Can analytical, linear-minded, “left brain” thinkers be creative?

This description may describe the majority of Professional Service Firm (PSF) knowledge workers and my experience has shown that most do not consider themselves to be creative.

But the question is - can they be creative?

The answer is a resounding - YES!

Creativity is a skill that we are all born with - it’s just an unfortunate facet of Western education that creativity is diminished as a skill by the fact that our crayons are thrown away post nursery or kinder-garten.

Creativity IS a muscle - something that needs to be exercised regularly to be effective and to grow.

When there are doubts in seminars, I normally refer to the Michelangelo story:

A tradesman walked into Michelangelo’s studio to see a block of stone in the middle of the room.

“What do you intend to sculpt out of that stone?” asked the tradesman.

“A lion” replied Michelangelo.

“I really admire sculptors such as yourself” said the tradesman, “how on earth do you create a lion out of a block of stone?”

“Simple” replied Michelangelo, “I just chip away the pieces of stone that don’t look like a lion”

So creative and innovative ideas already exist right before us.

We simply need to uncover them……….