Liberating our Creative Potential

I have met and worked with people from all walks of life (especially those from my professional career) who said they were not creative. Many said I was the creative and arty type.

The purpose of this article is to really call out those who say that they are NOT creative.

Liberating our Creative Potential

The fact is that we are all naturally creative. As kids we experimented with all kinds of things without a care about what others would think. We walked, crawled, or just ran and experienced highs that gave us insights about our own capabilities. As we grew, we gained more insights through our pursuit of academic or professional courses. Sports, Public Speaking and our encounters with Art, Theatre, Movies, and our Work offered us unprecedented opportunities to get inspired and grow.

If creativity were only limited to artists, architects, engineers and the like then we would not have arrived where we are today. We are witnessing an era of unprecedented creativity, innovation fuelled by human ingenuity and intelligent technologies. Yet almost all the cool technologies that we have at our disposal will never ensure that we will accelerate our path to a more promising future for humanity and the planet. For that we have to fall back on human senses of #observation, #curiosity, #mindfulness, and our own #cognitive skills to make a better world for ourselves and those around us.

In the words of Edward de Bono, “There is no doubt that creativity is the most important resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”

The story of an experiential MRI Machine

I am currently reading – Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley the Founders of IDEO and I can’t seem to keep it down. As I read this book, I am inspired by numerous examples which reconvince me that creativity is for all of us and there are infinite possibilities to apply creativity for Good.

An example that the authors illustrate in this book is the one about MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines.

The story unfolds with the observations of Doug Dietz, a 24-year veteran of General Electric who led the design and development of high-tech medical imaging systems for GE Healthcare. With all his achievements behind him, he had the opportunity of observing the anxiety and fear of a young patient being walked to an MRI Machine. He was moved and came back to think and come up with a solution for dealing with patients who are moved to anxiety during an MRI scan.

I admit that I am personally scared and anxious about MRI scans even after being scanned a couple of times. I just don’t like the experience.

Doug and his team came up with a desirable, feasible and viable solution (those being the cornerstones of human centred design). In one design they came up with a design of the facia of a Pirate Ship Adventure and they trained the technicians to tell the story to children of the pirate ship adventure to ease their angst while they navigated the MRI machine.

In another design they came up with a design of a cylindrical spaceship transporting the young patient into a space adventure. The MRI machines became a big hit especially for paediatric hospitals and their patients considering the fact many of the young patients had to be previously sedated.

What can we do?

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If we can take the time to observe, learn, empathize, and create new experiences for ourselves and those around us, whether at our workplaces and our families and communities then it can be that unconscious competence which can open up infinite possibilities. Creative Confidence is something that spans every profession, vocation, or stage of life. The only limitation is our own #mindset.

I would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with creativity.

And here is that unputdownable book – Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley which I would encourage everyone to read.

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