Creativity Began With A Crayon

Many of us were coloring before we even knew what the word "coloring" was.

My parents like telling the story about how I opened up a wrapped present and found a brand new box of Crayola's.

"I got tayons, people!" I proudly announced to the world.

Creativity began with a crayon. Scribbles. Doodles. Those Van Gogh's of our childhood will never be big sellers. But they were perhaps some of the most valuable pieces in the establishment of who we would become as individuals.

Creativity began with a crayon.

But not long after, so did conformity.

"Draw within the lines," is something we were taught upon entering school.

"Color by number," is something we began to do without even having to be told.

And creativity began to die just a little.

On Monday, we brought together some of the brightest minds in Connecticut to entirely revamp a business model for a 2015 project of epic proportions. Everyone brought their laptops. Their cell phones. Their iPads. We had all of the technology that we could never need. So I told everyone to put it away.

They looked at me like I was nuts.

Then I rolled out a massive sheet of paper across the entire conference table and opened a brand new box of crayons.

I brought the crayons up to my face and took a deep breath of fresh wax. And I was transported back to being a kid.

Everyone grabbed a crayon. Then we spent 15 minutes drawing, doodling and writing the most outrageous thoughts and ideas that anywhere else would have people committed.

We were committed, alright - committed to creativity. By the end of our session that day, we had a plan, a strategy and a vision that didn't resemble anything close to what we all had in mind when we came together that day.

Our team is going to color outside the lines in 2015. The hell with conformity.

Happy 2015. Time to grab some crayons.

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POSTED BY

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Kyle Reyes is the President and Creative Director of The Silent Partner Marketing, New England's #1 Marketing Agency. We're a boutique marketing firm focused on helping businesses grow in an age of exploding technology. You can find him on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. He's the Chuck Norris of marketing. It's outrageous - we know. That's kind of the point. Outrageous marketing - extraordinary results. And yes - he wants to connect with you onLinkedIn, so send him a request!