The importance of creativity in the workplace

Creativity is often confused with innovation, but they're not strictly the same thing. Innovation is the process of creating value by introducing new goods and services, or improving existing goods and services. But since this isn't possible without creativity, I think it's fair to say that innovation and creativity are inextricably linked. Therefore, anyone who wants to be innovative in their job, or any organization that wants to be innovative, needs to foster creativity.

This is important to recognize because creativity and work aren't always seen as natural bedfellows. Creativity (rightly or wrongly) implies freedom and fun, while work implies, well, work: sitting at a desk or standing on a shop floor, or wherever, for eight hours a day. But creativity absolutely belongs in the workplace. It enables creative thinking (i.e. coming up with new ideas, imagining beyond the status quo), and problem-solving (implementing ideas to fix issues or make things better).

In this way, creativity makes use of skills that are highly attractive in the workplace, including:

• Critical thinking (see Chapter 5)—because before you can imagine new possibilities, you first need a clear understanding of the current situation
• Open-mindedness—because imagining new solutions means you have to let go of the “this is how we've always done things” mentality
• Judgment and decision-making (see Chapter 6)—because you may have to weigh up the pros and cons of different future scenarios and outcomes before you can decide on the best way forward
• Courage—because trying new things often means taking a risk, however calculated
• Communication and collaboration—because bringing new ideas to life generally requires the help of others (We'll delve into collaboration in the next chapter, and communication in Chapter 10.)

Given this connection between creativity and other desirable attributes—not to mention innovation—it's hardly surprising that the World Economic Forum listed creativity as one of the 10 essential skills needed to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution (in any profession or industry, not just creative ones); in fact, creativity ranked third, just behind problem-solving and critical thinking.²

In another report, 58 percent of employers said they expected creativity to grow in importance in the coming years.³ Why? It's because the nature of work itself is changing.

The rise of machines makes creativity more important than ever

In his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel Pink argues that the sort of left-brain linear thinking that's prized in many of today's workplaces will ultimately be replaced by right-brain skills such as creativity and empathy. These right-brain skills will drive a new age of economic development that Pink refers to as the Conceptual Age (which follows the Information Age, which has been driven by knowledge workers, and the Industrial Age before that, which was driven by factory workers, and the Agriculture Age before that, which was driven by farmers). In Pink's vision, creativity will drive competitive advantage. The future will belong to creative thinkers, he says.

What's behind this bold claim? Quite simply, because the “knowledge work” that has powered economic growth in recent decades is increasingly being done by machines. And as more and more knowledge tasks are automated, human workers will transition into more thoughtful, innovative, creative work.

Machines will even enhance our creativity

We think of creativity as a uniquely human skill. But you might be surprised to learn that AI is getting better at stereotypically creative tasks like composing music and writing novels. For example, an AI algorithm created an artwork called Portrait of Edmond de Belamy that was later sold by Christies for a whopping $432,500.⁴ To create the portrait, the AI was fed a data set of 15,000 portraits spanning six centuries. In another example, choreographer Wayne McGregor used AI to suggest choreography options based on hundreds of hours of video footage of dancers.⁵

What you'll notice from these examples is that the AI learns from other (human) artists' works and then uses those models to suggest or create new versions. This is certainly impressive, but it doesn't replace, or even equate to, human creativity. An AI can compose a piece of music in the style of Mozart, but it can't come up with a completely new model for composing. Machine creativity relies on human creativity for the underlying models. Therefore, it's humans—not machines—who will continue to drive the creative process and push the boundaries of creativity.

That said, I do believe machines will play a greater role in aiding the creative process, for example, by suggesting new product designs based on parameters and specifications set by a human designer. This is precisely what happened when designer Philippe Starck worked with AI to design a new chair that was unveiled at Milan Design Week.⁶

This notion of humans working alongside AI to create something new is known as co-creativity, and I believe we'll see a lot more co-creativity in the future. As Professor Marcus du Sautoy, author of The Creativity Code, puts it, the role of AI will be to act as a “catalyst to push our human creativity.” Therefore, creative skills must, in my view, go hand in hand with digital literacy skills (see Chapter 1).

Will machines ever truly be creative, without human intervention? Given that we've barely scratched the surface of what AI is capable of, it's certainly possible. But I believe the biggest potential lies in enhancing the creative work that humans do—whether it's creating an artwork, designing a new product, coming up with a marketing campaign, or solving customers' biggest problems.

Instilling creativity at a young age

I'll move on to boosting your own creative skills next, but first let me briefly discuss the importance of creativity in education. Given that creativity will be a vital skill for success in the future, I believe schools should be placing as much emphasis on artistic subjects as they do on subjects like science and math. I'm a governor at a local school, and I was surprised to find that the school was struggling to attract students to the arts subjects on offer at the school, probably because so much emphasis has been placed on the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects for future success.

Therefore, schools (and parents, for that matter) have much work to do if they're to sell creativity as an important skill. One way to do this, in my opinion, is to highlight the link between creativity and other, more traditional topics, such as technology and math. Technology, for example, is all about coming up with new ideas and solutions.

So instead of talking about the importance of STEM education, we should be talking about STEAM education (the A stands for arts). And yes, I know that creativity isn't just about the arts, but by creating opportunities for young people to be artistic, we lay the groundwork for the types of creative thinking and creative problem-solving that are necessary for success. (This is backed up by one interesting study that showed nearly all Nobel laureates in the sciences practice some form of art as adults, such as painting or singing.⁷)

It's vital, then, that schools and parents begin selling the importance of creativity, and preparing young people for the kinds of jobs that will exist in the fourth industrial revolution—those right-brain jobs, as Daniel Pink puts it, rather than the left-brain jobs that can be performed easily by intelligent machines.

For individuals

Some of my favorite ways to boost creativity include:

• Ask questions. Deploy your critical thinking skills (Chapter 5) and ask questions that challenge how things currently are, so that you can imagine how they could be.
• Build your network. Hanging out with people who have different life experiences and knowledge is a great way to expose yourself to new ideas. So meet new people, have lots of interesting conversations, and watch your creative horizons expand.
• Go to new places. Travel is another great way to expand your mind. But this doesn't necessarily mean taking a big trip abroad. Something as simple as working from a different coffee shop or going on a new walk can boost your observation skills.
• Look for patterns. Richard Branson's mantra for success is ABCD—Always Be Connecting the Dots—so try to draw connections between different questions, ideas, and problems. This may highlight interesting solutions.
• Keep a journal. I keep an ideas journal handy and I'm always jotting things down—an interesting theory from an article I've read, a new phrase I haven't heard before, a new book idea, interesting observations, anything. Doing this, I've noticed I make surprising connections between unexpected topics.
• Read more. I know it can be hard to find time for this in today's busy world, which is why I like to listen to audiobooks while I'm running. This often sparks new ideas—which I'll capture right then and there as a voice note on my phone and then later transfer to my ideas journal.
• Unplug and create headspace. Having just said I like to listen to audiobooks while I run, I also make sure to regularly run or walk without listening to anything at all! Being alone with your thoughts creates space for new ideas to bubble to the surface—and some of my best ideas have come during these periods of quiet.
• Daydream. From big daydreams like imagining a whole new career or small daydreams like visualizing the perfect anniversary meal, it's important to take time to dream. This can be tricky in this age of information overload, but you can boost your daydreaming capabilities by simply not reaching for your phone during idle moments.
• Maintain a positive mindset. Research shows that a good mood boosts the brain's ability to come up with innovative, creative thoughts, while a bad mood leads to more analytical, straightforward thinking.⁸ So do practical things to keep your mood up, such as exercising, being mindful, expressing gratitude, and getting a good night's sleep.
• Practice, practice, practice. Tuning into your creativity is like learning to play the piano or run a marathon—it takes time and regular practice. So try to build some or all of the above steps into your regular routine.

For organizations

It's vital organizations create an environment in which people feel able to create. Google, for example, has famously told its teams that at least 20 percent of their time should be spent exploring or working on projects that won't pay any immediate dividends—but may lead to bigger opportunities in the future. People are free to spend a fifth of their time working on whatever they think may best benefit Google at some point in the future, while recognizing that this creative time may, ultimately, lead to nothing. The company credits this “20-percent rule” for delivering many of its biggest advances.⁹

This sounds great, but we have to recognize that it's difficult for people to create when they're bogged down in the minutia of everyday work and life. Science tells us as much. For example, research has shown that primates are more creative when their basic needs for food are taken care of. Conversely, people with low incomes have been shown to perform worse in problem-solving tests when reminded of their financial worries.¹⁰ In other words, creativity thrives when the basics are taken care of. So how can you take care of the basics and allow people the space to be creative? In a workplace context, this may mean using technology and automation to cover more of the mundane tasks, thereby freeing up people's time and energy for more valuable work.

Looking at the bigger picture, people need to know it's okay to be creative and take risks, even if that ultimately leads to failure. As part of this, you'll want to build a culture that recognizes and celebrates creativity—which may mean rethinking things like performance management and metrics.