July — 2010 — Third Thought Third Thought

American Creativity on the Decline

14th of July ~

Does it seem to you that Creativity comes in and out of style?

In 1950 J. P. Guilford, then President of the American Psychological Association, urged a greater emphasis on creativity.  When I began my business in 1994 it seemed the pendulum had swung the other way.  My practice focused on ‘creativity in business” and I was told that creativity was fairly discretionary.  I often used the word ‘innovation’ because it sounded more corporate.  My potential clients wanted performance management and leadership execution development more than leadership creativity.

Now, on the heels of the IBM CEO study citing Creativity as the top desired leadership skill we have new research suggesting that American creativity is on the decline.

Oh dear.

(Thanks to my dear buddy, Doug Brockbank, for alerting me to this article in Newsweek.)

---