In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell lists 7 statements in the chapter “The Law of Victory.” That list will be used in this series “7 Statements of Leadership.”
John Maxwell once wrote: “The best leaders feel compelled to rise to a challenge and do everything in their power to achieve victory for their people.” One of those those things they believe is that creativity is essential.
As a man of faith, I believe that the incredible beauty of nature that surrounds me – especially during the best season of the year, Fall – can only be done by God who has more creativity than I can ever imagine. And He has instilled in all of us an ability to be creative in some way at some level.
As a young boy, I and some friends would be creative in the things we did – whether it was for better or for worse. We thought we were very creative one day by placing and lighting firecrackers in ant hills. Only, to realize others had done it before. “Building” forts with my brother or with friends and then playing “army” was always fun. Of course, as I got older my creativity, or imagination, would think of less “young boy” antics to something more mature. Maybe. For example, while a sophomore in college I lived in a dorm. Some of us came up with an idea to create a “human wall” in the hallway with just four of us. However, there continued to be some harmless pranks I participated in while in college since some of us had to exercise our creativity. But, not only was I a “giver,” I also was a “receiver” of someone else’s creative pranks.
“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.”
― Albert Einstein
And As leaders, we need to be creative. It is essential. But why? Here are three (from several) reasons:
1. Having read different articles, the number one thing listed at the top for 21st century skills is creativity. For example, The Boston Consulting Group has been running an annual strategy survey for the last 8 years. “For 7 out of 8 years creativity and innovation have been the top ranked strategic imperative.”
2. According to Dr. Mark Batey in his article, “Working Creativity,” Creative teams perform better and are more efficient. In a research study of creative teams in industry, Gilson, Mathieu, Shalley and Ruddy (2005) found that teams that were more creative scored higher on objective measures of performance and were also found to work more effectively within budgets. “Further, the studies that have examined High Performing Teams (Katzenbach & Smith, 2003), have found that these teams are characterised by their willingness to think creativity and find innovative solutions to problems.”
3. Creative Leadership is fundamental. The previous studies have shown that creativity is vital for individuals, teams and organizations. Little wonder then that in a global survey of 1,500 CEO’s, IBM found that creativity was considered to be the number 1 leadership trait for the future: “more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision – successfully navigating an increasingly complex world will require creativity.”
Why? Leaders will need to be creative (solve problems in new and useful ways) to stay abreast of rapid change. Further, they will need to orchestrate and encourage creativity across all the levels for which creativity is important. They will need to identify and develop creativity in individuals, build and nurture creativity in teams and set the culture and align processes to promulgate creativity throughout the whole organisation.
“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” – Dr. Seuss
Believe it or not, creativity can be fun.
Preston Waters once wrote that “without creativity there would be no innovation. We would continue to be cavemen. They say some of the most creative people work for Apple and that they regularly set time aside from each day to brainstorm and let their minds take them somewhere that they didn’t think existed.”
We are all blessed with creativity, and it can be applied in any industry, team, church, family. Anywhere. “So go out there and don’t be afraid to show it to the world. The saddest thing in the world is a wasted talent. Don’t be just that. Live up to your potential.”
What are your thoughts? I look forward to a conversation with you.