I help business leaders seize opportunities and grow efficiently. Founder, CEO, Creative Director. Call me what you like. I’m the primary creative force here at Hornsby Creative. As the leader of our team of creatives who make projects happen, chances are you’ll be working with me as we collaborate to discover, design, and deliver your next branded experience.
According to the Gallup Strengths Finders methodology, my top 5 core strengths are Connectedness, Input, Ideation, Strategic, and Achiever.
Let’s chat about how I can apply these strengths to help focus and grow your business. Together we'll build a more positive and profitable influence for your business.
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Beyond the Noise: Quiet Progress, Real Renewal
Published 4 months ago • 2 min read
Hornsby Creative Group
Strategy. Branding. Growth.
📣 Why This Week Matters
Quiet progress is compounding. Local spaces are getting cared for, statewide arts funding is flowing, and the global design field is formalizing regeneration as a standard. The throughline: invest in places and systems that give back. Presence over panic, practice over posture.
🧭 This Week’s Bright Spots
Waynesville’s library upgrades are set to improve comfort, efficiency, and access.
North Carolina commits $11M to arts organizations across all 100 counties.
Regenerative Architecture Index 2025 expands, signaling mainstreamed restorative practice.
Humane Intelligence hosts a practical session on evaluating LLMs for accuracy and inclusion.
🏡 Local – Western NC
Waynesville library to close for 3 months for renovations The Haywood County Library in Waynesville will close November 24 for roof replacement and new HVAC installation, with curbside pickup planned during construction. Why it matters: Thoughtful maintenance keeps civic spaces welcoming, safe, and energy efficient, which strengthens everyday community life. 👉 Read More: WLOS
🌱 Statewide - North Carolina
NC Arts Council awards $11M in grants statewide 373 grants will support nonprofits, schools, after‑school programs, municipalities, and artists in all 100 counties for FY25–26. Why it matters: Cultural infrastructure is economic infrastructure. Operating support and outreach priorities stabilize organizations and broaden access. 👉 Read More: Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
✏️ From Our Corner
🍂 Fall Clarity Sessions Now Open
This season is the perfect time to pause, realign, and set your brand on course for growth. Our Clarity Sessions are a 90-minute strategic deep dive designed to cut through the noise and give you a clear, actionable roadmap. Think of it as your compass for the months ahead — helping you go from scattered to strategic, with confidence and ease. A few October spots are available for focused brand alignment.
When temperatures drop, your brand’s visibility shouldn’t. The Unisex Energy Knit Reflective Beanie keeps both your audience and your logo front and center — day or night. At Hornsby Creative Group, through our Peak Promo line, we help organizations choose branded gear that combines form, function, and meaning. The Energy Knit Reflective Beanie is a […]
Regenerative Architecture Index 2025 unveiled Architecture Today’s new issue centers the expanded Regenerative Architecture Index, highlighting 116 organizations advancing design that restores ecosystems and communities. Why it matters: Regeneration is moving from language to lists, criteria, and clients. Formal recognition accelerates procurement, partnerships, and practice change. 👉 Read More: Architecture Today
🛜 Online – Events / Podcasts / Webinars
Evaluating LLMs for Accuracy and Inclusion — Oct 9, 10:00–11:30 ET Humane Intelligence session at MERL Tech working groups. 👉 Details: Humane Intelligence HUMANE Seminar: Redefining Talent and HR in Universities — Oct 16–17 Strategy for leaders navigating workforce shifts in higher education. 👉 Info: Humane
🌌 Cosmic & Possible
On Being: Jane Goodall, In Memoriam — What It Means to Be Human A tender reflection on attention, kinship, and responsibility that reframes leadership as humble service to life. Listen-in to reset your compass. 👉 Listen: On Being
🔍 Featured Intersection
Maintenance is strategy. Libraries, jackets, and buildings that keep people warm and systems efficient are brand choices, not afterthoughts.
Fund the bedrock. Operating grants and regenerative standards enable partners to deliver consistent, compounding value.
Measure what matters. Indexes, grant criteria, and event convenings turn ideals into shared benchmarks and momentum.
Thanks for building what matters in community together.
By the way I’m John. Designing brands that actually mean something. Founder at Hornsby Creative Group. We lead with strategy, build with clarity, and partner with mission-driven teams ready to grow on purpose.
🎧 P.S. Soundtrack to the Build
Our October playlist “Chilling in the Candy Corn Maze” is out now. Our current soundtrack radiating creative momentum.
I help business leaders seize opportunities and grow efficiently. Founder, CEO, Creative Director. Call me what you like. I’m the primary creative force here at Hornsby Creative. As the leader of our team of creatives who make projects happen, chances are you’ll be working with me as we collaborate to discover, design, and deliver your next branded experience.
According to the Gallup Strengths Finders methodology, my top 5 core strengths are Connectedness, Input, Ideation, Strategic, and Achiever.
Let’s chat about how I can apply these strengths to help focus and grow your business. Together we'll build a more positive and profitable influence for your business.
Hornsby Creative Group Strategy. Branding. Growth. January 2026 Compounding Significance Editor’s Note I’ve been thinking a lot about alignment lately. Not as a buzzword, but as a practice. The kind that shows up over time through lateral moves, quiet recalibrations, and decisions that make more sense looking backward than forward. Most of the meaningful shifts in my work have not been abrupt reinventions. Though they may at times appear so from the outside. They have been thoughtful...
Hornsby Creative Group Strategy. Branding. Growth. What We Choose to Tend This week unfolds alongside mobilized grief and anger following the killing of a mother by ICE agents in Minnesota. A potent reminder that real lives are at stake in the systems we talk about. Beyond the Noise has never meant looking away.It means paying attention to what sustains dignity and life when systems fail to do so. What follows is not a distraction.It is an accounting of where care, repair, and human-scale...
Hornsby Creative Group Strategy. Branding. Growth. Silence Is Not Empty The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year.The point of deepest dark.And the quiet turning, when the light begins its slow return. This moment has always asked something different of us. Not urgency.Not output.Not performance. Attention.Gratitude.Restraint. As this year closes, it feels right to pause not because there is nothing to say, but because what matters most deserves space rather than amplification....
