Creativity is the Life Energy of Business

It is a gift we can imagine new in order to solve problems, to assist, to lead, to inspire, to create, to recreate old or what doesn't work well, simply with an idea.

What is an idea anyway?

It is an incubation of thought instantly given life, usually, at the time we least expect it. Maybe under pressure, but likely, the best ideas are the connections we make when there is space and time to process our world and interactions. For me, this doesn’t happen in front of a computer. When I step away for long walks, tending my rose garden, decompressing in my kitchen with 6 pots of things boiling, I have space to think. How do you do this?

The most talented people I know in business are creative. Let’s not miss assign what that means. I know plenty of stories of sales reps showing up uninvited to New Years Eve parties to get contracts signed. That’s not creative, that’s poor planning and bad manners. That’s a business in desperation with no regard for reputation or future referrals. Reputation is all the currency one has in this world. That’s another post.

Creativity is about freedom. It is about the wiliness to explore and be okay to fail. The best businesses, are creative and allow for critical problem solving versus the micro programming of a workforce to the point people don’t fee valued or trusted to THINK and do. Thomas J. Watson built a company enabling people to solve problems. This is why through adversity, macro changes in technology and business, IBM transforms time and again for over 100+ years. There are few companies in the world that have this muscle to evolve. The core of their disciple stems from creativity. Innovators do this.

We are at a point in time, in the new world of work, where companies are having a reckoning of how to lead during a perfect storm of economic, talent and crisis of trust. On a broad spectrum, how to lead people in this era rests at the intersection of creativity, integrity and trust. How much do employees understand and embrace a mission, while upholding company values in an increasing decentralized workforce economy? Are you empowering people to be creative in how they do their jobs and allow enough space for people to bring their best minds to work? Why is this important anyway?

The smart folks at HBR think this is important. Concerning Creativity and the Role of the Leader, they write, 'what used to be an intellectual interest for some thoughtful executives has now become an urgent concern for many. The shift to a more innovation-driven economy has been abrupt'. Abrupt indeed, in which the velocity of change is fierce. The pace of innovation has accelerated at a speed unthinkable. To remain competitive, multi disciplinary teams, backgrounds and styles of thinking are required to stay ahead. This is a main feature of DE&I. That whole companies and industries built on group think happens because of the absence of diverse thought. Yep, I said that.

I am a fan of the business story of AirBnB a little company who got their start in Austin at SXSW. If you love podcasts, check out the story of AirBnB on Secret Sauce. Brian Chesky, a scrappy as they come Cofounder and CEO, tells Fortune, 'creatives need to be in the room ...and that numbers are not the language of business, language is the language of business'. 'Obsessing over ideas, creativity, and customer experience instead of money' is the "Secret Sauce" that helps AirBnB generate $3B in free cash flow during economic adversity. AirBnB is unafraid of change, and humility is part of their being. It is self actualization in business as a leader, to know in your heart the answers may be discovered by others and by teams.

I was speaking with a new business acquaintance who said matter of factly, "we are all creative." It is an issue of how to inspire people to discover their natural gifts we can begin to connect with a part of ourselves, repressed or completely unknown. I am reading countless stories of burnout among the best and brightest in industries. Many companies driven by templates, and rote programs to fine tune operations, are driving a silent sickness within their organizations that manifests at scale in the form of boredom and burnout. The core concept for leaders to avoid such a trap is to consider, creativity is the life energy of business. Leaders can inspire and help manifest the sparks to drive innovation, but they must first get comfortable with the concept that the best ideas can come from anywhere and from anyone in an organization. Do you know who the dreamers, thinkers, and tinkerers are?