- The importance of creativity to thrive
Yesterday we talked about the continuing trend of automation and machine learning, and what implications this has on people in the future: i.e. how more roles will ultimately be replaced.
Of course, new roles will emerge, and it was our feeling that these roles will increasingly require creativity and innovation: after all, where are the next innovations going to come from? This will surely become the source of value for many companies.
It also became clear that whilst many companies are currently willing to invest finance and resources to becoming, let’s say, more agile, what about becoming more creative? How is that practically achieved? Moreover, how is creativity increased without it being forced and contrived?
It’s a huge topic, but there was one interesting notion that Matt brought into the conversation about ‘relaxing the boundaries’ (no doubt explored in a different post) and also the importance of support required during this stage. It’s important when relaxing the boundaries that the support is there!
This incidentally aligns back with the two of the core principles that we are exploring as a community: to challenge and to support.
- Humour and Stressors
Something I’ve been pondering about is the fact that we need stressors to be impactful enough for a system to adapt. Stressors can be painful and perhaps that’s what’s required to prompt a costly adaption, but as a result there should also be a positive feeling. I think you kind of notice that with sport – that buzz after sport, the endorphins released after exertion bringing us delight, knowing we’ve stressed the body but it was a good stress. We’re better off afterwards. Something that we might want to do again (and again).
I then thought about paradigm shifts. And hacking! Paradigms are these models that we use all the time to aid our understanding, and people often hold on dearly to some paradigms because they don’t want or need to change their outlook on the world. Again it would be upsetting and hurtful to remove such paradigms. But how could we hack a paradigm, and how could it have a positive after feeling after that hacking?
Humour?
Is humour, irony, joking … and the resulting laughter basically the human (natural) response to a paradigm being broken, but with an enjoyable outcome (so that the updated paradigm sticks or and the neurological system is updated!)
- Do Creative People see the World differently?
Key points
- Creativity often measured by divergent thinking (e.g. how many different uses for a brick can you think of)
- Linked to the psychological trait ‘openness’
- Test reveals creative people may see things differently (even at a visual level) – less ‘rivalry suppression’ of visual inputs (can accept and see both things)
- Personality is malleable: people with low divergent thinking can change
- travel truly does ‘broaden the mind’
- psilocybin (1 standard deviation great trait opennes)
- cognitive training interventions)
- Bottegas of the 15th Century
Key points:
- The Renaissance put knowledge at the heart of value creation
- Florentine workshops were communities of creativity and innovation where dreams, passions, and projects could intertwine. The apprentices, workers, artisans, engineers, budding artists, and guest artists were interdependent yet independent
- The bottegas’ three major selling points were turning ideas into action, fostering dialogue, and facilitating the convergence of art and science
- Renaissance workshop was transdisciplinary. This helped create a holistic approach to creativity
- https://hbr.org/2016/04/the-innovative-coworking-spaces-of-15th-century-italy
- Considerations to encourage Creativity
Key points:
- The trick is striking the right balance between structure and creativity by keeping the opposing forces in check and letting them complement—and not override—one another.
- Judgment has no place in the world of art and creativity.
- Protect creativity from ‘order police’
- Be more child-like
- Creativity needs its own time
- Some constraints are necessary
Some similarity here to ‘Restrictions set you free’ by Derek Rivers: https://sive.rs/restr
