Why you need to care about creativity

It continually amazes me how myopic some leaders are. Let me tell you what I want to say.

Last week, the CEO of an organization hired me to be the keynote speaker at their annual conference in October. The theme of the keynote address is Producing under pressure. After agreeing on the details of the main program, I asked him, “What do you have on the agenda to help your team think more creatively?” (I have an excellent hands-on session on this topic that I thought might fit well.)

“Oh, we don’t need any of that creativity,” he said. “We’re not really in a creative business. Besides, I don’t want my people wearing clown noses to work and sitting in armchairs.”

Wow.

This CEO, a very successful man, equates “creative thinking” with “wearing clown noses to work.” That’s sad. But what’s even sadder is that this is not an uncommon reaction. Many leaders see “creative thinking” as just another disposable “soft skill.”

This, despite the fact that:

• The Tesla Model S was the result of “creative thinking”

• The Hershey Almond Bar was the result of “creative thinking”

• Double-entry bookkeeping was the result of “creative thinking”

• The iPhone was the result of “creative thinking”

• Agriculture (and its by-product, civilization) was the result of “creative thinking.”

I’m pretty sure neither Elon Musk, Milton Hershey, Amatino Manucci, Steve Jobs, or Thog Thogson wore clown noses (although Musk and Jobs may have sat on beanbags). (Also, while I can’t prove that the guy who invented farming was named Thog Thogson, you can’t prove that he, or she, wasn’t.)

The simple fact is that everything that has ever created a profit for any company in history has been the result of creative thinking.

Soft skill? I think creative thinking is the core skill!

And when there’s pressure, when serious consequences are at stake, you want people around you who can think outside the box. Because?

Because things don’t always go well. You’ve heard the adage about the “best laid plans”, right?

When things don’t go your way, particularly when the outcome is important, you want, not need, options. And, like the iPhone and the Hershey bar, the options are the result of “out-of-the-box thinking.”

But listen, don’t take my word for it. Rent a copy of Apollo 13 and see that scene where engineers in Houston had to cobble together a carbon dioxide scrubber interface to keep stranded astronauts alive. The success of that mission (sorry, spoiler alert!) is what happens when pressure and creativity intersect.

There is no industry, organization, or team on earth (or in space) that cannot benefit from creativity.

And there isn’t a leader on earth (or in space) who doesn’t have to worry about creativity.