True creativity defies convention, requires courage and is always worth fighting for.
May 18, 2021
A short argument that genuine creativity requires defying convention — and why that matters for practice.
Creativity is a war that requires courage, perseverance, and savvy. The pursuit of creativity forces us to face adversity and confront resistance to new ways of thinking. Much of the world is in a state of inertia and where any type of change makes life uncomfortable. Adam Grant suggests that, “The hallmark of originality is rejecting the default and exploring whether a better option exists.1 ”
Looking back in history, it has not been easy to reject the “default,” but in doing so we have taken vital steps to our advance as a society. Before the women’s suffrage movement in America, there was a majority who believed that normal for women to not vote. Before this movement in time, many women did not feel abnormal or question the status quo. It was accepted that women should not participate in civil discourse.
In 1846, Ignaz Semmelweis was beginning his career as an obstetrician at Vienna General Hospital and he struggled to _nd community. He was on the cusp of a medical breakthrough that would save millions of lives, but his ideas were rejected by the status quo. He was both Jewish and Hungarian, which made him an outsider in a Bavarian hospital. For years he argued for sanitary practices that would prevent puerperal fever in newborn children. During the span of over a decade, he became increasingly confrontational with colleagues who rejected his practices. It took thirty years for his ideas to become mainstream, long after Semmelweis had died in a mental institution.
On January 22, 1984, millions of viewers watched a controversial commercial that was later awarded the best commercial in Superbowl history and became a creative watershed moment for Apple Computer. However, not everyone at the company believed the commercial would be successful. The board of directors for Apple did not approve of it and they later made an attempt to sell the Superbowl airtime spots. The internal disagreement on Apple’s creative direction escalated and eventually lead to Steve Jobs being _red from the company he founded.
Knowing that creative thinking will always face headwinds, we must find ways to become more aerodynamic in our approach. We must find new ways to drive necessary change. We may not win every battle, but we must find more strategic ways to win. This creative war is worth fighting. We must Fight On!
1. Grant, Adam, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Penguin Books, February 2, 2016
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