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Peeking into a typical kindergarten classroom, you’ll see a vibrant setting of creativity and collaboration. The colorful setting is messy, playful, and expressive as students smile with delight and their imaginations run free

It’s pretty obvious that orchids grow better in a lush greenhouse than they would in a dark, cold prison cell. We know that creativity and innovation have become the currency for success in our brutally competitive environment, yet we house our teams in windowless rooms with beige cubes and bad florescent lighting. In today’s ultra-competitive marketplace, fostering creativity and original thought is job #1 for leaders. Take a hard look around and make sure that you’re building a greenhouse instead of a prison cell.

If you’re playing for a group that’s looking forward to something slow and calming and you get on stage and play a wild and crazy, upbeat riff, nobody will dig it–even if it’s a well-crafted piece. If you drive the same way to work every day for a year, you’re bound to learn about–and avoid–the pothole on Main Street that you pass each time. If you’re playing a gig, you get paid when there’s butts in seats, so you can’t be shy in telling people about the upcoming show. There’s a way of playing safe, there’s a way of using tricks and there’s the way I like to play, which is dangerously, where you’re going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven’t created before.”

While daily interactions lack the formality of a job interview, isn’t our responsibility to perform just the same? After the audition, the ones that continue to view every performance a new audition for future possibilities are the ones that make history, while the ones that get caught in the daily grind are the ones whose careers eventually get ground up and spit out. Whatever your craft may be – from delivering keynote speeches to selling insurance – each time you take the proverbial stage should be a treasured moment to perform at your best. While we can’t prepare as many hours as we did for the big job interview, we must make sure we bring the same intensity and commitment to putting our best foot forward on a consistent basis.