Quick Win: The creative secret behind Exploding Kittens’ thousand-idea design retreats

from How I Work · host Amantha Imber

What happens when a team generates a thousand ideas - and kills most of them within minutes?  In this Quick Win, I speak with Exploding Kittens co-creator Elan Lee about how he and his team turn chaos into creativity during their quarterly design retreats. Over three intense days, they generate, test, and ruthlessly discard ideas - all without bruising egos.  Elan shares how he’s built a culture of trust where killing ideas isn’t failure, it’s focus - and why showing your team it’s safe to let go might be the most powerful leadership move you can make.  Elan and I discuss:  Inside Exploding Kittens’ quarterly design retreats  Why Elan ditched the “yes, and…” rule for “no, kill it”  How to create psychological safety in creative chaos  The leadership habit that helps teams detach from their ideas  Why rejecting ideas fast can unlock better ones  KEY QUOTE  “All the best ideas start out as terrible ideas - they just need room to evolve.”  Explore Elan’s games at explodingkittens.com and connect with him on Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn.   Listen to my full conversation with Elan here.    My latest book The Health Habit is out now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amantha.com/the-health-habit/   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)   Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)   If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha-imber.ck.page/subscribe   Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.   Get in touch at [email protected]       Credits:   Host: Amantha Imber   Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This episode was published on June 15, 2026.

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