| But there is a serious problem with trying to apply | | | | critical. |
| such thinking too broadly. | | | | Creativity is more than breaking the rules. |
| For instance, creativity is valued in art and advertising, | | | | Similarly, Joseph Heller was able to break the rules of |
| but not in banking and accounting. An accounting firm | | | | English grammar in his book, Something Happened |
| recently ran an ad suggesting that it could think | | | | Scribner, 1974, only because he was intimately |
| outside the box. Do you really want your business to | | | | familiar with them. Having taught English at the |
| be associated with creative accounting Are not | | | | University of South Carolina, he was a master of |
| accountants supposed to put the numbers in the | | | | grammar. And only out of his expertise could he |
| right box Was not creative accounting a serious | | | | creatively exploit, expand and redefine the |
| problem for Enron | | | | boundaries of grammar. And so it is with regard to |
| In reality, clear thinking and the creativity that it | | | | thinking outside the box. |
| produces are rarely a matter of thinking outside the | | | | Thinking outside the box apart from being able to |
| box. And coloring outside the lines is for the most | | | | think inside the box is worthless. |
| part just sloppy workmanship. The art of clear | | | | Such thought is just plain sloppy. Thus, the |
| thinking is a matter of putting thoughts in to the right | | | | suggestion that creativity lies in the ability to think |
| boxes or categories. Clear thinking is a matter of | | | | outside the box is mostly nonsense. Creativity issues |
| mental organization. Conversely, sloppy thinking | | | | from talent, ability and discipline. Talent must be |
| involves the confusion of categories, of putting ideas | | | | forged and shaped on the anvil of discipline in order |
| into the wrong boxes or not putting them in order at | | | | to develop ability. Great ability is always the result of |
| all. Is a child who will not straighten his or her room | | | | study, discipline and practice. |
| creative or just sloppy? There is a significant | | | | Creativity is more a matter of seeing that the boxes |
| difference. While creativity sometimes looks sloppy | | | | themselves are inadequate and suggesting a better |
| to an outside observer, it does not issue from | | | | arrangement or a better definition. Creativity does |
| sloppiness. | | | | not simply discard the boxes, it redefines and or |
| Picasso was a creative artist. | | | | rearranges them after becoming intimately familiar |
| But his creativity was not a matter of the art he | | | | with them. Real creativity is always the fruit of |
| produced. In reality his abstract work is technically | | | | discipline and order. Creativity, in order to be |
| sloppy. It looks like the work of a child. Picasso could | | | | genuinely creative and not simply sloppy |
| sell his abstract art only because he had previously | | | | disorganization, must emerge out of discipline and |
| established himself as an artist who could color inside | | | | order as an intentional effort. |
| the lines very well. Had he not first proven his artistic | | | | While a creative idea often comes unbidden out of |
| talent in the traditional way, his abstract art would | | | | unexpected places, it requires discipline, study and |
| have been worth much less. He used his reputation | | | | order to make something of it. Apart from discipline |
| as a traditional artist to establish a new direction in | | | | and order, what passes for creativity is nonsense, |
| art. He did not so much color outside the box, as he | | | | and to suggest otherwise actually undermines and or |
| expanded the boundaries and definition of the box. | | | | weakens the creative process. |
| But the point is that his abstract creations were | | | | What does this mean for our industry Distributors |
| valuable only because of his proven abilities in the | | | | and suppliers should apply themselves to mastering |
| traditional arts. | | | | the basics before attempting to break the rules in |
| Contrast my own efforts to establish myself as an | | | | the name of creativity. Don ot start outside the box. |
| abstract artist. My art has gone unnoticed because I | | | | First, establish your ability to think within the box. |
| have not been able to prove myself as a traditional | | | | Master the rules before you suggest breaking them. |
| artist. Not that I actually tried to do so, but I am | | | | For example, before a distributorship presents a wild, |
| using myself as an example to make the point. The | | | | innovative concept to a client for a campaign, it |
| creativity of a novel idea requires the discipline of | | | | should first establish its expertise with campaigns and |
| order and structure to be valuable. Picassos art is | | | | or ideas that have a track record of yielding good |
| valuable because he was an accomplished painter | | | | ROI. Designers, artists, and copy writers should |
| who intentionally colored outside the lines. My art is | | | | establish their mastery of basics before |
| not valuable because I am not an accomplished | | | | experimenting outside the box. For the most part the |
| painter and I accidentally color outside the lines. While | | | | important stuff is inside the box. |
| the two products may look similar, the difference is | | | | |