A Creative Change in Mindset

All industry depends on change, particularly a change in mindset. Each company, business or entrepreneur must refresh the mindset in which the principles reflecting the business were formed.

Michael E. Gerber writes: 

...in order to create a successful small business, your venture has to abide by certain principles. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a principle is "A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning." The principles of a business are the driving forces that make it successful. They are the backbone for the organization."

My question is; what are these principles based on? The answer is; usually on research, experience, reasoning, advice, training and so on. But the one factor that is crucial in every principle and in every aspect for achieving success is not addressed or even mentioned; creativity.

Although creativity is experiencing a wave of discovery; it is now on the top ten list of qualities or traits that employers are looking for when hiring and some companies have created a position for the Creative on the team, creativity is still seen as a peripheral, soft skill.

In his book, Just Do 5omething, Mykel Dixon writes, “…unlocking our creativity is no longer a nice to have. It is imperative for our survival in a radically changing world.”

Creativity is still held in the old mindset belief that the arts are something that lies out of the realm of business and that the arts and business don’t mix. There is also the old mindset myth of who a business person is and creative is still an unknown. Although it’s making its way into some curriculum for business development, creativity is a technique that is placed within the boundaries of existing frameworks rather than understanding that every technique and principle can be derived from a creative process and come out stronger. 

Sian Townson writes:

"If we’re going to dispel myths, we need to improve our ability to communicate, with creative approaches such as hands-on activities that encourage self-directed learning. Rather than just trying to stamp out misunderstandings, we need to offer people something else to believe in."

METAPHORS: the language of creative thinking. 

“Walk us through what can be changed now and how.” How does one do that; walk the reader through his or her ideas? Does the writer “map” the ideas out, describe the “path” to take, list the “steps” needed to make the changes? All of these would be valid. All of these would have the reader engage with the writer through the metaphor.

When we think metaphorically we utilize our ability to imagine.  Our imagination is given expression through the non-verbal and verbal language of metaphors.  Whether we use binary, analogue, or the third alternative mode or language of communication between human and computer, the language unique to human and human is the language of metaphor. The metaphor is "out there" to make it possible for us to sense and experience things in an unexpected way.

Christoph Zohlen writes:

"By bringing artists into the corporate innovation process, leaders give their employees permission to experiment. In doing this, you can unlock the talents already lurking within your team.

Zohlen continues:

"Creativity is about connecting ideas that don’t seem to be connected. Artists live for this purpose. It makes perfect sense to use artists to show your team how to look at the world with fresh eyes."

Steve Jobs said the following about creativity:

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while."

Creativity and the imagination that allows creativity to manifest are abilities and as such can be developed, learned, and trained.  We're all creative beings.  Some of us carried this innate ability over into our current adult lives, some of us stopped utilizing it and some us want to re-engage with it.

The basic definition of creativity is: cre·a·tiv·i·ty: noun; the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. - synonyms: inventiveness, imagination, innovation, innovativeness, originality, individuality.

Judging by its synonyms, it is no surprise that the business world is working hard at incorporating and investing in creativity. But here lies the kicker; if creativity is defined as the use of the imagination, unless you understand what that means and how to use it and train others to use it, no one is really being creative.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

Sangeeta BharadwajBadal, Ph.D. writes that highly creative business people "constantly push the boundaries, always experimenting with new ideas to sort the good from the bad. It is this ability to experiment, usually in the face of acute uncertainty, that gives [them] the potential to generate innovative paths to profits."

Imagine That! As sensory beings we have the ability to imagine; recreating sensory impressions and feelings in our minds in the absence of external stimuli.  We can alter, combine, synthesize and otherwise manipulate sensory images to form images and ideas of things never perceived in reality.

If you have any doubt about what I have presented I will let Alan Iny speak directly to you about the most creative way to break mindset models in his talk,Reigniting creativity in business, as he turns the metaphor of “thinking outside the box” on its head.

credit images:

www.brooklynmuseum.org

poshcommunication.com

www.dreamstime.com

This Buzz is an edited version of a post originally appearing on LinkedIn.

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