If you look around you, creativity is promoted and celebrated everywhere. We think highly of creative artists in music, the performing arts, or the fine arts. Businesses regularly mention creativity as part of the desired characteristics in job applicants (well, probably not when looking for an accountant, but otherwise…) and when asked about their attitudes toward creativity, people on average rate it highly and think of it as a positive personality trait.
Business leaders also hate creativity - they don't want creative approaches but just to take the exisiting techniques and carry them out in more effieintly/in another market/cheaper/quicker and thus make the profit numbers better. For all the waffle about "creative solutions" they spout, business people are samll-c conservatives at heart just like the majority of us.
.....rushing to hide my paints and easel before the boss comes back...
Creative solutions also mean time and attention is needed to enact some level of change. Those are often in short supply for people who run things. The 'good ideas club's.
I agree with you in general. I think there are a couple of coprorate executives that really embrace creativity, but the vast majority are managers and managers manage costs and efficiency, not creativity.
To me the emblematic difference is the succession from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook at Apple. One was highly creative to the point where he encouraged his creative people to fly a pirate flag on their building and not held to account by the rest of the firm. The other one has not launched a really new product since he took office.
I’d like to provide a pertinent example from my own experience. At my workplace, we delayed updating our accounting software for years, despite being aware that it was overpriced and offered no benefits compared to other available options. The reason? We were reluctant to embrace change and learn new methods. However, after finally making the transition, it became apparent how irrational our previous hesitation had been.
The aversion to creativity can also be found in scientific research where fundamental research is shunned by the private sector as opposed to applied research since the former might not yield any profit in the short term while the latter is much more likely to do so. Thus, fundamental research advances depend far more on public funding than applied research does. At the same time, the Nobel Prize in scientific fields is awarded to advances in fundamental research which further our global understanding of the world and can lead to scientific revolutions, thus rewarding creativity.
Thanks for sharing Joachim, A helpful reminder to check my own bias towards creativity.
Business leaders also hate creativity - they don't want creative approaches but just to take the exisiting techniques and carry them out in more effieintly/in another market/cheaper/quicker and thus make the profit numbers better. For all the waffle about "creative solutions" they spout, business people are samll-c conservatives at heart just like the majority of us.
.....rushing to hide my paints and easel before the boss comes back...
Creative solutions also mean time and attention is needed to enact some level of change. Those are often in short supply for people who run things. The 'good ideas club's.
'Good ideas club' stupid auto-correct
Ha. I know that feeling.
I agree with you in general. I think there are a couple of coprorate executives that really embrace creativity, but the vast majority are managers and managers manage costs and efficiency, not creativity.
To me the emblematic difference is the succession from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook at Apple. One was highly creative to the point where he encouraged his creative people to fly a pirate flag on their building and not held to account by the rest of the firm. The other one has not launched a really new product since he took office.
Very very interesting. Thanks for sharing
I’d like to provide a pertinent example from my own experience. At my workplace, we delayed updating our accounting software for years, despite being aware that it was overpriced and offered no benefits compared to other available options. The reason? We were reluctant to embrace change and learn new methods. However, after finally making the transition, it became apparent how irrational our previous hesitation had been.
The aversion to creativity can also be found in scientific research where fundamental research is shunned by the private sector as opposed to applied research since the former might not yield any profit in the short term while the latter is much more likely to do so. Thus, fundamental research advances depend far more on public funding than applied research does. At the same time, the Nobel Prize in scientific fields is awarded to advances in fundamental research which further our global understanding of the world and can lead to scientific revolutions, thus rewarding creativity.
Good point. I think the recent Nobel Prizes for the people who invented the mRNA vaccines are a rare exception.