Do you believe in “creative side” of a human being? What, why and how?

The March month was full of surprises that came in a much more spontaneous ways for me personally. Ultimately, it brought me back to my era of dancing – for over a decade of my life it was my main passion, more than a hobby, a big and important part of my life. It allowed me to express my creative side, developed it further and introduced me to the whole different world of sport dancing (i.e. Ballroom and Latin). Furthermore, through dance related experiences, I learnt better communication, collaboration, discipline, and the value of hard work. Is there anything you are passionate about in a similar way, writing, reading, or perhaps painting? I am a true believer that every person has some sort of creative side to themselves. This side might not be consistent or easily visible, depending on what any person does in life. Some people can balance it better, some need to make a conscious effort to support that side or restrict it at times (indeed, it could be hard to not to start dancing in the middle of the user conference, when you hear a good beat). To start with, allow me to clarify what I mean by “creative side” and what is the perceived value of it.

What is it you imagine that defines “creative personality” or “creativity” overall? Do you think of musicians or artists like Mozart or Picasso, or about scientists like Einstein (or some pseudo-scientists)? In your mind, does creativity go against science, precision or your understanding of strategy? To that, let me just put forward and recommend further research on the topic of Design Thinking methodology and its value for creative and effective problem solving - https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-design-thinking-works. I welcome you to research further and also tap into the Complexity Theory - originated in the social science, it made its way and proved itself to be effective within the context of Information Systems (IS) too - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272353040_Complexity_Theory. Do you know of some questions that would always have answers like “it depends”? Well, I would argue that applying the complexity theory might help you to gain further insights into what are those dependencies and what can be done to ultimately solve the perceived problem. In this vein, I summarize the definition of creativity as a particular way of thinking, outside the box, which is at heart of every innovative solution that can be effectively applied to solve a real life problem. Most importantly, my understanding of “creative” does not stand opposite to “scientific”. Hence, creative side in every human being should be encouraged, supported and welcomed, contributing to diversity and recognition of complexity of various systems of our lives.

Now, can you imagine a situation, or possibly just remember once, when you were able to use your creative skills as transferrable for your main field of work, or maybe they helped you to find common interests, build better rapport and relationships with a customer, or even to close a deal? Possibly you turned your passion into a business? Alternatively, have you ever noticed how your creative side might help you express yourself and aid your mental health? In summary, I would like to argue that the creative side comes helpful in much wider context of our lives, thus it is beneficial to invest time in fulfilling it and developing further. Although, creative side of your personality might overlap with personal development, or Hobby in more general sense, these are not the same and should be approached differently. Some people might view the creativity as talent or special gift of a person, they would argue that we cannot waste our talents. It does seem debatable to me, by the end of the day, some specific talents we discover only later in life, or not discover at all, personal perception will always be biased. However, similar to the understanding of talent, I believe that the creativity can be inspired by various things and can realize in different shapes and forms.

To complete a quick recap, I believe that some sort of creative side is present in every human. It could be called differently, like talent or gift or generally creativity, but it can be fulfilled in multiple ways (one would hope that rather positive ways). Often, creativity allows explaining complex things and proves valuable in multiple contexts. What I did not discuss in this article is the extreme behaviors that could be called “creative”, but could indeed be also destructive. I encourage you to explore that angle on your own, as there is depth in it also and various overlaps that you can find examples for. One thing for certain, if you possess any creativity, please use it for the good of humanity. Thank you!