The Business Behind the Consulting
I’ve carried a sense of wonder across thirty years of leadership — as a counselor, a principal, and a superintendent — always inviting teams to think about their work, and their lives, differently. Now I help leaders and organizations do the same.
Leadership has never really been about authority. It’s about attention — noticing what others overlook, making room for what’s possible, and bringing people toward something they couldn’t yet see. The best leaders work the way the best artists do: they create the conditions for connection, courage, and surprise.
I blend story, art, and music to send an audience back to their work seeing it — and themselves — differently. Equal parts inspiring and useful.
Half- and full-day sessions for leadership teams ready to practice the habits of creative, connected leadership — and build the trust that lets people take real risks.
Ongoing work with leaders and organizations in the middle of something hard or new — drawing on thirty years of leading real institutions, not just studying them.
Every great work of art and music hides a surprising human story — of failure, persistence, courage, and connection. In this keynote, I bring those stories to life, with paintings and music on display, and draw out what they teach us about creativity, leadership, and the art of paying attention. Audiences leave moved, and seeing the familiar with new eyes.
Everything good in an organization runs on human connection. We start there — with how people actually hear, trust, and move with one another.
Creativity isn’t a department; it’s a way of working. I help teams make space for new ideas — and find the courage to try them.
Wonder is a leadership skill. The leaders who last are the ones who keep noticing — who can look at the familiar and still be surprised.
I’m not a consultant who read about leadership from the outside. I led.
Thirty years as a counselor, a principal, a county leader, and a California school superintendent, with four degrees including a doctorate in education. But what I bring to your team isn’t a résumé. It’s hard-won perspective on how people connect, create, and change — and a conviction that wonder belongs at the center of the work.
“Reads like a long drink of water for the parched artist.”Alice Ripley — Tony Award–winning actress, on The Art of Everything
“Gary’s greatest strength is his ability to connect with others — and connection breeds trust. That trust gave me the confidence to take risks, to be transparent, to be creative in my problem solving. It made our organization better.”Alissa Meltzer
Your team, your event, the change you’re in the middle of — tell me about it. I read every note myself.
Prefer email? Write me directly at gary@thecreativespark.org.