The marketing landscape has completely changed, almost to the point of feeling we’re living on a different planet. To thrive in this new environment, we need to discover our innate creative heartbeat, and help our teams do the same.

In a world that’s becoming hyper-unpredictable, we’re all having a tough time dealing with, and planning for, an increasingly complex future. Best practices are no longer good enough. Tried and tested business models are suddenly insufficient. What was believed to be right yesterday, might prove to be wrong tomorrow.

How the hell do you plan for the future in a world like this? You can’t…

This is where creativity comes in.

In today’s world, the act of ‘being creative’ is no longer just about coming up with the next big idea. It’s broader and much more vital than that. In the face of AI and algorithmic-led thinking, our innate creativity is a magic human ingredient; and it’s fast becoming our main ‘value add’.

When you find it, embrace it and leverage it, you can suddenly tap into a powerful and limitless USP that enables you to navigate an uncertain future.

So, what’s the problem with creativity?

The first problem is that creativity and commerciality mix like oil and water.

Creativity is seen as belonging in the arts, not the business world. Corporate creativity? It’s an oxymoron, right? But it doesn’t have to be that way. Those who manage to merge the two concepts so they not only co-exist – but also start to feed one another – are those who will thrive in the future. We need to stop seeing commerciality and creativity through an either/or lens and instead start to adopt a both/and mindset.

The second problem relates to creativity being misunderstood.

Creativity is linked with out-of-the-box thinking. So isn’t it ironic that we put the act of ‘being creative’ into a box? We straitjacket it by tying it to the narrow notion of idea generation, or by seeing it as synonymous with innovation. Yet the reality is creativity is much broader than that.

Being creative is also about unearthing a stone and polishing it up so it becomes a diamond that truly shines. It’s about making the bold, and sometimes polarising decisions, that might lead you down a new and different path. And it’s about creating the environment within which others feel comfortable about being uncomfortable, so they can put their best foot forward and make brave leaps.

You are creative when you solve problems. You are creative when you daydream on the bus. You are creative when you cook something from scratch. Being creative is an ability unique to us human beings. Unlike our animal friends, we are able to imagine. And we’re able to act on this imagination. Essentially, we are all creative… in different ways.

This leads to the third and final problem.

Most of us think creativity is an ability that belongs to the ‘lucky few’. We put creativity on a pedestal by contributing it to entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk or geniuses lik e Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.But all is not lost.
To re-build our creative muscles, we can simply open our eyes and start to notice the big impact even small, seemingly simple everyday thoughts can have. By celebrating these little thoughts, bigger thoughts will follow.

If you allow yourself to be inspired by those little things, you will immediately feel that creativity is indeed within your reach.

Innovators excel at connecting the unconnected. They engage in associational thinking – they take a little bit of this, sprinkle in a little bit of that and that and that to churn out market-busting ideas.

Hanne Kristiansen, Co-founder, Creative Creatures