In my last post, I shared how decluttering my home office became more than just a tidy-up job — it was a leadership exercise in letting go and preparing for the next wave of change.

But here’s what surprised me most: once the old furniture, outdated tools, and dusty papers were gone, I didn’t just have a cleaner workspace. I had… space.

And that empty space didn’t feel awkward or incomplete. It felt alive. It felt like possibility.

The Unseen Value of Space

We tend to think of space as a lack of something — an absence to be filled. Empty shelves? Add books. Empty desk? Add tools. Empty walls? Hang art.

But in creativity, empty space is not a void. It’s a resource. It’s an invitation. It’s the white canvas before the first brushstroke.

When my workspace became lighter and more open, I noticed that my thinking did the same. I was less distracted. I could focus deeper. Ideas seemed to come more easily — and not because I was working harder, but because I had reduced the noise around me.

From Cluttered Rooms to Cluttered Minds

It’s no coincidence that a cluttered workspace often mirrors a cluttered mind. Our brains are wired to process our surroundings. Every visible object — from a stack of papers to a tangle of cables — is a tiny mental “to-do” that demands a fragment of our attention.

When we remove those distractions, we free up cognitive bandwidth for higher-level thinking. This is why many great creative breakthroughs happen in moments of stillness — on a walk, in the shower, staring at an empty page. The mind has room to wander, connect, and invent.

The Genius Journey: Creating Mental Space

In the Genius Journey framework, creating mental space is essential for accessing higher creativity. While a stimulus-rich environment can give your mind fresh dots to connect, you can’t create mental space in a cluttered physical environment.

By curating what we keep in our workspace — and leaving deliberate open areas — we send a signal to our subconscious: “There’s room here for something new.” That’s when fresh ideas, insights, and connections are most likely to surface.

Empty Space as Strategic Choice

In the fast-paced, always-on work culture, empty space can feel like a luxury — even a waste. But the Sixth Wave of innovation will reward leaders who treat it as a strategic advantage.

Why?
Because innovation doesn’t happen in overcrowded schedules or overstuffed environments. It thrives in gaps. In pauses. In moments when there is nothing demanding immediate attention, leaving the mind free to explore.

As part of my own redesign, I removed shelves from my main office walls, leaving them completely clear. The intention? To create a living creative studio — a space where I can hang working documents, maps, sketches, or articles as projects evolve. The walls aren’t plain white; they’re painted in our Thinkergy signature orange and my second favorite color, sunshine yellow. The result? Every piece I pin up stands out, radiates energy, and becomes part of an ever-changing creative landscape. It’s an environment that can shift and adapt to whatever I’m working on, with plenty of room to move ideas, materials, and even furniture around.

“Find a space where you can be creative and a place where you are open for free thinking, you want to enjoy what you are doing and do what at you are best at.”
—David Karp, founder and CEO of Tumblr

Escaping Horror Vacui — Why Leaders Shouldn’t Fear Empty Space

The ancient Romans had a phrase for a very human tendency: horror vacui — “fear of emptiness.” It describes our impulse to fill every gap with something — whether that’s words on a page, ornaments on a shelf, or furniture in a room. The mindset is simple: the more stuff, the better. But when it comes to creativity and value perception, this instinct can work against us. Why?

• The Value-Perception Paradox: Research shows there’s an inverse relationship between horror vacui and perceived value: the more we cram into a space, the less valuable it feels. Luxury brands, for example, use minimalistic design with plenty of white space — not because they have nothing to say, but because they want each element to breathe and stand out.
• From Design to Leadership: The same principle applies to our work environments and even our schedules. Overfilling a desk, a wall, or a calendar doesn’t communicate productivity — it communicates clutter. Leaders who intentionally leave space signal that they have focus, clarity, and the confidence to resist the urge to fill every gap.
• Turning Space into a Creative Asset: In my workspace, I’ve embraced this idea intentionally. Empty wall sections — in vibrant Thinkergy orange and sunshine yellow — aren’t signs of incompleteness; they’re open stages for ideas. When I pin up a document, sketch, or map, it stands out, gets attention, and can evolve over time. That’s the opposite of horror vacui — it’s the joy of space.

Five Ways to Harness the Power of Empty Space

How can you resist falling into the horror vacui trap? Here are five suggestions:

1. Design for openness – Leave intentional gaps in your desk, your workspace, and even your mind to invite more creativity. “Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it,” said Dee Hock, the founder of the VISA credit card association
2. Practice visual breathing room – Keep at least one clear surface in your workspace. After all, as the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright pointed out, ”Space is the breath of art.”
3. Schedule “white space” time – Keep empty blocks in your calendar for reflection, not task completion. As the Indian mystic Rajneesh noted, “When you attain to an egoless emptiness great creativity happens.”
4. Resist the urge to fill – Let an empty shelf or wall stay that way for a while. Embrace the void. Trust that, at the right time, the complementary object will manifest to fill it.
5. Treat emptiness as readiness – “We do not easily grasp the point that the void is creative, and that being comes from nonbeing as sound from silence and light from space,” noted the English writer Alan W. Watts. So, see open space as a launchpad, not a void. Trust that open space opens your mind and invites bright ideas to come forth.  

Space for the Sixth Wave

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic,” noted the Austrian-American management guru Peter Drucker. As we move deeper into the Sixth Wave — a time defined by digital transformation, sustainability, and human-centered innovation — the ability to create and protect space will be a competitive edge.

The leaders and teams who will thrive are not the ones who cram their days and desks to capacity. They’re the ones who know that sometimes, doing nothing is doing something essential.

Empty space is not a lack. It’s the birthplace of the new. And in a world rushing to fill every gap, the leaders who guard that space will be the ones who create the future.

Your turn: Where in your work or life could you create more empty space? What might happen if you didn’t fill it right away?

• If you’re ready to stop fearing empty space and start using it as a catalyst for creative breakthroughs, explore how the Genius Journey can help you clear the clutter — physically, mentally, and strategically. Check out our Genius Journey Booklet and the Genius Journey website to get started.
• Creative leadership and the Genius Journey method are also the subject of Chapter 7 of my book: Unleashing WOW: The Creative Leader’s Guide to Breakthrough Innovation.
• Want to experience the transformational power of the Genius Journey firsthand? Travel the Genius Journey yourself in one of our training programs. Contact us to design the perfect Genius Journey format tailored to your team’s and company’s needs, time, and budget — and make space for your next big breakthrough.

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2025. In the coming weeks, the article will be co-published in the Bangkok Post.