Want more creativity out of your team? Want creativity that leads to innovation and new ideas, products, and differentiators that seperate your company from the competition?
Stop your efforts to create a creative environment. Stop worrying about whether your office layout is conducive to open communication and the natural sharing of ideas. Stop trying to get your different departments to see things from other departments perspective.
Remind the team why you are here, where you are going, and why it matters. And, challenge them. Push them out of their comfort zone. Create some serious adversity for them. Don’t challenge the entire team. Challenge one or two of your top performers. Challenge your best.
Throughout history the most creative geniuses have been their most creative and productive selves when they are struggling the most. Moments of insight appear more from the depths than from the mountaintop high. Funny, huh.
Unconventional, yes. Unproven, no.
My re-read through, Origins of Genius, by Dean Keith Simonton has furthered my already strong conviction that challenging the system is what we need. Creativity, like so much of life, isn’t what we think. Creativity is REAL, HARD, WORK. Of course it is. We have, however, bought the lie that making things easier and environmentally more comfortable is the magic of unleashing the creative minds around us. Greatness, truth be told, is always taken to the depths before it fights it’s way to the top.
Challenge your best.
Challenge yourself.
Challenge me.
And, expect the challenge from me…
BUILT TO LEAD 