“The enemy of creativity is good sense.”
Pablo Picasso
Creativity is one of the most sought-after skills in the 21st century. It is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, solutions, or products that disrupt and change.
However, ideas belongs to the individual and not the organisation.
Creativity excels in an unstructured environment. Mess and chaos help the creative process.
Unfortunately, that’s not often found in the majority of corporate workplaces.
“I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells”.
Dr Suess
Children are born creative.
But in the act of teaching, we take away that creative spark.
We teach them, that fun has no place in the classroom and then the workplace.
We teach them that dreaming is a waste of time.
We teach them that curiosity and imagination are not needed.
We teach them that individual thinking is not required.
We teach children how to pass exams instead of teaching them how to solve problems.
But curiosity and imagination are key components to creativity.
“Don’t let schooling interfere with your education”
Mark Twain
“The mind is like a parachute; it does not work unless it’s open.”
Frank Zappa
The traditional view of creativity
The best ideas come from the top.
Risk is a dirty word
Failure is not an option
no longer applies.
So what’s stopping creativity?
The lack of trust and openness stops people sharing ideas.
It’s a lack of accountability + process that hinders good ideas getting noticed.