I often ask myself how it is possible to live in a world that so enjoys music, television, film and the latest cool gadget yet doesn’t value individuality or celebrate creativity as a societal norm.
We love to watch the drama of the red carpet and glamorous events that celebrate creativity—narrowing down our concept of it to the fame of one or two persons whose work is supposed to represent the efforts of sometimes hundreds of people.
Creativity is both expected and reveled in every area of business yet the development of creative people is still mostly overlooked in our schools and our places of work.
As a kid I was very lucky to go to a school that was experimenting with an Open School concept. That is, I was placed in classes where I could excel as far as I wanted with no limit.
No surprise, I was reading 12th grade material in the third grade under this model—it didn’t even seem like work. After my schoolwork was complete, I could spend extra time doing more with areas I enjoyed, like art and science.
The extra time was completely unstructured—the only rule being that students had to do something, even if sitting quietly free writing. Students that couldn’t handle that kind of freedom had a more structured program.
I spent hours in the art lab chatting with the teacher and imagining and creating whatever I wanted. I’m certain this model helped create the person I am today—someone willing to take risks, fail, dream and try again.
With this in mind, I wanted to share two pieces I found creatively inspiring today:
1. Jason Silva’s inspiring video on Nonconformity and The Creative Life
2. The 100 Most Creative People In Business in 2014 — Fast Company
I love the nudge that Silva gives us to get out of our ruts and conquer the fear of being different. And Fast Company’s list proves that there are creative people in every field. There is a lot of inspiration within those bios!
The truth is, dreams create entrepreneurs and problem solvers and artists. Let’s make more space for them!