Be creative. The rest can wait

We live in a society that pays attention and it encourages ”creativity”. Teachers want this from their students, managers want it from their employees, customers want it from their producers.

To be creative, you have to be passionate about a certain domain and committed to research it. In business, creativity takes time and it assumes some risks.

Because of this, there are some behaviors that can help your brain to create new ideas:

But when there are a lot of people who use a concept, there are also a lot of meanings and definitions of it.

Generally speaking, creativity is the act of creating new things. It is the ability to analyze the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns and to generate solutions.

Everyone has creative abilities and everyone can develop this skill. The idea that only ”gifted” people are creative is a myth.

• Associating: imagine connections between ideas from unrelated areas
• Questioning: ask questions which will raise new topics
• Observing: analyze other people behaviors to identify new ways of doing things
• Networking: meet people with different ideas and perspectives
• Experimenting: provoke new actions and responses to see what insights emerge

We tend to compare our abilities, but it is important to know also about what kind of creativity we talk about. Experts tend to distinguish between four types of creativity - the “four c” model of creativity (“Mini-c” creativity / “Little-c” creativity / “Pro-C” creativity / “Big-C” creativity). This type of creativity leads to eminence and acclaim and often leads to medical innovations, technological advances, and artistic achievements.

In business, creative people and managers are not usually ”best friends”. Creative people need space and freedom, but managers are target and profit oriented. We need creative people because they see ”the big picture” and they come with ideas from a different perspective. To have success, we can put the creative people in a team with a conventional approach person and with tolerance for their way of working. We have to give them proper tasks and to recognize as well their merits.

In the end, I suggest a Ted speech on creativity.

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