Mastering the Art of Creativity in the Workplace

One thought on “Mastering the Art of Creativity in the Workplace”

  1. Awesome Topic, loved the video. Those kids are better than I am at ‘free’ thinking. I agree with the quote also but the issue sometime is that corporate timescales do not allow for the luxury of letting a problem ‘rest’ until a solution appears. As for the issue of creativity and the corporate world. I suspect the corporations are a bit like people. They start small, young and very flexible. There are no rules and the mantra is ‘just do it’ so people adopt a variety of solutions to problems. They are creative. Then the business grows and just like most people, it becomes important to structure thinking to prevent chaos. A structure evolves and structures must adhere to certain limitations in order to be stable. Those same limitation also inhibit the original creative thinking that created them in the first place. Eventually businesses, like people as they grow older and approach retirement, become established and require security. They becomes more averse to risk, preferring instead the safe route that is not very creative.
    Some businesses get around that by using the money acquired during their life to acquire more nimble and creative companies and integrate them into the bigger picture but I suspect that does really make them creative any more than drinking the blood of the enemies you kill in battle will really make you stronger, and probably stifles the original creativity that created the acquisition because of the imposition of new ‘rules’ that result from being part of the larger corporation.
    To shareholders, creative equals risk and shareholders don’t like that until you have proved you are good at taking the ‘right’ kind of risk. They want predictable so in general the corporate business model itself stifles too much creativity.
    It’s a bit like fashion. Everyone wants to look different so that they stand out but only in acceptable ways. So called ‘famous people’ (Lada Gaga, Madonna etc) push that to the extreme in order to stand out but for most others it’s still about conforming to some extent in order to ‘fit in’ with some established (even if fringe) social group. Very few people really want to push the limits or if they do, social pressure around them like family or work status etc; prevents them from doing so.
    Can you be creative in the larger corporate world? I believe you can be but in general it is not going to be prime enabler for the business in spite of any messages to the contrary.
    I’d also add that I don’t think innovation and creativity are the same beast. The automotive industry is innovative in that it explores lots of new technology and uses it in new ways but creative? Nah! Cars are still petty much four seat sedans with the engine up front. The only thing ‘creative’ about cars is the shape and that’s more of a ‘fashion’ statement than anything else.

Leave a Reply to Dave E Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *