Why You Need To Care About Creativity

I am regularly astounded by how short-sighted some leaders are. Let me inform you what I imply.

Final week, I used to be booked by the CEO of a corporation that wishes me to keynote their annual convention in October. The subject of the keynote is Producing Below Strain. After we agreed on the main points for the keynote program, I requested him, “What do you might have on the agenda to assist your crew suppose extra creatively?” (I’ve a terrific hands-on breakout session on this subject that I believed may be a great match.)

“Oh, we do not want any of that creativity stuff,” he mentioned. “We’re probably not in a artistic enterprise. In addition to, I do not need my individuals carrying clown noses to work and sitting in beanbag chairs.”

Wow.

This CEO – a really profitable man – equates “artistic pondering” with “carrying clown noses to work.” That is unhappy. However what’s even sadder is that this isn’t an unusual response. Many leaders see “artistic pondering” as simply one other disposable “mushy talent.”

This, even though:

• The Tesla Mannequin S was a results of “artistic pondering”
• The Hershey bar with almonds was a results of “artistic pondering”
• Double-entry bookkeeping was a results of “artistic pondering”
• The iPhone was a results of “artistic pondering”
• Agriculture (and its by-product, civilization) was a results of “artistic pondering.”

I am fairly positive that neither Elon Musk, Milton Hershey, Amatino Manucci, Steve Jobs, or Thog Thogson wore clown noses (though Musk and Jobs might have sat in beanbag chairs). (Additionally, though I am unable to show that the man who invented agriculture was named Thog Thogson, you’ll be able to’t show that he – or she – wasn’t.)

The straightforward truth is that all the things that has ever created a revenue for any firm in historical past has been a results of artistic pondering.

Smooth talent? I believe artistic pondering is the core talent!

And when the stress’s on – when there are severe penalties on the road – you need individuals round you who can suppose creatively. Why?

As a result of issues do not at all times go proper. You have heard the adage concerning the “best-laid plans,” proper?

When issues do not go proper, notably when the result is necessary, you need – no, you want – choices. And, identical to the iPhone and the Hershey bar, choices are a results of “artistic pondering.”

However hear, do not take my phrase for it. Hire a duplicate of Apollo 13 and watch that scene the place the engineers in Houston needed to improvise a carbon dioxide scrubber interface to maintain the stranded astronauts alive. The success of that mission (sorry – spoiler alert!) is what occurs when stress and creativity intersect.

There is no such thing as a business, no group, and no crew on earth (or in area) that may’t profit from creativity.

And there is no chief on earth (or in area) who should not care about creativity.

Source by Bill Stainton