Unlocking Creativity: Develop Your Creative Mind

The concept of creativity has fascinated me since I first attended the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity a few years ago. This event is full of inspiration, where every conversation—whether with a top-notch brand, a communication agency, a tech giant, an influential media company, or a marketing leader peer—sparks new ideas.

With the advancement of generative AI, creativity is gaining even more traction. It is the number one skill that can help achieve true differentiation in business and marketing, especially in our highly competitive and uncertain era. Let’s explore what creativity is and its benefits. I’ll also share a few ways I nurture and develop it within myself and my teams.

According to our valuable assistant, ChatGPT-4, creativity is the ability to generate new and valuable ideas. For me, it also means finding innovative ways to approach strategy, execution, decision-making, or problem-solving. Recently, I learned from the CEO of a leading medical clinic that the main benefit of creativity stems from curiosity, which cannot coexist with fear or negative thinking. As humans, we cannot experience high interest and fear simultaneously. Enhancing your creativity skill will allow you to expand your thinking and be happier. Creativity also unites teams, people, and business ecosystems.

Ways to Develop Creativity

1. Spend Time with Kids and Young Adults

I am fortunate to be part of the newly formed TCS Good Growth Kids network, an initiative under TCS Good Growth, founded by the inspirational Priyanka Sethi four years ago. This network helps women entrepreneurs connect and grow. At our recent event aimed at sharing what office professions can mean for 11-16 year olds and helping them choose their future paths, we invited Rohini Contractor to lead a Business Model Canvas development workshop. Rohini is one of the most inspirational and impressive people I have ever met. She is a strong advocate for start-ups that want to disrupt their sector, engage early adopters, and take brands on a journey of transformation. Her mission is to drive change for women and children, and she has an incredible story to tell, breaking through in the field of pediatric intensive care nutrition.

Watching kids work in groups and come up with creative business ideas was a priceless experience. Their lack of insecurities or fear, driven by the desire to play, participate, and share with others, was an invaluable lesson in feeding creativity. As a result, the teams came up with app ideas related to slow fashion, climate change, and technology impact. Who knows, we might implement some of them in the future!

2. Expose Yourself to Art Regularly

Art grows from creativity. It evokes emotions, heals, and can be thought-provoking and uncertain. Whether it’s a painting, a theatre performance, or a sculpture exhibition, art awakens creativity. It can also help you understand our past, how people behaved and lived. For example, this weekend, I took my cousin to the “Fragile Beauty” photography exhibition at the V&A Museum in London. The collection depicted life in America during the 60s and 70s. The photographers captured the emotions people felt, the inequality they experienced, and despite all the hardships, how they still loved, laughed, and lived life to the fullest. This exhibition inspired me to write this blog.

3. Train Yourself to Be Creative and Come Up with Ideas

I believe that as a leader, you have a responsibility to encourage creativity in your projects and programs. This will also increase team morale and culture. At TCS, we value research and innovation to solve pressing problems faced by industries and society. Continued learning, sharing and creativity come hand in hand with it.

There are many books and methods available to develop your creative thinking and ideas. I included a few resources at the end of this blog. You can choose what works best for you. Recently, I came across a simple method called the “10 Ideas” technique. All you need to do is write a list of 10 ways to solve a problem or situation. The points do not need to be realistic or execution-proof. I have been practicing this technique lately and look forward to using it with my teams.

Additionally, utilising design thinking techniques can significantly enhance creativity. Design thinking involves understanding the user’s needs, redefining problems, and creating innovative solutions to prototype and test. By focusing on empathy, ideation, and experimentation, design thinking encourages out-of-the-box thinking and helps teams come up with creative solutions to complex problems.

How do you develop and feed your creative mind? Please share in comments.

Helpful links:

• Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection - Exhibition at V&A South Kensington · V&A (vam.ac.uk)
• Edward de Bono on creative thinking Bing Videos
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at TCS
• Join the movement (2) Good Growth | Groups | LinkedIn