Blog 4

After reading How to be Creative, the first thing I thought is ‘am I creative?’ I honestly don’t even know how to answer that question. Obviously I haven’t made any huge innovation or I’d be famous, but at the same time I don’t think I’m dull and unimaginative.  The article states that “creativity is a skill” but it does not clearly define how to acquire that skill. In fact I found the article very scattered as to “How to be Creative”. You can either waste time and play ping pong and wait for your imagination to take off or you can work hard because “all great thinkers are great workers”.  Should I try to be creative at my expertise or approach a new territory as a beginner? From what I learned in this article, is that there are many ways to be creative, and that it depends on your situation and how you handle it, and that we have to trust ourselves. I believe that while creativity may be a skill one can acquire, the actual inspiration and motive someone has is what defines creativity.  Along with that, what one defines as creativity is ever changing. Creativity changes over time; what it means to us today is completely different from what is means fifty years ago or a hundred years ago. Personal experiences can change creativity and bring out various and new ideas.  Some people find creativity in art and architecture while others find creativity in science and technology. I personally am most likely to find creativity in business through innovation and technique.  The creativity in business is actually very interesting to me and I believe that it is the key to be successful. Haydn Shaughnessy’s Forbes article on “Why Is Creativity More Important than Capitalism” brings together my view on creativity through the more business minded world. The chart below presents interesting data on the outgrowth of creativity over capitalism, scientific progress, and technological progress.

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/02/20/why-is-creativity-more-important-than-capitalism/)

These findings make me want to determine what makes someone creative? Why is there such an outstanding growth in creativity over other progresses? I think that as more people explore and go beyond what they perceive is the norm, creativity is maximized.

 1.      What are your personal experiences with individual creativity? Have you had times when you felt especially creative or, even, especially uncreative?

I feel like when I was younger I was much more creative than I am now, probably because I let my imagination do the thinking. Also, my dad has always been an invention geek and is creating little things here and there. He has definitely impacted me and my ability to think outside the box. However, as I’ve grown I’ve been geared more towards an environment based on relevance and practicality. As an accounting major, creativity is not a key skill focused on.  I have actually not even heard that term used in any of my accounting classes. After reading this article I want to learn on how I can bring creativity to the accounting profession.

2.      What are your personal experiences with organizational creativity? Have you worked at companies that felt or behaved in ways that made them more creative or, even, especially uncreative?

Unfortunately I have never worked at an organization that has made me feel creative. I was a teller at Wells Fargo for 2 years and then I did accounting internships at Deloitte and Temple Inland. With my past experiences, everything has to be done by the book. Rules and guidelines need to be followed and there is little grey area. “Creative accounting” is actually a negative term in the profession because it means you’re finding a creative way to understate costs and overstate earnings.   "Creative accounting" in this sense is the root of a number of accounting scandals. This may be the reason you don’t hear the world creativity in accounting. They want you to stick to the books and the rules, not find a creative loophole to avoid paying taxes.  While there are so many negative connotations attached to creativity in the accounting organization, it is important. If it wasn’t for Enron we wouldn’t have SOX and the higher standards of internal auditing. At some point, someone’s creativity caused an economic disaster, in which the accounting profession was able to learn and modify the current standards.  Creative accounting would be even more beneficial if ethical people figured out these schemes and created ways to protect it from happening.  Creating ways to protect our economic future through accounting can be something to focus on as a positive view to “creative accounting”.

3.      Do you think you, as an individual, are even capable of being creative by yourself? And, better yet, do you think a group within an organization is capable of being creative?

Yes, I believe everyone is capable of being creative. It just depends on if the person has the drive and motivation to do something with their ideas that makes the difference. I also believe a group within an organization has the ability to be creative. Ideas often bounce from people to people, and the more diversity there is in a group, the more potential there is for ideas to develop.

4.      What do you think about this article and the way this author describes different creative types of problems and, thus, different creative processes? Should we trust ourselves just to know or sense when we need one type of approach versus another?

As mentioned early, I think this article is not about how to be creative, but more about ways different people are creative. I do believe that we should trust ourselves when it comes to creativity and not be confined by the approach someone else thinks we should approach. Everyone should have a mindset of creativity and strive to be creative in what we do.