Why We Need Creativity
Creativity Shapes Our World
There is a video piece entitled “Civilization” by Marco Brambilla, composed of hundreds of layered images and video clips. “Civilization” is an exploration on the themes of redemption and salvation, represented by imagery and snippets collected from popular culture. Before we continue — go take a look and enjoy a few minutes immersing yourself into an artist’s creation.
While Brambilla’s works are amazing in themselves, what I found most interesting was where I experienced these videos — in the elevators at The Standard in NYC. As a passenger rides the elevator up, the video plays the journey from Hell to Heaven. And when the passenger rides the elevator down, they are taken on a descent from Heaven to Hell.
I start here because it’s a perfect example of how creative people are able to have a powerful impact on the lives of others. Be it through art experienced in an elevator, or in how we decide to allow creativity to be a part of the work we do, the cultures we contribute to, or the companies and teams we build.
Creative people are in a unique and powerful place — for they quite literally shape our future. Yet we often find our lives negatively impacted by a lack of creativity. Fear of change. Reluctance to try new things. Resistance to risk. Anti-creativity results in stagnation, or worse. If you consider that one of the things that first empowered our species to evolve into an advanced one was our ability to create, you can see why it’s so important.
Creativity is not a fringe talent or skill. It is a key ingredient for growth, evolution and advancement.
This is why it is important to insist that creative people continue to get the education and training they need, and are in positions of power and influence throughout our world.
Creativity Requires Bravery
If you’re reading this, you may consider yourself a creative person — and you likely know well that fearful feeling that holds you back from trying something new or different.
The things holding you back from your potential are your own human frailties and insecurities, and those of the people around you. If you can conquer your inner demons, tap into your creative and innovative powers, empower others to do the same, you will be on your way to infusing your career, your team and your life with something truly magical.
My background as a painter has had a huge influence on how I think about the creative process, regardless of the medium or the intended outcome.
But to discuss creativity and the act of creation, isolated from the realities we exist within, would be novel. We must frame the challenges of creation within the context of our environments, society at large, and our own emotional conditions as humans.
A Second Renaissance?
Nothing since the printing press has changed our world more than the spread and evolution of digital media and networks, running on the backbone of technology which is also advancing at a breakneck speed.
Yet it’s not simply the spread of digital that signals what might be a second renaissance. Advances in medicine and education add almost two decades to global life expectancy. And just like Guttenberg’s press or the explorers who discovered new routes for trade, the internet and digital media have opened vast new ways for humans to connect, share information, and influence one another.
These changes offer a wide playing field for what could be the contest for the future, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Information Overload, Literally
Let’s consider Moore’s Law. Gordon Moore was the co-founder of Intel, and in 1965 he noted that the number of transistors he could fit inside a computer chip doubled every year or so. That fact has held true ever since. This means that computing power doubles incrementally every year, also becoming smaller, faster and cheaper along the way.
It is this speed of advancement that is propelling us forward into new territories more quickly than we are perhaps prepared for. Backlashes are to be expected as a natural human reaction to radical change. With this influx and variety of information and data, it’s increasing difficult to discern the legitimacy of the message, and most positions can find ample backing for support within the mass of what’s available and constantly increasing online.
The fact that widely disparate perspectives and opinions can be argued (humans are causing global climate change which will render our planet inhospitable to billions of humans in the next 100 years vs. ehhh, climates just change, that’s the way it’s always been) is a testament for how divisive this second renaissance is turning out to be.
Additionally, digital tools and rapid dissemination allow the creations of those who seek to deceive, manipulate or control much greater access and influence. Consider this: today a team of one can create a website that looks very much like a legitimate source of information or opinion. In 1920, it would have been much more difficult to create something that could stand up to the New York Times newspaper, or in 1960, to create a televised station that rivaled NBC or CBS. This means that humans now can seek out information that suits their world views and opinions, rather than have to face a more unified (and some may argue more informed) position of thinking.
Creativity requires humans.
In the face of such rapidly advancing technology, what makes humans necessary? This is another question that begs us to look to the traits that differentiate humans from the power of the AI and systems that are emerging all around us.
It is our creativity that sets us apart from the machines. Our ability to daydream, to make great leaps of imagination, to ask questions previously unconsidered. It is our ability to craft new ideas, ways of thinking and being, that requires us to be in charge.
But take this as a warning. If we don’t prioritize these things as a species, we will give the upper hand to those who would seek to obtain power and wealth at any cost, and to those who do not see the beauty of the human creative spirit.
Change will happen to you, or by you.
Do you remember when you realized that nothing ever stays the same? Even when you really want it to — things change. We fight against change because we crave routine, normalcy, survival. It’s instinctual to not want change. When humans had to change in the past, it was usually in order to survive.
Today the tables have been flipped, and change is seen as a necessary and positive ingredient in many aspects of our lives. This doesn’t make change any easier to embrace, foster or encourage.
Roadblocks to Creativity
A major issue that holds us back from our highest potential as creators and innovators is our innate fear of change and judgement by others.
Fearing the judgement of others is one of the biggest barriers to creativity, innovation and change. Interestingly, children don’t exhibit this behavior. Ask them to draw a portrait of the person sitting next to them, and they will gladly grab the marker and paper and scribble away. Ask an adult to do the same and you will instantly get nervous avoidance, excuses about being a horrible drawer, etc. What happens to cause this change?
This fear of judgement or failure is a breakthrough blocker.
Where there is fear, there is often a lack of creativity or innovation. To unleash our best creative potential, we need to get out of that “fear of judgement” place, and really tap into our true potential. More often than not, we need to get out of our own way.
Cracking the Creativity Code
There are people who are studying these different states of mind, and these blockers. In 2013 Red Bull ran a “Hacking Creativity” project, which was a joint effort involving scientists from MIT Media LAB, TED fellows and Dr. Andy Walsh, Red Bull’s Director of High Performance. This was the largest meta-analysis of creativity research. They reviewed 30,000 research papers, interviewed hundreds of performers, painters, break dancers, rock stars, professional athletes, and others. By late 2016 they had come to two overarching conclusions:
- Creativity is essential for solving complex problems.
- Creativity is not easily trained or taught.
If we acknowledge creativity is a critical ingredient to solving big problems, and it’s not being taught in schools or programs (nor are people being trained in creativity) — where do we start?
Start with identifying the blockers that hold us back, within our own minds and from outside factors. Identify the things that help unlock those creative muscles and allow for greater innovation and dynamic thinking.
To do our best creative work, we need to be in a place of safety, belonging and mattering. Fear is not a driver.
When people are in a fearful state — they solve the wrong problems, they freeze, they flee, or they fight.
How many times have you seen talented individuals fail at something because they were in a fearful state? This could be their own insecurities getting the best of them, or a toxic corporate or family culture. Whatever the cause — people will only do their best work when they feel part of a collaborative culture, where shared goals and emotional engagement are cultivated and nurtured. There needs to be trust.
Charles Feltman defines trust in the following way:
Trust is “choosing to make something important to you vulnerable to the actions of someone else.”
Distrust is “what I have shared with you that is important to me is not safe with you.”
If you consider being negatively criticized over something you’ve created, which naturally puts you in a vulnerable state — it’s obvious why creativity is so challenging, and should be so treasured. It takes true strength to stand in that place of vulnerability and keep at it, and it takes an environment of support to nurture these activities.
The Creativity Infrastructure
Did you know that when you are in a state of creative “flow,” your brain is likely producing six of the most pleasurable chemicals the brain can produce? Those chemicals are: Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Endorphins, Serotonin, Anandamide, and Oxytocin. This isn’t a common occurrence, and another reason why getting into those states of mind is something we crave, and should foster.
One chemical in particular, oxytocin, calms down the nervous system. There are other ways to produce this chemical in your body, here are some examples:
Give someone a hug (make sure they want the hug)
Dance
Soak in a hot bath
Surprise someone with a gift
Pet a dog
Take a hike in the woods
Write a thank you note to a mentor or teacher
Your brain is also wired to embrace creative thinking, literally changing the way it is organized to adapt to new situations or ideas. Neuroplasticity literally means, “the brains ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.” This lets your brain compensate for injury, disease, environments, etc.
Another fascinating discovery about how our minds work is the Executive Network (EN) and the Default Network (DN). The EN helps us manage the external world and complete tasks, like “step over that rock” or “I like that cupcake not that cookie.” The DN is associated with cognitive processes that require internally-directed or self-generated thought, such as mind-wandering, future thinking, perspective taking, and mental simulation.
A growing body of research suggests that creative thinking requires both cognitive control and spontaneous imaginative processes.
Despite their apparent cooperation, evidence from resting-state and task-based research suggests that the DN and EN tend to act in opposition — activation of one network typically corresponds to suppression of the other.
Tapping into Creativity
Many creative people have sought to harness that “in-between” state, and offered several methods to try to tap into it.
One way is to keep a notebook beside the bed. As you go to sleep, allow your mind to ponder a problem you’re trying to solve, or a challenge you’re facing. When you wake up, be sure the write down the very first things your mind presents you with. If you practice this for a few weeks, you will find some interesting ideas in those notes.
Use visualization to learn how to react to certain challenges in new ways. As we know, the mind is malleable and creating new connections based on what we think, all the time. Visualization is a powerful exercise used by top-performers across all spectrums to tap into higher levels of performance and creativity.
Diversity is Critically Important
Get outside your routines and bubbles. Just the act of experiencing something or someplace new will allow new connections to form in your brain, and allow you to tap into different ways to experience your EN and DN.
Did you know that velcro was invented by people who were studying how sticky burs worked? And surgeons discovered new ways to close human wounds by studying the glue oysters and barnacles use to adhere to rocks. The Wright brothers studied how birds twisted their wings to develop “wing warping” — a breakthrough that allowed the aviation age to blossom.
Allowing yourself to experience new and different things is not only great for continuing to evolve as a human, it can literally provide insights and innovative ideas you won’t be able to come to if you don’t teach your brain to make those connections. And this also applies to the diversity within teams and groups of people. Your team is more likely to come up with innovative ideas if it is a diverse group of people — from different backgrounds and different experiences.
Architects looking to devise a low cost cooling system for a shopping complex in Zimbabwe were inspired by scientists sharing information about how termites in Zimbabwe cooled their nests. Most new ideas are combinations of old ideas, but not all idea combinations are created equally. When you bring together diverse teams and perspectives, you increase your potential to generate truly amazing new ideas.
Follow Your Curiosity
Steve Jobs claimed that “creativity is just connecting things.” If you want to achieve higher levels of creativity, you need to have more things to connect. You need to fill your life and mind with experiences, thoughts, and moments — these will become the rich pallet you can refer to as you allow those connections to happen. Completely unrelated curiosities should be honored, whimsical urges should be followed, for these will lead you to new ways of thinking and making new kinds of connections.
Create Your World
If you don’t take the reins, no one else will do it for you. One of our greatest gifts as humans is to be the owners of each decision we make — conscious of our actions and thoughts, and fully aware of possible outcomes.
If you want to be better, you must invite creativity and innovation into the conversation. If we want the world to be better, we need to invoke these aspects of our human capabilities and elevate them to the highest pinnacles of respect and acknowledgement.
If you can strive to be a more creative person in your life, not only will you be happier, you will be setting a better course for the future. A future created by people who want to see things get better, who want to see complex problems be solved, who want to see a life without fear.
By tapping into what truly makes us special as a species, we can unleash our most powerful and compelling superpower — creativity.
