Creativity is important!

- Creativity is important and becoming more so all the time. It's important for four reasons. First, it's the first half of problem solving and life and work are full of problems to be solved. You generate possible solutions and then select the best one. And the first part, generating ideas for possible solutions is all about creativity. Second, it's what management is all about or should be. Management isn't just about checking on people and making sure they do their jobs or telling them how to do their jobs. It's about coming up with ideas for how things can be improved, changing things for the better, coming up with a vision for the future. And so creativity is vital for every good manager. Third, creativity is probably going to be the one edge we have over AI. All the routine stuff can be done easily by AI, faster and more accurately than us. But true creativity is, at least at the moment, beyond AI,. Yes, it'll create a symphony of whatever length and style you choose, but it can't come up with the idea of a symphony. It can generate pleasant elevator music in a matter of seconds, but it'll never be Bob Dylan. So to keep ahead of AI, we need to develop our creativity. And finally, creativity is fun. When you're having ideas and solving problems, you are in the flow. When you are painting or gardening or playing music, you are being creative and it's very satisfying both during when you're in the flow and afterwards when you've created something great. And creativity at work is fun too. Maybe the most enjoyable part of our jobs. So creativity is important and enjoyable, and the more you can build up your creative muscles, the better.