work (2016–2018)
• European Business Review “Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation”
• TD Magazine “Artful Training: Integrate Arts-Based Learning Activities into Your Next Program”

Featured in books:

• Artbased Approaches: A Practical Handbook to Creativity at Work, by Tatiana Chemi (Fokus Forlag).
• Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results by Lori L. Silverman (John Wiley & Sons)
• Artful Creation: Learning-Tales of Arts-in-Business by Lotte Darsø (Samfundslitteratur )

Selected media

• The Globe and Mail
• Fast Company
• Canadian Business Magazine
• The Vancouver Sun
• Inc. magazine

Testimonials