Creative Thinking in Business

Creativity should be left to the creatives…

This is the general sentiment in traditional settings. However it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Real creativity involves the use of imagination or original ideas to create something new.
This is especially important in business, where solutions are required to specific problems.

I read "Creative Confidence” by Tom & David Kelley and heres what I learnt:

1) Creativity is something we are all born with, but like a muscle is requires stimulus in order to grow. Essentially, “Use it or loose it”

2) Failure is best when it happens quickly, cheaply and early. Encourage experimenting, as success may only be one iteration away from the next failure

3) When ideas are hard to come by, practice writing down “sacrificial concepts”. These are ideas that you know are bad and wont work. The premise is that “bad” ideas are clogging up your creativity and writing them down allows space for better ideas to flow.

The truth is, no matter what industry you are in, creative thinking is essential.