The Power of What If…? is a great read from a great photographer, David duChemin. In an earlier post, I noted what appeared to me to be a desire in the technical institutions to beat the creativity out of students in the name of logic and processes. This extends to our corporate cultures also. Don’t get me wrong, I am a capitalist to the core. But, snuffing out creativity in the corporate environment seems to be retarding creative organic growth and expansion.
In the blog post, David discusses an article in Psychology Today about Everyday Creativity. From the blog:
I’ll leave you with a couple ideas from the Editor’s Note in the same magazine. This is Kaja Perina’s short list of things to do to annihilate your creative spark. I think she used the word “extinguish.”
1. Know exactly what you’re doing before you start.
2. Be careful not to offend.
3. Get Permission.
4. Run it by everyone else first.
5. Criticize yourself at every step.
How true these are for both the creative professions as well as the standard business environment! If we only could teach our children and students to respectfully challenge the status quo, then think of the possibilities.
So, what’s your opinion? Can we teach respectful dissention against the status quo without creating monsters of non-conformance?
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