About Creative Intelligence
Creative Intelligence began in 2015 by six-time Executive Creative Director John Crane as a transformational resource establishing bridges and improve collaboration for those working together in Commercial Creativity.
Through decades spent in creative environments, a community of practitioners became clearly identified. They were a group who found the endless spiral of miscommunication, failed interactions, and incongruous business practices both predictable and debilitating. Commercial Artists and their Business Partner counterparts - both innovative and curious - represented the leading edge of an enormous creative economy, although they constantly searched for ways to improve collaboration in the context of business performance. How was I so sure? Because I experienced it myself and was tasked to improve it.
With that in mind, I began Creative Intelligence formulating support for an inclusive Commercial Creativity community with two complementary approaches:
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Awareness Seminars - To cultivate creative intelligence by improving individual and collective awareness, perspective, and insight, helping practitioners establish bridges between people, ideas, and industries.
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Assessment & Analysis Consulting - To furnish organizations with actionable intelligence, grounded in strategy, data, branding, and marketing to help practitioners determine strengths, identify opportunities, and accelerate results. Consulting Services
The premise of Creative Intelligence is simple: equip individuals and organizations with the information they need to partner differently. The instrument for this clarity is expanded insight into the performance of their creative collaboration.
With support from a broad-based group of experts, and in the spirit of providing more than just intelligence, my hope is to build something closer to a professional community to expand the scope of what is possible. Using experiential learning, explorations continue to enhance both awareness and applied analysis to improve measurable outcomes.
My aim at Creative Intelligence is to serve as an essential foundation for Commercial Creativity professionals. To become a trusted resource that connects awareness, analysis, and creativity in ways that matter most to those working at the intersection of art and business.
John Crane
Director, Creative Intelligence
Meet the Director - John Crane
Raised by immigrant parents in Los Angeles, California, the youthful John Crane couldn't imagine a career in creativity. However, while directing a pioneer migration mural in the fifth grade, something was ignited. Originally motivated by a means of skipping class, this experience would set into motion a lifelong pursuit of creativity and creative collaboration.
Over the following decades, working on both coasts and internationally, a distinguished, award-winning career would ensue. Through creative leadership positions in agency, industry, and academic settings, (Graphic Services, Ingram Micro, Preferred Hotels, Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health, University of Massachusetts), success was always measured in business and artistic terms.
As a high-impact leader, a wide spectrum of leadership activities were undertaken. Specific collaborative initiatives included cross-functional and remote-team integration, guest speaker programs, and year-over-year performance assessments. Annual planning included research and data analysis, team-building, wellness initiatives, Myers-Briggs personality insights, focus groups, performance assessments, structured accountability reviews and an enterprise-wide Clear & Simple Language initiative. This commitment to innovation, collaboration, and growth became the foundation for Creative Intelligence and Awareness Seminars.
Today, John Crane's goal are much as before — skipping class, and advancing collaboration in Commercial Creativity. He divides time between Seattle, and Orcas Island, Washington where he receives constant inspiration from his dear Lindy Mac, family, friends, and cats, Angus and Phinneas.
"Commercial Creativity isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a path that demands courage, originality, and resilience if one expects to prosper. It also means converting vision into business value in every conceivable setting. To be at the top of one's game requires ongoing preparation. But to collaborate at the highest levels of business? This takes something more. I believe it's conscious living. It begins with situational awareness about yourself and your environment. That’s what I hope these seminars will bring into your personal and professional life."
— John Crane, Orcas Island, WA 2025
"I was working with John Crane in 2016 when the idea of an "awareness seminar" was hatched. It was based on John's personal and professional work regarding growth. I applaud the dedication that went into this effort." - Ann Rutledge Britt, M.A., Master Certified Coach 