We have a complicated relationship with creativity. Intuitively, we understand its value—the ability to produce new ideas and novel innovation. Instinctively, we know that it presents opportunities for marketplace advancements. When we think of some of the most revered organizations in modern times, like the Apples and Disneys of the world, we point to their creative contributions and their impact.
However, although most companies revere organizations with a creative culture, there is a deep-seated misnomer that some companies are inherently creative and others aren’t, as if creativity is a rare gene or a divine gift that is bestowed on some and coveted by others. But perhaps the mystical nature of creativity isn’t that mysterious after all?
What if a culture of creativity is more obtainable than you think? Something you can build, not just be born with? As unbelievable as that may seem, Alejandro Chavetta, the executive creative director at Adobe, has made a career of doing that very thing. So we invited him onto the From the Culture podcast to discuss what it means to facilitate a culture of creativity.
What is creativity?
To start, we need to lay some groundwork. If organizational culture is the operating system by which individuals co-labor, or collaborate, then fortifying a culture of creativity requires instituting an operating system that facilitates creativity. Simple enough, right?
But what is creativity? There are a host of scholarly definitions, but far too many are too abstract to apply or too esoteric to operationalize. Therefore, we must first establish a working understanding of what creativity actually is if we are to integrate it into our operating system.
Dan Wieden, the renewed advertiser who cofounded the most celebrated advertising agency on the planet, Wieden+Kennedy, and came up with such legendary campaigns as “Just Do It” for Nike, once described creativity as subversion. That is to say that creativity is the act of bending, contorting, or refashioning what is into something that could be.
This framing of creativity makes what has long been considered something reserved for the few something far more democratized for the many—for all of us. We may not all be able to conceive of brilliant taglines like Wieden, per se, but we can all certainly subvert. In fact, we all do it, every day, unknowingly.
Subversion is merely the act of looking at something in a different way, usurping the orthodox frames by which we see a problem or situation. We all have the ability to subvert because we all bring new perspectives to the table in our organizations. We all see the world differently, and the heterogeneity of our diverse perspectives create a plethora of potential subversions that could lead to innovative solutions, new products, or new ways of work.
The challenge isn’t our ability to subvert, it’s that our organizations don’t recognize this ability in its employees.
Chavetta argues that the key to facilitating a culture of creativity is to realize that everyone in the organization can be creative—because everyone can subvert. Not just the creative directors. Not just the marketing team. But everyone.
The guy in finance, Chavetta illustrates as an example, might see something that the copywriter does not, or might bring a point of view that may have otherwise been missed by the “creative team” that subverts the preexisting way by which everyone else saw the situation.
This new framing might reveal blind spots or unearth unrealized opportunities for the organization that lead to new outcomes—a boon to any organization’s business, regardless of the industry. And if that be the case, then it’s the job of the organization’s leadership to facilitate an environment that invites everyone to realize this superpower that lies within us and inspire them to share it freely.
Ideas come from anywhere
In the advertising industry, where I’ve spent the lion’s share of my career, there is a ubiquitous refrain: Ideas can come from anywhere—from the CEO to the janitor. Although these words are repeated in the halls and pitch decks of just about every creative agency on the planet, rarely are they ever truly practiced.
Instead, there is a walled-off garden where creativity dwells. In advertising, we call it the “creative department.” It might go by another name somewhere else. Whatever the nomenclature, the designation of “creativity” is relegated to a specific group of people, which insinuates that creativity is only capable of and expected from a few.
But what if we thought of creativity as something we all harness within us and creation as something achieved through craft? This small but powerful shift in thinking could not only welcome new perspectives that lead to new outcomes but also institutionalize an operating system inside the organization where everyone feels licensed to contribute—thus, facilitating a culture of creativity.
Check our full conversation with Alejandro Chavetta as we discuss creative work and organizations on the latest episode of From the Culture podcast.
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