The Creativity Choice

Creativity involves turning original ideas into meaningful action.

One day, Zorana Pringle and her first-grade art class classmates sat down to make drawings for a national holiday. While everyone else in the class, including Pringle, created a predictable picture of flags and the town square, one student, Branka, drew something completely different: a scene of students at an assembly. Though Branka’s originality impressed Pringle, and she wanted to be bold like Branka, Pringle chose to blend in with her classmates. Her fear of judgment and desire to please caused her to miss an opportunity to be creative. Creativity is not only about having ideas, but also deciding to pursue them, even when that pursuit means taking a risk or appearing different.

Creativity involves continuous decision-making and problem-solving, and is often messy and filled with uncertainty. In the workplace, people decide what problems to tackle, how to handle setbacks, and how to refine ideas. For example, artists make choices about composition and color to bring their visions to life; scientists select unique research questions and methods; and entrepreneurs weigh practical constraints to build...