Many of us in the marketing and PR worlds have fallen prey
to second guessing our individual creative capacity. Are we all inherently creative in some shape
or form? Or are our creative genes shut down at an early age when a 5th grade
art teacher sneers at a drawing or ‘artistic project’ we thought (and Mum and
Dad told us!!) was a great piece of creative work?
Think about how you define yourself as the creative type
before dismissing that ideal, picking something else to define you – like an
analytical type, an Alpha type or even a diplomatic type and then moving on to
fulfill that prophecy.
Our continual societal reinforcement that creativity is a
special ‘gift’ that only some people are born with while others aren’t is what
David Burkus, author of The Myths of Creativity says perpetuates these various
myths.
“The truth is, we’re all born with the ability to think
creatively,” says Burkus.
As we grow older, depending on our upbringing and
experiences, we either go on to develop this ability or let it take a backseat.
My view on the “creativity myth” is this: Creativity is like
a muscle that needs to be appropriately nourished, stimulated and exercised. In
other words, creative people push past psychological barriers to act on their
seemingly absurd ideas when noncreative people don’t.
Burkus shares the example of how Kodak invented the digital
camera but rejected it because the executives didn’t think people would be
willing to give up the quality produced by film pictures. Sony then went on to
develop a different prototype and became the pioneers of digital photography…
and the rest is history.
In disciplines like marketing, advertising and public
relations, it’s very common to be pigeonholed into one of two broad categories,
creative or noncreative. While a demarcation between the two categories is
slowly becoming less rigid, it still exists.
Here’s another example that hits closer to home. Bill
Bernbach, regarded as the father of the Creative Revolution (and Modern
Advertising), was instrumental in transforming the advertising world with his
campaigns for Volkswagen and Avis Car Rentals. He’s also credited with being
the first to combine copywriters and art directors into two-person teams—they
commonly had been in separate departments—a model that exists in advertising
agencies today. In fact, that approach is now being applied across different
types of business models, i.e., bringing design, marketing and engineering
teams together (see this example in action at Electrolux).
What does all this mean for the enterprise of today? Can the
knowledge that anyone is ‘creative’ change the way creativity is perceived and
therefore cultivated? And how can this perpetuate the way ideas are accepted,
critiqued and developed within these companies?
I’m constantly challenging my team to find solutions to any
problems and challenges that we’re facing – and to think creatively about
problem-solving.
What are some of the ways in which you apply creativity,
beyond the obvious, to your business? Or are you still struggling with the
“creativity myth” and putting people – and even your own creative capabilities
– into a stifling box?
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