Knowledge Vs Experience Vs Creativity

Dear members, 

Recently, two graphics were going viral on various WA groups and on Linkedin. The first graphics had two images that described the difference between knowledge and experience. The second graphics had three images and it described the difference among knowledge, experience and creativity. There is lot to learn from these graphics. Whoever was the originator of these two graphics, the person deserves kudos.

In the second graphics, if we look from the left side we find the order of the images as knowledge, experience and creativity. However, movement need not be in sequence and it is possible to jump directly to the creativity. To be creative, one need not have experience. However, can an experienced person do what creative person did? Chances are remote as experience forces us to fit oneself in the pattern. Breaking the patterns is a difficult process. Experience teaches us to make a linear movement whereas, creativity demands non-linearity.

There is a lesson for the top leadership and consequently HRs, who are obsessed with the experience. Most of the time, the recruitment and selection is based on the experience. This brings a situation wherein all the employees working in particular company or department have similar experience. This helps in maintaining the continuity of the existing processes without flaw. In fact, leadership gives rewards for maintaining continuity. But this brings a contradictory situation in its wake. On the one hand, leadership wants continuity that originates from the past but on another hand creative solutions too. This is nothing but running with hare and hunting with the hounds.

 In the second graphics, the creative person has drawn image of a cat. Possibly before drawing the image, he might have tried several times and erased the wrong one images. This is nothing but “experiment”. Therefore, the second lesson that these two graphics teach is that creativity cannot flourish without experimentation. Out of sheer fear of failure, people are wary of doing any experiments. Leadership can take lead in removing fear of failure. Some losses are inevitable because of the failed experiments. However, it can be recovered once the experiment succeeds.

 Thanks,

 Dinesh Divekar