We’ve all been there: If only I had a bigger budget, then I could launch that campaign. If only I had more time, then I could innovate. We’re constantly convincing ourselves that the missing ingredient between us and our best work is just one more resource away.
But what if that’s exactly backwards? What if the constraints we’re fighting against are, in fact, the key to unlocking our most creative work?
That’s the premise behind Kyle Scheele’s upcoming keynote at Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2025 this 8-10 December in Houston, Texas. He will present Thinking Inside the Box: How Tough Times Fuel True Creativity and Innovation during the General Session and 2025 CEM Presentation, and it promises to fit right into the show’s theme of ONE EPIC EVENT.
Kyle proposes that powerful creativity doesn’t happen despite constraints, it thrives because of them. He teaches that true creativity exists in that uncomfortable gap between what you have and what you think you need. After all, if you already had everything, you may not need to be creative at all…
From Apollo 13 astronauts ‘MacGyvering’ square filters into round tubes to organizations pivoting entirely during a global pandemic, history shows us that innovation doesn’t wait for perfect conditions; it shows up when we’re forced to think differently.
Kyle should know. His “crazy ideas” have garnered over 1 million TikTok followers overnight, attracted 34,477 people to sign up for a fake marathon and inspired 21,000+ people to participate in a ritual of burning their regrets. His projects have been featured in The Washington Post, Fast Company and BuzzFeed, with videos viewed over 200 million times. But more importantly, he’s learned how to help others chase their own crazy ideas, even when resources are limited.
We sat down with Kyle to dig deeper into how to turn constraints into competitive advantage.
You differentiate between constructive and constrictive constraints. Can you walk us through what distinguishes them, and share how you reframe a constrictive constraint into a constructive one?
All constraints limit what’s possible in a creative project – that’s their nature. But not all constraints are bad. Constructive constraints are the ones that make the work better. Constrictive constraints, on the other hand, just get in the way.
If you’re designing a car, a constructive constraint might be “How wide is a lane of traffic?” or “How tall is a typical parking garage?” Those limits shape your design in a way that makes the car more useful and practical.
A constrictive constraint would be something like, “It has to be neon orange because that’s the boss’s favorite color.” That doesn’t help the user – it just satisfies an ego.
And here’s the key: constructive constraints guide you toward better solutions; constrictive ones block them. You don’t need to reframe the bad ones… you need to remove them. When you spot a constraint that serves no real purpose, it’s worth questioning why it exists in the first place.
What is a common constraint that people complain about, but that actually contains the seeds of creativity once they shift their perspective on it?
People love to say, “If only I had more money, I could do so much more.” But the truth is, when you have a lot of money, you don’t have to be creative, because you just outsource the problem and write a big check.
It’s when you’re short on money (or time, or manpower) that true creativity kicks in. A small budget forces you to get resourceful. You start asking better questions, finding unconventional materials, and seeing possibilities that would’ve been invisible if you’d had a blank check.
In other words, constraint isn’t the barrier to creativity. It’s the birthplace.
Your viral projects seem to have thrived on constraints rather than big budgets. Can you share a specific constraint from one of these projects that forced you to innovate in a way you never would have otherwise?
Almost every viral project I’ve done has been defined by two constraints: no budget and no time.
When I built the first centaur bike, I had just a few days to finish it before Halloween. The second time around, I had a few weeks to get it ready for the Christmas parade. Those deadlines forced me to strip the idea down to its essentials. No overthinking, no polishing, just build it and go.
If I’d had more time or money, I probably would’ve overcomplicated it. Instead, those constraints kept the idea simple, scrappy, and fun. And both times, the videos ended up going viral.
Many leaders fear that acknowledging constraints will demoralize their teams. How do you recommend presenting limitations in a way that energizes people rather than discouraging them?
I understand why leaders would have that concern, but the fear is misplaced. Teams don’t get demoralized because of constraints… they get demoralized when constraints feel arbitrary or meaningless.
When a limitation is real (i.e., “Our revenue is down and we need to rally”) people often rise to the occasion. But when the message is “Here’s a problem, good luck figuring it out,” that’s when morale drops.
The key is in the framing. If you say, “This is the situation we’re in, but we’re going to figure it out together, and I’ll be right here with you,” the constraint becomes a shared mission instead of a burden. That kind of honesty doesn’t just spark creativity; it builds trust and camaraderie too.
At Expo! Expo!, you will be sharing tools and exercises to break through creative blocks. Can you give us a sneak peek to one practical technique that folks can start using immediately when they feel stuck?
One of my favorite techniques is to ask, “What game could we win?”
When circumstances change – whether it’s an economic downturn, a global pandemic, or just a project that’s gone sideways – it’s easy to get stuck focusing on the game we can’t win anymore. But that doesn’t mean the whole season’s over.
Instead, pause and ask: “What’s still possible? What new opportunities does this moment present?” Maybe it’s a chance to strengthen your team, deepen customer loyalty, or show how your company shows up when times get tough.
You may not win the game you started playing, but you can always find a new one worth winning.
It’s easy to equate unlimited resources with guaranteed success and to assume big companies will take that route every time. Can you offer an example of a constraint-driven innovation from a major company that proves even resource-rich organizations benefit from thinking inside the box?
The Apollo 13 mission is a classic example. After the oxygen tank exploded, the crew had to figure out how to survive using only the materials already on board. NASA engineers on the ground famously dumped the same equipment onto a table and said, “We have to make this fit into this, using nothing but that.” That constraint forced incredible ingenuity, and it saved lives.
Even the most resource-rich organizations can’t buy their way out of every challenge. Sometimes, the only way forward is to innovate within the box you’ve got.
