Creativity is Messy

"Blot out, correct, insert, refine...
Be mindful when invention fails,
To scratch your head, and bite your nails."
- Jonathon Swift

Art is pristine, creativity is messy. The creative process in any vocation is guided by technique. This technique cannot be allowed to hinder creativity. Technique refines and shapes and perfects. Creativity gives you the material to apply technique to. Over the course of my two careers, I have had the privilege of working with some of the most creative people. I like to count myself as one of them. Creativity is a talent but, like any talent, creativity alone isn't enough. Creativity plus technique results in a

What amazed me with the creative process we all followed was how much time was spent building, and tearing down. The creative process was not one of create, refine and finish. It was messy. It was a pursuit of something less scientific and more organic. Singing, dancing, acting, music, fine art. All of the Arts depend on creative talent to take the technique to the next level. The same could be said of sports, science itself, and... you guessed it... Business.

There are formulaic aspects to everything. What people sometimes forget is that the formula grew out of something messy. Even mathematics are messy. A good friend of mine, who is also a mathematician, told me once that a book on mathematics can't be read like a novel. Mathematicians don't start on page one and read to the end. They read and re-read and work and play with the various problems and proofs presented. The highly readable "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson is full of anecdotes of science and its messiness. This is science at its most creative.

One of my mentors taught me many things about being a great manager. This included the idea that you manage the individual. This was further supported in various books on management that I have read. This is messy management. All of a sudden you can't treat everyone the same way. Throw out the Golden Rule! A friend of mine said, I prefer to use the Platinum Rule. "Treat others they way they want to be treated." It really is the Golden Rule framed differently. This is management at its most creative.

A recent issue of "Mind" magazine talks about creativity in an article titled "Unleashing Creativity" (Volume 16, Number 1, page 16). The article discusses how some unique cases of fronto-temporal dementia, a dementia that selectively damages the temporal and frontal lobes. The symptoms are almost a dead-ringer for the reported behaviour of Vincent Van Gogh in his later and most creative years. Others who suffer this dementia see an incredible growth in their creative powers. The article contains a sidebar that describes steps to a creative mind-set. Creativity is not something that is controlled, rather it is something that, as the title of the article suggests, is unleashed.

In today's work world, creativity is essential. Tools and technology have pushed the limits of productivity. To gain that competitive edge, workers must use a high level of creativity to prosper. Every level of an organization must view conventional wisdom with fresh eyes. Ideally, throw out conventional wisdom altogether... but that is another blog entry!

OB