“I’m just not the creative type.” “They’re the creative ones, so they should do this part of the project.” “I wish I was more creative, but that’s definitely not my area.”
Sound familiar? There’s a current LinkedIn group discussion I noticed about “How do you define creativity?” I saw several hundred people sharing their definitions. I didn’t read any of them.
The reason is because I have been thinking about that topic on and off for a long time—because of all the times I hear people I know tell me they are NOT “creative types.”
Each time I hear this, I typically share five words: I doubt that very much.
My answer is based one simple belief: that most people confuse creativity with “artistic talent.” But it’s not the same at all.
This misunderstanding usually begins in high school, like a bad case of acne. Before high school, do you remember how we all had to take art and music? Some students were more naturally gifted than others in these subjects. But we all participated, and were better for it, even if we did not grow up to be the next Matisse or Marsalis.
But shortly after we hit high school, something happened. We no longer had to take art or music beyond typically a one-year requirement. After that year, that was that. Some people (the smaller group) were labeled creative. The rest were not. The labels were applied quickly, even though just two years earlier, we ALL had paintbrushes in our hands, and were willing to use them (or at least to try using them, and trying is more than half the creative battle).
After a couple more years, we began applying the same labels to non-artistic “creative” exercises. The idea that some of us were creative, and the rest were not, became embedded in our brains.
So those who were not labeled creative in high school, assumed their usual roles. They firmly believed it, too. Didn’t even challenge it. They henceforth hardly ever now as adults give themselves permission to participate in creative exercises. They’re often are not even invited to join in, anyway. Those in control or managing something (people who also self-label themselves “non-creatives”) go and find or go hire “a creative person” to help solve the riddle of the day.
On the flip side, there became a large group of other folks led to believe that because they had nurtured an artistic talent of some kind (e.g. writing, design, music, etc.), that they alone have claim to the creative moniker. Some were, and some were not, in the larger sense of the word. An entire set of professionals in advertising and related industries now uses the word “creative” to define their artistic talents.
It is not the same thing as creativity though. It’s the acne thing all over again.
But what we CAN learn from them is the formula, or rather the anti-formula. Artistic individuals have given themselves absolute permission to experiment and play with alternative solutions, concepts and a world of what ifs. Jazz improvisation, expressionism, cubism, rap, hip-hop, poetry, and a whole history of examples come to mind.
Think you’re not creative? How many times in your past that you have labeled yourself that way? How many times have you let others define you that way, and you never challenged it?
You are very likely creative in some, or in many potential ways. No one owns that opportunity. No one can keep you out of the sandbox. And your organization, business, volunteer group and community needs you to jump in way more often. (The fewer the creative ideas we allow to be generated, the smaller the chance of finding the best ideas worth pursuing.)
The creativity sandbox is nice, because it has no punishments for coming up with imperfect potential solutions. You just have to let yourself in, and allow yourself to enjoy what we once took for granted as kids. The freedoms to play, think, ponder and plan without constraints, criticism or the rules of official decision-making.
My advice is also for the “creative types” who are highly skilled in some form of artistic talent. Take extra time pondering the other side of true creativity. Have a catchy slogan, gorgeous logo, clever campaign? We need them. But in what ways will it create a solution to a business or organizational challenge besides being temporarily memorable?
Sometimes, being memorable for an extra week or month and keeping top-of-mind awareness of a name or product is all that is called for. It’s tough being noticed and maintaining awareness in a crowded jungle of similar brands, products and ideas. But will your idea, over time, address a need with a better solution than the present way? Will it help win over more new customers, keep existing customers coming back, enhance loyalty to brand, provide greater value to customers, or make any processes more efficient, profitable or effective on either the client or customer side?
If it will not, it’s not a creative solution by definition or practice. It’s just clever and artistic.
Clever, artistic, hip, cool, killer, rockin’, awesome and hot are catchy, fun and exciting. You may even have your social media channels “blow up” (in a good way) for a week or month. But in the end, if it does not solve the challenge, and just titillated, we should return to the sandbox and start fresh.
Only this time, invite a few “non-creative” people in to play, too. As a team, I bet your group may come up with something that can be carved and sanded into true and meaningful positive outcomes.
It's not that you don't need artistic ideas and fresh designs and campaigns. You do, and I'm the first to encourage you to pay experts for those. Just make sure you work effectively with your internal or external teammates to come up with, well, "creative" solutions.
It'll be good for business, and even better for you.
John Senall is principal and founder of Mobile First Media and Digital Healthcom Group. He personally labels himself as semi-artistic (e.g. writer, occasional designer and video guy), but usually he just hires excellent people to do most of that because they are fun to work with and way better than he is at that stuff. He does fancy himself to be creative, though. Not sure how that happened over the years, but maybe it's because of his jazz drumming roots and his track record of achieving results in communications and marketing management. Call 716-361-9124, or emailjohn@mobilefirstmedia.com if you have a sandbox and want to jump in.
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