Is Creativity A Talent Or A Skill?
I used to think, like many people do, that creativity is an inborn trait and cannot be taught. I have since changed my mind. I don't think a person is destined by birth to be either methodical or imaginative. Everyone is born with some degree of creativity. That creativity can be nurtured/amplified or discouraged/squashed (for whatever reason). Creativity is way more than artistic expression. It is out-of-the-box thinking. A child raised to question and challenge established wisdom, practices, and status quo is likely to be an out-of-the-box thinker, — prone to rule-breaking. A child raised to revere established wisdom, practices, and status quo without question is likely to be a rule-following in-the-box thinker. A rule-follower, however intelligent, may simply not dare to question the rules set by religion, government or tradition. (But that can change with confidence developed over time.)
Methodical rule-followers are comfortable living in-the-box where order reigns. They trade away some freedom for predictability and consistency. Creative rule-breakers revel at having much more freedom, but have to deal with chaos and unpredictability of the rabbit hole in which they dwell. Clearly, living in-the-box is more stable and living out-of-the-box is more volatile. But then, one man’s stability is another’s boredom and one man's volatility is another’s excitement. It’s a choice rather than limitation by birth.
A left-brain-dominated, rule-based, methodical world has well-established processes and well-defined metrics for success and failure. For example, an airplane pilot who lands an aircraft with average smoothness 10 times out of 10 is valued more than one who lands with perfect smoothness 9 times out of 10 and crashes once. Consistency matters more in a methodical world. But a fashion designer with one fantastic new idea and 9 poor ones is better than another with 10 average new ideas. Exception matters more in the right-brain-dominated creative world. Is there any wonder why almost 100% of engineering graduates make a comfortable living at less-than-spectacular jobs whereas 99% of (“not sufficiently exceptional”) performing artists struggle as waiters/waitresses and only 1% becomes spectacular celebrities? Again, it’s a question of choice which world a person wants to live in.
Can a person be a rule-follower and a rule-breaker at the same time? Sure. Many with rule-based professions have creative hobbies. That’s how they live a balanced life. But can a creative person sufficiently obey rules to survive in a rule-based professional world, but selectively break rules, innovate and thus excel in the same world? Yes, but it takes power. Following rules is easy — cross the T’s, dot the I’s, do as you’re told, keep your nose clean and you’ll be fine. Breaking rules requires power. Steve Jobs could break rules; who was to tell him not to? But if you worked for Steve Jobs, you had better not break his rules! So unless you found your own company — like Steve Jobs — you need to garner power through politics before you can break rules in a rule-based world. By “politics” I mean the proper choice of when/where/how to break what rules and with whose sponsorship and championship. That’s a whole different set of (interpersonal) skills beyond being creative. I think the extent to which these skills can be honed is more limited by inborn personality. An introverted “hot-head” can never make a great politician, for example. So before a creative person breaks rules in a rule-based world, he/she should ask: “Am I political enough to pull it off?”
That said, different times and prevailing conditions favor different behavior. Steady state conditions —such as those found in a manufacturing plant — demand adherence to methodical processes. Effectiveness and efficiency depend on rule-following, allowing no room for rule-breaking. Similarly, a stable society with highly functional and well-trusted institutions demand rule-following. Currently we have neither a stable society, nor trusted and well run institutions, nor industries running in steady state. Instead — typical of 4th turnings — we have a tumultuous society with increasing social unrest, dysfunctional and untrusted institutions, and industries being disrupted by rapid rise rise of AI and the crypto movement. Rule-following is not the order of the day. Ideation —out-of-the-box critical and creative thinking on how to break old rules and come up with new ones — is.
Finally, among the creative, I think the ones that can best leverage generative AI to ideate will win the day. That too is a trained skill.
