Thoughts on Creativity

In this world of routine and analytics, the need for autonomy in work and in life has become an essential aspect in finding balance. Creativity, both individualistic and organizational, is functional in establishing a person’s place amongst peers, the workplace, and community. Therefore, I will explore my own beliefs in such expression through my own experiences in past scenarios.

Personal Creativity.

I was born into a family of artists, in a way. My father, as an engineer, took pride in his craft of design. My mother expressed her love of fashion through her style of clothes. My brother mastered his skill of drawing at an early age. Growing up, my life was a compilation of technicality, free expressions, and certainly many mediums of individual creativity. The wide variety allowed me to experience all aspects of what each member of my family cared so much about: I began to draw seriously in middle school; I enrolled in the Engineering Academy in high school; and I found myself enamored with fashion in college. Each one gave me the experience to develop my own version of creativity by meshing all together in a symbiotic manner. Art shows. Building design. Fashion blogs. These categories make little sense apart but together in my head they make beautiful music.

At times, when I have a minute or two, I stop to admire the beauty in my surrounding world. The inspiration to be “extra creative” by capturing the moment allows me the opportunity to pay homage to such wonder. Seasonal changes inspire seasonal wardrobes (summer blazers with a floral print tie). Building constructions (the new CLA building) inspire photo comparisons of the old shifts to the new. People introductions (meeting a new girlfriend) inspire drawn portraits to capture the first moment. These are but a few inspired moments of my own creativity, and with such excitement, I believe that a lack of creativity is impossible. Such an anomaly only exists as the absence of acknowledgement from where creativity lies.

Organizational Creativity

I remember when I used to intern at XYZ Company. I was thoroughly excited to work in a real office building at such a young age – I was a senior in high school – and had expectations way above any I ever held before. It was an unknown, but it was an opportunity to express my love for the technical (engineering) and creative (marketing). The supervisors built the Internship Program to be a stepping-stone to our careers. Projects, hands-on innovation, company tours of facilities, etc. The promises were big – enough to make my expectations and excitement feel highly matched. In my mind, I was on the border walking a tight rope between becoming a business major or engineering major before college. This internship would be my deciding factor.

A few weeks into my internship, my emotional high became an emotional downward slide. The building was nearly quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone whispered and murmured, and if there were questions, I had to walk to that person’s cubicle, softly knock, and ask quietly for an answer. Furthermore, the tasks in which I was assigned ranged as high as creating a PowerPoint using only the template (even the graphs were from a few programs) and as low as packing boxes. The autonomy, or even the opportunity for any creativity, was gone. I have worked and had internships that have afforded me a range of freedom to allow better management of my work and production for success, but nothing was as uncreative and monotonous as when I was at XYZ. My desire for engineering faded. Business became my only option – the best one, of course, but I never wanted my decision to be made from a bad experience. Of the 15 interns that year (we were the top engineering academy students in our grade), less than half are currently engineering majors. Most of us chose science or business after that disappointment. All in all, I do believe there are ways to improve that internship program for future high schoolers to come. For now, I just hope the company itself can recognize this as an area or concern but also an area for improvement.

An Individual v. The Group

When analyzing creativity from an individual perspective and a group within an organization’s perspective, the basis of comparison is somewhat skewed. This can be attributed to the scale of reference, or the basis of reason behind creating such a product. I believe that I myself can be creative and found many opportunities/means to express this personal creativity. By myself, I believe that I am creative enough to find inspiration to work on a project and produce a viable piece of work. However, in comparison to a group in an organization, this personal product usually fails to live up to par. Collaborations explore the past experiences and networks that each member in the group possess. If “two minds are better than one,” how great are more minds working together? Group projects in organizations are always open to creativity when the team is effectively assembled. Though they do not allow as much freedom as individual creativity, groups do allow for a more focused form perhaps more than that of a single person’s own product.

Overall, creativity is an essential part of this world, whether it is in work or at home. Innovation and even staying relevant demand adaptation to what society needs from an organization. Constantly, successful companies go under not knowing what went wrong. But, with the advice of Brian McKnight, “If ever I believe my work is done, then I start back at one.” Creativity and innovation never end. There are always ways to improve and master oneself or own industry. Therefore, if we personally ever become satisfied with what we have, it is then that we start back at ‘Square One’. It is then that creativity must make its appearance.