A few years ago I was mowing the lawn.
Kansas summer. Sweating through a t-shirt. Grass clippings stuck to my shoes. Listening to an episode of Creative Pep Talk through a pair of headphones that probably should’ve been retired two years earlier.
The conversation that day was about the Muppets.
Specifically, the idea that every Muppet falls into one of two categories:
Order or chaos.
– Kermit or Miss Piggy.
– – Bert or Ernie.
– – – Beaker or Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.
Simple idea. Silly, honestly.
But for some reason it lodged itself in my brain and never left.
Like most kids who grew up in the 80s, I loved the Muppets. Still do. There’s something timeless about them. A little messy. A lot heartfelt. Slightly unhinged in the best possible way.
What I’d never considered until that afternoon was how much those dynamics show up in creative life.
The world tends to assign chaos to creatives automatically.
If someone makes things for a living, there’s this assumption they must also be a little unpredictable. A little disorganized. A little “off.”
And to be fair… sometimes that tracks.
The early stages of creativity can feel very Miss Piggy. Loud ideas. Half-finished thoughts. Chasing instincts. Pulling threads that don’t seem connected until suddenly they are.
That part of the process still feels natural to me.
But the actual act of designing? Building systems? Leading teams? Finishing things?
– That’s Kermit territory.
– – Calm. Measured. Holding the whole thing together while everything around you catches on fire.
The older I get, the more I realize creativity isn’t really about choosing one side. It’s about learning when each version of yourself is needed.
As a leader, I often lean toward order.
Not because it comes naturally every day, but because teams need clarity. They need someone steady when projects get bonkers or timelines start slipping sideways.
As a father… honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing half the time.
Maybe I’m Kermit during the week and Miss Piggy on the weekends.
Kermit at bedtime.
Piggy when I’m driving with the windows down or riding my bike wearing a sports jersey and singing Shania Twain at the top of my lungs.
– Probably depends on the day.
– – But that’s the interesting part.
– – – None of us are fully one or the other.
The trick is recognizing both exist inside you and being purposeful about the proportions.
– Knowing when chaos creates energy.
– – Knowing when order creates trust.
– – – Knowing when your team needs structure and when they just need room to experiment for a minute.
Lately I’ve started thinking about brands this way too.
– – – – Some organizations are naturally orderly. Precise. Reliable. Calm.
– – – – Others thrive on unpredictability. Energy. Emotion. Movement.
Neither is wrong.
But the strongest brands understand who they are. More importantly, they understand how much of each side they want to show the world.
I’ve started bringing this up in brainstorming sessions sometimes:
“Is this brand Kermit or Miss Piggy?”
It sounds ridiculous for about ten seconds.
Then suddenly everyone loosens up.
The conversation gets more honest. More human. People stop hiding behind corporate language and start talking about personality, tone, behavior, instinct.
Because deep down, we all understand the assignment immediately.