Artists as attention activists

There’s a silent war being waged on our creative lives, but it’s not the obvious enemies we expect. In this episode, we dive deep into the invisible threats constraining our creativity—both inside organizations and in the culture at large.

First, we speak with Cassie McDaniel, VP of Design at Medium, about the art of protecting creative space in a business world that increasingly values efficiency over deep thinking. She shares how real leadership involves building trust, creating the right constraints, and translating between the language of creativity and the demands of the organization. Cassie’s journey—nonlinear, multifaceted, and deeply intentional—reminds us that creativity thrives on diversity of experience and a strong sense of purpose.

Next, we’re joined by Peter Schmidt, Program Director at the Struthers School of Radical Attention and co-editor of Attensity. Peter introduces the provocative metaphor of "human fracking" to describe how our attention is being mined, fragmented, and monetized by the platforms we use daily. He argues that protecting our attention is no longer a personal discipline issue but a societal one, requiring collective action and a movement to reclaim the diverse, nuanced ways of being present in the world.

Together, these conversations meet at a critical crossroads: How do we defend and cultivate the inner conditions for creative work amid constant digital distraction and systemic forces designed to keep us fragmented?

Five Key Learnings from This Episode

1. Constraints Foster Creativity: True creative freedom is built on transparent boundaries, supportive organizational structures, and clearly communicated expectations.
2. Invisible Efficiency Matters: The most valuable creative processes are often “invisibly efficient”—they look messy or inefficient from the outside but are essential to breakthrough results.
3. Leadership is Relational, Not Just Operational: Protecting creative space is less about enforcing rules and more about developing trust, negotiating for time, and translating needs between teams.
4. Our Attention Is Systematically Farmed: The battle for our attention is not simply about willpower; we’re up against trillion-dollar industries engineered to fragment and monetize our focus.
5. Artists and Dreamers Lead the Defense: The recovery of deep, diverse forms of attention—beyond the narrow “attention span” model—depends on the activism of artists, educators, and anyone daring enough to imagine a different future.

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