Creativity Is Seeing What Others Don't

What This Lesson Covers

Paul Lavoie opens this masterclass with the idea that changed everything for him — and it's not what most people expect. Creativity isn't a mysterious gift handed to a lucky few. It's a way of paying attention. In this video, Paul traces the roots of his creative philosophy from a childhood trip to Quebec City all the way to building TAXI into one of Canada's most celebrated agencies. Along the way, he shares the moments, people, and observations that taught him how to see what others walk right past.

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Key Takeaways

Creativity Is a Practice, Not a Talent

Paul's definition is deceptively simple: "Creativity is just seeing things others don't." It happens, he says, when you're in a state of playfulness — when the rules stop feeling like rules. This isn't a personality trait you either have or you don't. It's a muscle. It's something you train by staying curious, staying open, and refusing to accept the first version of what you see.

The proof? His art college drawing teacher. Two apples. One drawn cold, one drawn after you've held it, cut it, eaten it, really looked at it. The second drawing was night and day better — not because the student got more talented, but because they learned to look. As Paul's neighbor Brian puts it: "I don't teach them to draw. I teach them to look." That's the whole game.

A Sense of Adventure Is the Foundation

Paul grew up in a small town in northern Quebec. A school trip to Quebec City — a walled city with a castle, a snowman, a whole world he didn't know existed — cracked something open in him. That moment of wonder became the anchor for a lifelong sense of adventure that took him through Europe, North Africa, a beach in Crete, and eventually to the founding of TAXI.

The lesson here isn't about travel. It's about staying genuinely curious about the world around you. The creatives who go flat are usually the ones who stopped being surprised by things.

Storytelling Is Learned at Home Before It's Learned in an Agency

Paul's parents came from different backgrounds — one Irish, one Québécois, different languages, different religions. What they shared was a love of telling stories. That gift was passed down before Paul ever set foot in a creative department. It's a reminder that your creative instincts are shaped long before your career begins, and that the best storytellers are usually the best listeners first.

Confidence in Your Own Eye Is a Competitive Edge

When Paul drew as a kid, his parents didn't dismiss it. They told him his drawings would be worth a million dollars someday. He believed them. He was eight. But that early confidence — the sense that your way of seeing has value — followed him into every pitch room, every creative brief, every agency he built. In an industry full of self-doubt, backing your own instincts is rarer than it sounds.

The Simplest Ideas Tell the Biggest Stories

Paul's father worked for International Harvester. The logo? Just the letters I and H. Until his older brother said: "Look again." And there it was — a man on a tractor, hidden in plain sight. That moment quietly shaped Paul's entire design philosophy. From the McDonald's pizza launch to the pork producers logo, his instinct was always the same: minimal effort, maximum meaning. The logo that does the most with the least is almost always the one people remember.

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The Bigger Picture

Everything Paul built — TAXI's culture of doubt, its collaborative structure, its challenger-brand identity — traces back to this foundational idea. Before the strategy, before the brief, before the campaign, there's a moment of seeing. The creatives who win are the ones who've trained themselves to catch that moment before everyone else does.

That's what this masterclass is really about. Not tricks or frameworks, but developing the kind of attention that makes great work inevitable.