We Are Losing the Space That Makes Us Whole
I design creative tools for leaders and organizations,
but at the core of my work is something simpler:
I pay attention to how people connect.
Heather Stead, Creative Director for KPMG opening their NYC office, fondly referred to as “2 Manhatten West”.
Heather Stead and Laura Rose Barth support small business through ICNC and the work at The Hatchery.
Laura Rose Barth, Chris Blatner and Dawn Jackson Blatner support the makers and mission behind ICNC at their fall 25 fundraiser.
People. Photos. Stories. Video.
These are not content formats.
They are infrastructure.
They are the connective tissue—
the glue that holds meaning, memory, and identity together.
Laura Rose Barth and nephew, lil Mikey, take every opportunity to create.
And lately, I’ve been thinking about a gap.
A quiet, but critical one.
Children inspire curiosity and endless imagination. (Laura Rose Barth’s niece and nephews; Selah, Eli and Mikey.)
The Absence of Safe Spaces
We do not have enough spaces
where women can see each other without judgment.
Because the truth is:
Heather Stead and Laura Rose Barth coach the team at KPMG on Filming DUO method and implementing Executive Branding through Charming Studios methods.
The harshest judgment rarely comes from others.
It comes from within.
It shows up everywhere.
in how we describe ourselves
in how we present ourselves
in how we spend, optimize, and attempt to refine ourselves
Laura Rose Barth coaches and photographs an art instructor at The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Houston during headshots.
We invest heavily in being perceived well,
while quietly questioning if we are well.
Heather Stead leads the Charming Studios team; Calvin Gin, Laura Rose Barth and Phil Howard on filming DUO Method at the newly opened “2 Manhattan West”, KPMG’s national headquarters.
At night, the questions surface
Am I doing enough?
Am I showing up the right way?
When does “enough” actually become enough?
This is not a confidence issue. It is a systems issue.
Calvin Gin, Luby’s President leads their General Manager Conference and speaks on authenticity in leadership.
We Have Designed a World That Removes Reflection
We have built lives optimized for output,
not for clarity.
Jim Barth snuck away for quiet at home in his office. He leads his family by example in daily reflection, reading and prayer.
Schedules that leave no room for stillness.
Expectations that compound faster than they resolve.
Calvin Gin and John McMillan lead a General Managers conference for Luby’s in San Antonio at the flagship location on Main Ave.
And in that environment, something critical gets lost:
Signal. (Steve Jobs operated on a strict "signal-to-noise" ratio, aiming for 80% focus on 3–5 critical tasks (the signal) and only 20% on distractions (the noise). Today, Kevin O’Leary, Jarad Kushner and Ivanka Trump all point to this concept as being effective for them.)
The answers we are looking for are not missing.
They are just quieter than the noise we’ve created.
Clarity does not compete.
It waits.
Often, it arrives in the margins…
in stillness, in early mornings, in the middle of the night
when everything else finally stops.
A still Sunday morning in Chicago.
Creativity Is Not Optional, It Is Operational
We misunderstand creativity.
It is not an activity.
It is not reserved for artists.
It is not something we “add in” when there’s time.
Oakley Schick visits the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts exhibit opening, Where Meanings Collide: A Conversation on Abstraction brings together artists Olga Tobreluts and Ivan Plusch in a dynamic visual dialogue about how we see—and unsee—the world. “The meeting was boring but, I realized I love abstract art!” - Oakley
The following morning Oakley makes his first attempt at creating abstract art. His Dad, Ryan Schick, shares with a grin.
Creativity is how we:
solve problems
regulate emotions
navigate relationships
build lives and businesses that actually work
It is a core operating system.
And right now, we are stripping it out,
not just from ourselves, but from our children.
On vacation in Florida, Laura Rose Barth with nephews, Mikey and Eli.
We are replacing curiosity with pressure.
Exploration with expectation.
Play with performance.
And then we wonder why things feel harder than they should.
Chef, Rick Bayless gives a cooking demo at The Hachery at their fall fundraiser.
When Creativity Disappears, So Does Resilience
Without space for simple, unstructured joy, creativity evaporates.
Quietly. Quickly.
Like dew on flowers in the heat of July it’s
gone before we register the loss.
Laura Rose Barth’s 41st birthday cake thanks to nephews, Mikey and Eli.
And when creativity disappears,
so does our ability to adapt, to solve, to see possibility.
We don’t just lose expression.
We lose capacity.
Heather Stead, Jack Stead and Laura Rose Barth at The Hatchery’s fall fundraiser.
The Reset Is Simpler Than We Think
We do not need more strategies.
We need:
quiet
space
relief from our own expectations
We need environments where nothing is being evaluated, optimized, or improved.
Just experienced.
Prairie Wind Farm, home to the Barth family in Metamora, Illinois.
Because the moment we step out of constant self-assessment, something recalibrates.
Clarity returns.
Energy returns.
Perspective returns.
And with it returns our ability to think, create, and lead effectively.
Laura Rose Barth with sister, Anna Kenell.
This Is the Work
The work is not doing more.
The work is designing better spaces.
Spaces where:
women are not performing, but present
children are not pressured, but curious
creativity is not scheduled, but embedded
This is how we rebuild stronger systems; in people, in families, in organizations.
Pete Barth, Anna + Joe, Eli, Mikey and James Kenell and Laura Rose Barth visit Chicago Children’s Theater for the opening of Leo Lionni's Frederick.
Not by adding more.
But by restoring what was always meant to be there.
