My thoughts on creativity

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”—Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Inauguration Day, 1933

Creativity is a true virtue and one of the 2 driven forces of progress (the second one is persistence, to my point of view). Nothing in the history was invented or achieved without this gift. Creative mind-set helped different army men to win wars, different scientists to discover new natural phenomena or novel solutions when a change was needed, different ordinary people to become extra-ordinary by bringing excitement to their lives and lives of others (Coco Channel, John Churchill, Richard Branson, Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein, Piotr Tchaikovsky and many more to mention).

According to HBS professor Teresa Amabile, “creativity does have a reputation for being magical. One myth is that it's associated with the particular personality or genius of a person—and in fact, creativity does depend to some extent on the intelligence, expertise, talent, and experience of an individual. Of course it does. But it also depends on creative thinking as a skill that involves qualities such as the propensity to take risks and to turn a problem on its head to get a new perspective. That can be learned."

My belief is that creativity is not a superior talent that only some special ones with a mark of blessing on their forehead can be gifted with. I believe that everyone is gifted, especially with creativity, though being surrounded by circumstances, limitations in choice making and lack of support to develop this skill slows down the personal discovery. Sad to say, but some people never realize the greatness of potential they have within themselves…

So how to discover this hidden talent?

1. The ability to spread the wings wide forms in a family. When a baby is born the foundation of his or her beliefs, talents or attitudes are formed by parents. Before baby is born, parents need to agree on the methods they plan to use to grow up their kid, values they would like their child to understand and first steps to take to discover the beauty of this world. Some parents agree on a name to give and make a full-stop. Oh well, and then they get amazed to face all the challenges in understanding their child or even each other, calling their partner “a bad influence”.

Make it simple: 1) agree with your beloved on the basic principles you would like to see in the process of raising a baby; 2) agree upon the main values you would like your kid to understand, as well as upon ‘YESs’ and ‘NOs’ in what you do as showing a personal example; 3) study different methods and best case practices used to develop children and discover their hidden talents (NB! there are so many exercises that could be used to play with a child, on one hand, and on the other, to develop the brain functionality).

Though, please do not make a life-time decisions for your children (such as: “My son will be a doctor when he grows up”, “My daughter would like to study engineering as we have 7 generations of engineers in our family”, so on). Let them make decisions on their own, so they could enjoy what they do and achieve a true success. Your role is to support your children, help them to understand the world and principles of ‘being good’ and ‘being bad’, and ask questions so they would find the answers in their heads.

2. Educational achievement is the result of excellence and creativity. To be successful in nowadays world you need to be an innovator and an entrepreneur. Outstanding entrepreneurship and innovation, meanwhile, are based on seeing opportunities and being able to develop valuable solutions. By developing creative competencies in students, teachers help them to be better equipped for the world and find solutions easily to all the problems they may face in the future.

I believe that all students have the capacity to be creators. Teachers just need to understand how to support the freedom of daydreaming and not to limit students’ imaginations running wild. One way to model creativity is to show imagination in teaching.

“The development of creativity could be accomplished through teaching creatively and teaching for creativity”, Ann Craft, director of the Open Creativity Centre at The Open University, England.

Make it simple: 1) support student’s self-esteem (!); 2) challenge students’ worldview by providing with an ability to think about today’s world from different perspectives and asking questions (such as “what if...”), making assertions, and offering analysis [The “higher level thinking questions," can stimulate students` interests and motivate them to find ways to relate classroom knowledge to their own lives, and develop lifelong creative approaches to thinking.]; 3) integrate theory with practical problem-solving by encouraging students to find value-based creative solutions to different issues, become confident in taking risks and be accountable for the results; 4) go beyond teaching subject content in order to facilitate students' speaking and thinking skills by revising your learning plan and implementing ‘learning-by-doing’ methodology [Through experiential learning, students learn concepts and develop creative attitudes necessary for lifelong learning. The impacts on academic and personal development will be both enhanced.].

I see teachers' pivotal role in helping students find for themselves what they need to know. If students ask significant questions and find information on their own, they will test their own resourcefulness, instead of falling back on memorization. This ability will be useful throughout life.

3. Business successes are based on a creative approach of its personnel. A work environment that supports creativity and intrinsic motivation of others is rare. Many employers even fail in explaining why their business exists or in setting clear goals for their employees. Why do they wonder then the inefficiency and lack of motivation of their personnel?

What definitely needs to be understood by business leaders, managers and executives is the pervasiveness of inner work life effects on the overall performance.

Make it simple: 1) establish a culture where people are treated with respect; 2) have coaching as a habit and supporting approach to newcomers, inexperienced or employees in doubts as part of your corporate culture; 3) set clear and meaningful goals for the team or every individual, let them innovate and come up with better propositions if relevant; 4) ask the question ‘WHY?’ to ensure that what was suggested as the best choice to make is understood by everyone and shared; 5) be accessible for sharing new ideas or concerns; 6) create and support team’s excitement and interest in your company, a market your business is present in and opportunities available.

Creativity in business is the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources that are currently controlled. Let your employees become the pillars of your success!

Summary

The world we live in today is going through a shift in paradigm. Technological advances, shorter production cycles, global trade possibilities, changing consumer demographics and ways of resource consumption dictate the need for creative approaches. In a global competitive market as we face, new walt disneys, henry fords, the wright brothers, sergey brins and larry pages, steve jobs, sun tzus, marie curies, konstantin tsiolkovskys, muhammad yunuses, and others are needed!

To wake up in a bright, prospering and happy world tomorrow we need to change our approach to living by fostering creativity, sustainability and strong leadership in future generations.

“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” -Proust, Marcel