Is Creativity Dead?

         I once lead a workshop with local business CEOs from some very successful sales corporations about human resource management, building synergy, and cultivating innovation. If you ever want to keep an executive's attention in a meeting, get them to compete with each other in a game. They practically knocked each other over to have the best ideas to have employees cooperate with each other, how to run the best meetings, how to be a better leader, and even how to show employees appreciation. 

         Near the end of the meeting, I said the most fearsome thing to adults, "Let's do a creativity exercise." Eyes the size of dinner plates, I heard the usual excuses, "I'm not very creative," "I hire people to do that," "Oh, is it 3 pm already?" Every time I lead these "Leadership Building" classes, I always ask myself, "Is creativity dead in business? Are we doomed to have future leaders whose only goal is to get rich and die?"

Here's what I had my executives do:

Using the circles below, draw as many pictures as you can in one minute. Whoever has the most gets a *insert prize*.

          

          I've gotten suns, moons, faces, animals, and even one very interesting circus scene from a previous R&D manager. The point of the exercise was not to compete of who had the best ideas or the most drawings. The exercise is a simple way to get the creative juices flowing. 

          I truly believe that the most difficult part of innovation is thinking of a solution in a creative way by inspiration. Creative inspiration comes regardless of brainpower, but is more relevant to life experience, on-the-job knowledge, and observation. Many companies will delude you to think that creativity is a finite source that is only gifted to certain people, but this could not be further than the truth. 

          Imagine that creativity is a deep aquifer beneath the human conscious. Every aquifer has a well in order to take from it. If the pump is rusty and unprimed, very little creativity will come from it. However, if the pump regularly used, inspected, and primed on a daily basis, there is a massive influx of creative energy that can be accessed and used at a moments notice.

          Creative exercises can be a complex as building mental strength and power, or as simple as drawing a picture using circles. The objective isn't to break the glass ceiling with a profound idea, the objective is to make yourself think in a way that ideas can freely come. The harder your try to force an idea to come, the less likely you are to find an idea. 

Here is an exercise for you to do right now:

Take out about ten items from your drawer, purse, bag, or whatever you have with you and create a new use for them. 

          I did this exercise in another Building Leadership class for Business Administration student and it was by far the most hilarious experience of my life. One group of very well dressed men created out of only paperclips a device to hold your beer when you're drunk. And it worked! Another group made a Ziploc bag into a Anti-Walk of Shame emergency kit. These students weren't afraid as coming across as uncreative or personally judged, they thought of an existing problem and made a solution for it.

          Creativity in business is far from dead, but it is running stagnant. As business owner, entrepreneur, or college student who should be studying for exams, you must use your creativity daily in order for it to always be primed to its potential. It is possible to be a CEO of a business and also be an idea designer. You just have to remember to keep your mind primed.

Want more creativity boosters?

HOW: Design Exercises for Inspired Designers 

PsychCentral: Creativity Boosters          

You The Designer: 7 Effective Creativity Boosters