The Orangeblowfish CEO Tells TEDx NYU Shanghai How Creativity, “Rizz”, and EQ Activate Leadership Success

Natalie Lowe, CEO and founding partner of award-winning, The Orangeblowfish inspired China’s future business leaders to embrace creativity as a guest speaker at TEDx NYU Shanghai. The Shanghai-headquartered creative agency boasts high-profile clients that include brands from the hospitality, retail, and corporate industries. Seasoned thought-leadership speaker Natalie was invited to give a TEDx Talk and take part in a panel discussion about “Unfolding Entrepreneurship” at the organisation’s 7th Annual Conference. The independently organised TEDx event was held on April 13, 2024 at New York University Shanghai. The theme of the day was “Unfolding Apex,” exploring how individuals choose their paths and follow them boldly.

Titled, “Leadership sucks…now what!?,” Natalie told the auditorium, mainly filled with future leaders, to look beyond their textbooks concepts of what real leadership means. To the business professionals in the audience, she suggested experience alone is not enough to deal with the lows and reach the peaks.

Natalie highlighted in her speech that leadership is an unfolding journey. Her advice was that you need to be competent at what you are doing to start with. Then, you need to channel your creativity by activating your charisma (a.k.a “rizz”) and your EQ. That way, you can find your individual style. To be a true leader, you must welcome real-world learning, put in the effort, and adopt a creative, more emotionally developed approach that fuels your “WHY”. You then need to put these qualities into action.

“Evolving creates momentum to keep going and it’s creativity that nourishes us as we reach new heights. It’s this creative ethos that runs through the DNA of The Orangeblowfish projects,” Natalie adds. Since the establishment of The Orangeblowfish in 2012, the agency has been instrumental in consulting local and international businesses on how to grow their brands in China. “Chinese consumers are well-educated, affluent, and world travelers. This makes them curious about brand truth: the vision and mission behind them, and crucially their brand heritage. To ensure authenticity, creativity is vital. It creates a narrative so that brands from within and outside China can resonate with these markets.”

TEDx NYU Shanghai President, Adriana Gimenez Romera believes that Natalie’s call for greater creativity in business is motivating for would-be leaders. “Natalie’s journey on how her creative apex unfolded to find a dynamic vision and how that impacts China’s corporate landscape is inspiring. Ideas about the future of business, brands, and the human beings who lead them is an exciting world. And in her TEDx Talk she gave us the touchpoints to guide us along the way.”

The Orangeblowfish brings together Natalie’s brand strategy skills and experience within creative industries with her co-founder’s visual, multi-media artistry. Their mission is to “bring brands alive” in unique and engaging ways.

During the panel discussion, following Natalie’s speech, she enthused to the TEDx audience about what a spectacularly creative community Shanghai is. However, she highlighted how creativity in business is not appreciated enough in the region. “Leadership needs to be fluid like water so that creativity can flow through it. In Asia, the focus is on math and business languages. In the workplace, creativity is right at the bottom, along with the Arts and communication. It is not a skill that is highly respected, encouraged, or understood. Creativity is about putting your own EQ spin on team dynamics.”

Check out The Orangeblowfish at the TEDx event here.