Chapter 2: A story of creativity.

Why we need to reconnect with our creative inner nature.

Welcome to the second chapter of the "What if" content series. After an inspiring, human-centered, and world-improving story from Maria Capel (Lead UX-UI designer at Naughty Dog), it's time for a story about creativity from one of the most prolific and brilliant creative minds I ever met. Ignasi Tudela (Global creative director at Polaroid).

We all live in a crossroads moment right now. The pandemic pushed us to show our true colors to make decisions between life and death, hard individualism or collectivism, control and empowerment, fear and knowledge and, between new ideas, new approaches, new ways of thinking, and paralysis.

Ignasi is one of the minds that the world needs in moments like this. I know Ignasi for years, and as his former colleague at HerraizSoto, I know that he has something that creativity needs, he has bravery.

This bravery made him one of the best creative minds in Wieden&Kennedy Amsterdam for more than a decade and, his courage is inspiring because he understands that now is the best moment to challenge things by starting asking What If.

Somebody said, ideas are like small glass butterflies, they are born in a hostile environment, it is straightforward to break them down, you need to gently take care of them while they are small and fragile, but if you are brave enough, strong enough you will make them shine. 

After this prologue, I leave you with Ignasi's reflections.

The state of creativity 

In a world where there's so much uncertainty, only creativity can help us find a better way. That's not new news. We all know it; we are all born creative. Creativity is what took us here in the first place. It is humankind's tool to solve problems based on our experiences.

Thanks to creativity, and its results, I'm writing this on my laptop, sitting in front of an inspiring painting, looking to a stormy day through my window. For me, it hasn't been easy to get here.

Through high-school, I even got a teacher throwing my drawing pad in the garbage bin, telling me that's useless shit, in front of the class. Lovely. And fast forward, I helped numerous known brands to solve business problems through creativity. And by moving into Polaroid, I just opened a new chapter on the exploration of what creative thinking can do.

Creativity has many enemies. The documentary A Remix Manifesto gives a good insight into how the music industry of the past striving to control the future through shutting down the music sharing hub, Napster:

"Culture always builds on the history. The past always tries to control the future. To build free societies, you must limit control of the past."

These clashes between the old and the new are the root of some of the problems we are facing today.

We live in an accelerated world that is continuously changing and increasing the level of complexity. Tech and internet industries have propelled Culture to a whole new level of continually changing dynamics that touch so many aspects of our daily lives. This volatile and ever-changing scene has proven a problematic environment for larger structures that need security and predictability.

We've all seen examples of how large corporations with almost unlimited resources are beaten by a hand full of kids in a garage. And we know why. When you have a team with no historical constrictions, no fear of losing, and all you want is to find something of value, all you have is everything.

You have the freedom to create, with no other restraint. And just like that, a group of kids can create the opportunity to change the world. New generations that have grown up in this age of tech and internet fully understand the infinite world of learning out there beyond the textbook. And through their many idols, they know the opportunity and power in creativity.

Although the central power structures in place struggle with change, many of the problems we're facing today can only be solved with creative solutions. It takes creativity to find a vaccine to a pandemic. It takes creativity to find answers to slowing global warming. It takes creativity to change the way you work suddenly, also in some cases, with children at home.

Are we killing creativity?

If we know that creativity solves problems, and creativity helps us navigate through uncertainty, then why are we not nurturing creativity in our governments and societal systems? Is it because it is threatening to the power structures in place? Is it simply more comfortable to tell the kid their sketchbook is useless, so they fit into the machine that preserves the stability of power?

"Education is meant to take us into the future that we can't grasp. If you think of it, children starting school this year will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue, despite all the expertise, what the world will look like in five years".—Sir Ken Robinson

Global freedom of expression is at its lowest for over a decade. Gains that were made between 2008-2013 have been eroded over the last five years. Repressive responses to street protests are contributing to the decline in freedom of expression around the world.

A rise in digital authoritarianism sees governments taking control of internet infrastructure, increasing online surveillance, and controlling content. The numbers of journalists, communicators, and human rights defenders being imprisoned, attacked and killed continues to grow. Sixty-six countries with a combined population of more than 5.5 billion people – saw a decline in their overall freedom of expression in the last decade.

— The Global Expression Report 2018-19

If this report is any indication, old oppressive power structures are gaining momentum. So I ask, what if things were the opposite? What would the world look like if we were the Republic Of Creativity? A republic with problem solving and adaptability at its core. What would our schools look like? Our cities?

Welcome to the Republic Of Creativity.

What would a government look like with policies driven by creativity? Imagine a parliament with political parties solving society's problems under the HP garage rules :

I.    Believe you can change the world.

II.    Work quickly; keep the tools unlocked, work whenever.

III.    Know when to work alone and when to work together.

IV.    Share — tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.

V.    No Politics. No bureaucracy.

VI.    The people define a job well done.

VII.   Radical ideas are not bad ideas.

VIII.  Invent different ways of working.

IX.    Contribute every day.

X.    Believe that together we can do anything.

XI.  Invent.

Imagine a president or prime minister that would have to present to its citizens' new policies like Steve Jobs introducing the new iPhone, with thorough visual proof and details of the tax money well spent. And how about a Wall Street where one invests in problems they'd like to see solved? Would we find ways to create less food waste and solve world hunger? Would our seas be filling with plastic?

The truth of the matter is that creativity has many names. We call it innovation, originality, expressiveness, inspiration, vision, artistry, imagination. It is around our everyday lives when we walk when we take a picture when we read when we have an idea.

It would help if you were brave enough to take action and express that creativity in the best way you can, and most of the time, be ok with being the fool in the room. But when it works, "it is a hell of a feeling," and it can make us cry, it can make us feel alive, it can fill stadiums, and it can change Culture forever.

Creativity is in all of us, is the evolutive advantage that makes us human and fuels our progress. And like many others, expressing our imagination is that craft that we need to train to put our ideas out there.

In today's world, with the constant increase of complexity and mindless scrolling, we better start training it early and care about our ideas like they are glass butterflies because these butterflies will lead us into the future.

Thanks, Ignasi.

For us, as a consultancy, the exciting question is:

What if we could put the power of creativity at the service of solving the many issues that businesses face in the crisis and beyond?

In memoriam of Sir. Ken Robinson, a true inspiration.