Creativity—being able to create—is really at the heart of being human. It’s being able to see something as it is, in its current situation, and manipulating that experience into new possibilities. Creativity is often linked to poetry or painting, acting or dancing – these are some of its physical interpretations. Yet, creativity takes many forms and can be applied to any experience.
Being able to create is a vital skill in business. Creativity is being able to think on your own to find your work around to a solution. Creativity is the skill of assembling all the facts, assimilating them and ruminating on a better option.
Creativity is what allows you to pass through failure after failure to arrive at success – to arrive at something entirely new based on all of the sensory data you’ve amassed. “We propose a framework that divides the cognitive landscape into three basic strategies: bending, breaking and blending. These we suggest, are the primary means by which all ideas evolve.”
--Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman,
“Under the Hood of Creativity,”
Time Magazine’s Science and Creativity Special Edition
Think of Frank Gehry’s take on architecture.
Think of Picasso's take on the human form.
Think of the scientists and engineers who brought the first men into space.
Think of the inventor of the Go-Pro.
At the heart of every innovation is creativity.
I encourage everyone in business to engage with creativity. It is linked to imagination and innovation and it’s available to you at any age. In US public schools, STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has been replaced with STEAM, to include theArts. It is great to see educators and innovators realizing the importance of creative thinking.
