Why Encouraging Childlike Creativity is Essential in Business |

This day after Christmas, I'm thinking of the smiles and happy thoughts inspired by Christmas giving and sharing--especially among young people. My two sons are in their 30s, but I still feel the joy from them--and I love it!

Rubin's article caught me as I'm recalling this Christmas and the coming year.

He describes how parents and teachers knock the creativity out of children and students. But he writes (emphasis added):

Spend time with very young children, and you’ll soon notice that they default to happy. They sing at the drop of a hat. They skip rather than trudge. And as a parent I think we need to encourage this—not penalize it—because that creative spontaneity is sorely needed in the adult world of business. Why? Because innovation springs from creative thought. When a child is happy and relaxed rather than stressed, they think better and learn faster. ...

And he describes how employers often knock the creativity out of their employees. But Rubin writes:

[C]ompanies that are always innovating generally have a much more energized set of employees because they have a less rigidly structured environment. They create the space and time for people to doodle, daydream and collaboratively think up out-of-the-box ideas. They reward those ideas—even if they fail—because they understand that it’s essential to encourage that type of thinking in order to keep innovations happening.

Rubin notes, however, that the creativity spark can't just come from employer motivation. He concludes:

As employees we need to start a revolution of creative thought, empower our co-workers and subordinates to freely express ideas and truly jump into the creative process. We need to push this up to the c-suite and help them to understand the value. Social Media, internal and external to the organization, can help us do that in ways we never could before. Let’s make 2013 the year of opening up the floodgates to creative and innovative thought … at home, at work, and at play.

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Rubin's article is featured today, Dec. 26, in my daily online paper, Garbl's Creativity Connections, available at the Creativity tab above and by free email subscription.