On Being creative vs being a creative
Published: Monday, November 2nd
I believe everyone is creative. That is to say, everyone holds creativepotential. Let me tell you why with a story.
I remember hearing about this distinction first from my dad, who is also a Product Designer. It was in the context of trying to understand roles, on a team, at any given tech company.
It went something like this; he said: Alexa, if you claim to be a creative, then what does that mean for anyone else? Are they then not creative? You know who some of the most creative people I know are? Software engineers. Being a Software Engineer requires extraordinary creativeproblem solving skills.
He’s right. By calling myself a creative, that by definition should mean someone else is not.
From that moment on, it all made sense to me. I’ve many times heard colleagues or friends or people I barely know say something along the lines of, “well, I’m just not creative” — Well hey, I’m not convinced.
Being creative does not require you to know how to draw pretty pictures or be on the “creative team” — like my dad said, being a Software Engineer requires creative problem solving skills as does working in Sales and seeking out unique ways to connect with a client.
Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.
So in my personal work as a designer, I don’t use the word creative to distinguish myself; I don’t want anyone else to think that indicates they are not.
I’ll be honest though, there is nuance. My department at work is the Creative department. This naming is not uncommon though and from an HR perspective, it helps us identify who is on our team, what quarterly budget we oversee, and all the rest. It also enables us to rally around creativity, a shared mindset and value of our team which is important.
But hey, I say, being creative is a mindset, and the first step towards being creative is to acknowledge you hold that potential. And when that potential is embraced it can be unlocked and the world will be a better place because of your creativity too.
So I say: be creative, not a creative. It makes a difference.
xo –A