Creativity in the Time of Coronavirus

Dear Friends,

I trust you are all well, staying safe, healthy and sane during these difficult times. To this end, I am taking the liberty to opine with you all on a completely unintentional, though very special and important conversation I had with a friend last week. My friend is a theatre director here in Philadelphia, and I have worked with him in the past with respect to improving my presence through his theatre training workshops. We were meant to talk about a project on team-working, but right away started a conversation on the massive and rapid changes to our lives, and the black clouds that are looming in terms of the economy, the physical and mental health of our society, our lack of social norms, and the avoidance of physical contact with our friends, families, co-workers and others.  

During our chat, we quickly pivoted on to the silver lining afforded to us by the Coronavirus situation, or what I might call Creativity in the Time of Coronavirus.

First, working from home is enabling me to spend more time with my new co-workers, namely my 4y daughter and 8y son – it is so great that my daughter joined me briefly on one of my conference calls and said hello to others on the call. I am fortunate to connect with my kids much more, be it on what they are doing through home school, or just talking openly about the coronavirus and what might happen. We are sitting together at dinner, which does not happen in my regular schedule as I leave home before the kids are awake, and often return home when they are getting ready for bedtime. I took a morning break today to fill the dishwasher, clean the kitchen surfaces, and vacuum the floors – which was a great experience – really! All of these examples are small things that many people do every day, but to me, these are special and not my norm. Whilst early days, I am much less negative toward the concept of working from home.

Second, my interactions with my team at work are much more purposeful. When someone on a video or phone call asks me how I am doing, or how my day is going, rather than providing a simple and transactional one word answer of ‘good’, I am more thoughtful of my response. I am asking my work colleagues much more about their home life, how they are doing with their family and friends, and what they are doing to get through these times. Just as my two kids have every morning meeting in their school classrooms, I have set up 15 minute morning meetings with my team – what do they want to share, what do they want to ask, and what are they worried about? We watched Stand By Me sung in Windsor Castle during the Royal Wedding - it was a very special experience. We may even have virtual happy hours too! 

Third, we are enabling our natural world to take a breath from our excessive carbon footprint. I am usually on an airplane every week, and drive to and from work every day. That is not happening right now. I spend up to $20 per day on coffee, lunch and snacks – whilst this is bad for our small local businesses, aside from the economic savings for me, it is again a new experience for me to make my own lunch, and be somewhat more frugal with what is in the refrigerator. Rather than just buying more of our favorite foods, we are trying to eat and drink what we have in our kitchen, some of which has been stuck in the back cupboards for many months. 

And fourth, this is great time for us to read more, think more, and explore more. Yesterday I had a phone call from one of my fellow surgeons asking if he thought we could make a low-cost ventilator machine, in the next 5-7 days. I was completely thrown by the thought process, and a quick google search found multiple videos and papers on a low-cost home-made ventilator, and two hackathons to try to figure out real solutions. My theatre director friend was chatting about a production that he is going to do, which by virtue of being virtual, now is not limited by geographical location – so he is involving some of his actors from Europe, Asia, and other sites. Just take a look at other examples of creative spontaneity, such as the online videos of the opera singer on his balcony in Italy, and the pianist in Spain who was joined by a saxophonist in a nearby apartment building. 

So, my question to us all is how can we build Creativity in the Time of Coronavirus? Can we take time to underpin the current situation toward a strong and solid silver lining with creativity, divergent thinking and positivity? We know that children do not have a fear of failure, and by definition, are hard-wired to color outside of the lines; it is our education system that makes them color within the lines, in an organized and disciplined manner. Similarly, Picasso once stated that ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up’. Outside of Picasso’s ignorance of our little girls (!), his words have resonated with me for many years, such that when we grow up, we are educated to lose the creativity we once had when we were a child. 

So, if the world changes so quickly, that our rules of the road, our home truths, and our ways of engaging and living, change within a few days, not only for us, but for the entire global population of seven and a half billion people, then how can we be creative, thoughtful, opportunistic and above all, optimistic for our future? Is there a small chance that once we move on from the global Coronavirus crisis, we will emerge as a society, a people, and a humanity that is a little better, that understands each other, that works together, and grows toward prosperity?

So, is there a chance for Creativity in the Time of Coronavirus?