Creativity in Business
What is the role of creativity in the modern business world?
0. An introduction
In this note, we discuss a topic that is particularly important to me. I literally dedicated most of my career to developing and promoting the concept of Creativity in Business. I believe there is more to say than what could fit in one note, but I'll try.
1. The truth about Creativity
I believe there is a massive misconception when we speak about Creativity. A simple google search will reveal how little we think of Creativity and how easy it is to trivialize a concept that is as far as trivial as possible.
Most of the time, we confuse or jumble together fundamental concepts that are, in reality, very distinct. I believe no one explained this better than Bruno Munari in his Masterpiece “Fantasia”.
Munari makes an important distinction between fantasy, Invention, Imagination, and Creativity. Here are his definitions:
Fantasy is our ability to think about something that wasn’t existing before, even if unrealistic.
Invention is our ability to conceive something that wasn’t existing before but with strictly practical use not concerning form or aesthetics.
Imagination is our ability to Visualize something that wasn’t existing before, allowing it to take shape in our mind even if not existing.
Creativity, at last, is our ability to Conceive something that wasn’t existing before, which is feasible at scale and in an essential way.
Creativity = Fantasy + Invention
My Definition of Creativity
Creativity is our ability to combine knowledge in unique and unexpected ways.
I always stress the concept that the English word creativity comes from the Latin term create, “ to create, make’.’
Many believe Creativity is a Trait something that you either have or don’t have.
In reality, Creativity is something that you do or don’t do. Therefore Creativity is a Practice, not a Trait, and it can be learned.
2. Why is creativity in business so important?
The World Economic Forum since 2018 states that among the top five core skills to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there are:
1. Creativity,
2. Emotional Intelligence,
3. Critical/Analytical Thinking,
4.Embracing Change, and
5. Active Learning.
LinkedIn named Creative Thinking the most demanded skill nowadays. So why is exactly creativity so important in business?
Like it or not, globalization, information technology, and continuously changing environments created what is defined as a VUCA world. A market that is Volatile (V), Uncertain (U), Complex (C), and Ambiguous (A). In these scenarios, resilience, agility, capacity for adaptation, and Creative thinking are the only way to turn a rapidly changing external environment to our advantage.
3. Creativity is not enough
Now that we covered the creativity side of the equation let’s talk about the business side. We widely demonstrated creativity is an essential skill, but creativity needs the appropriate environment to flourish.
And this is generally where some problems arise.
Creativity requires sharp intelligence and elasticity. An unbiased mind ready to learn whatever is needed on different occasions and modify one’s opinion if a more suitable solution arises.
This mode of thinking is fundamentally in contradiction with the current state of business, where standardization, optimization, stability, predictability, and routine environments are still regarded as optimal.
Here is where a conundrum arises.
How can we demand our people to be creative but operate in a way that is basically the exact opposite?
I can assure you that this conundrum is not only present in Conventional Businesses but even in organizations or Institutions that state that promotes or prize creativity as one of their core pillars.
Not all is lost
As we shine a light on the “real” problem of creativity in a business environment, we need to understand how we can create the appropriate environments, incentives, structure, and leadership to allow our people to produce creative work.
There is a beautiful book that I highly recommend to anyone truly interested in Leading creative and Innovative organizations.
Collective Genius by Harvard professor Linda Hill et al.
Harvard Business Review Press (2014).
There is also a Wonderfull article in HBR
In this Wonderful book Prof. Hill states that innovative organizations are communities that have three capabilities:
creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution.
Interestingly, we seldom talk about the individual's creative qualities in this book but rather about the leadership and environments in this kind of work.
4. Fostering collective Genius
Here are the core lessons I took away from the book.
Leading creative and innovative environments is about creating a space where people are willing and able to do the hard work of innovative problem finding and problem-solving.
These are the three things you should focus on.
Environments, Incentives, and Leadership
- Environments: Create an environment that fosters collaborative problem solving, discovery-driven learning, and Integrated decision making
- Incentives: The incentive system is not only based on compliance but rather on the ability to translate negative outcomes into learning opportunities and valuable insights
- Leadership: Last but not least, embrace a different kind of Leadership. I call it Disruptive Leadership, where the fundamental role of the leader is to create a space where people are willing and able to share and combine their talents and passions. Leaders are a role model, a connector and an aggregator of viewpoints rather than a dictator of viewpoints.
To do so, Leaders need to create the infrastructure for this to happen.
5. The true power of Creativity
When we create the appropriate environments, incentives, structure, and leadership to allow our people to be creative. We are investing in the future and resilience of our organization—assuring that no matter the changing conditions, we will effectively respond and grow.
This is the true power of Creativity in Business.