"We can always find creative ways to do things"
About this Quote
The line asserts that ingenuity is less a talent than a posture. Limits, obstacles, and rules do not close the path so much as force a different route. That outlook is characteristic of Leigh Steinberg, the longtime sports agent whose negotiations and advocacy helped shape modern athlete representation. Working under salary caps, collective bargaining agreements, and public scrutiny, he became known for reframing problems so that competing interests could align. A contract is not only a number but a story about value, risk, and shared goals; when the narrative shifts, new structures emerge, whether through incentives, guarantees, or community engagement commitments. Creativity in that world is not whimsy but disciplined curiosity about hidden variables and unmet needs.
The phrase also reflects a moral dimension Steinberg often advanced: do well and do good at the same time. He encouraged clients to leverage their platforms for philanthropic work, showing that brand building and social impact are not mutually exclusive. Finding creative ways to do things can mean combining motives people thought were incompatible, turning tradeoffs into synergies and making the pie larger rather than fighting over a fixed slice. It is a refusal of zero-sum thinking.
There is a personal resonance, too. Steinberg navigated public setbacks and recovery, rebuilding a career with humility and new structures of accountability. That journey embodies the claim that innovation grows most reliably under constraint. When resources shrink or reputations suffer, lateral thinking, partnership, and incremental wins become the engines of progress.
Taken broadly, the sentence is a call to replace complaint with inquiry. Ask what the constraint makes possible, what assumptions can be relaxed, what allies might be enlisted, what value can be reframed. Creativity here is not waiting for inspiration; it is methodical problem finding and solution stacking. By adopting that stance, individuals and institutions discover that the field is wider than it first appears, and that progress, while seldom linear, is almost always available.
The phrase also reflects a moral dimension Steinberg often advanced: do well and do good at the same time. He encouraged clients to leverage their platforms for philanthropic work, showing that brand building and social impact are not mutually exclusive. Finding creative ways to do things can mean combining motives people thought were incompatible, turning tradeoffs into synergies and making the pie larger rather than fighting over a fixed slice. It is a refusal of zero-sum thinking.
There is a personal resonance, too. Steinberg navigated public setbacks and recovery, rebuilding a career with humility and new structures of accountability. That journey embodies the claim that innovation grows most reliably under constraint. When resources shrink or reputations suffer, lateral thinking, partnership, and incremental wins become the engines of progress.
Taken broadly, the sentence is a call to replace complaint with inquiry. Ask what the constraint makes possible, what assumptions can be relaxed, what allies might be enlisted, what value can be reframed. Creativity here is not waiting for inspiration; it is methodical problem finding and solution stacking. By adopting that stance, individuals and institutions discover that the field is wider than it first appears, and that progress, while seldom linear, is almost always available.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
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