Creativity is not something that can be measured by the outcome – and this is why it eludes business.
Forget all that rubbish about business or school suppressing the ‘right-brain’ and that being the reasons that companies aren’t creative. The reason that they aren’t is because creativity doesn’t lend its self to measurement or incentives.
It is easy to tell an employee who stamps widgets all day that their bonus depends on how many they can stamp in a day. Creativity can’t be measured in this way and here is why:
“No two carrots taste the same.” George Jardine
That’s it. Simple hey? If all carrots tasted the same, we would know how to prepare each one we encountered and how long the preparation should take. But they don’t taste the same. So the challenge for the chef is to consistently produce the same outcome with different inputs. If you were measuring him on the outcome you would see no improvement, but because it is the end of winter, the chef has just had his toughest day of the year!
The only way to measure and reward creativity is by understanding the process – the outcome is irrelevant.
5 comments:
It was Jaworski who commented that we live in a world of possibilities that is constantly changing and being created. It follows therefore that creativity is unable to be measured according to the traditional methods - Business schools will battle to teach this - they would do best to nurture it instead... allow that carrot to be picked at its juiciest and most tasty.
Some carrots taste nice. Some dont.
What absolute rubbish. Surely we only need a bit of creativity to get to a mehtod to measure creativity??
measure to kill
All carrots do have a purpose.
So you go crop grower,
and see the carrots there on time!!
For there is no better carrot than that of mine,
Planted when the moon went down,
One grown for a purpose and with no haste in time.
Each time to be used,
In any way the chef felt amused …
I like it when someone says: Oh, I so wish …
I knew the carrot that inspired this dish!
The outcast carrot will inspire a pony for a ride,
A chef for a dinner and a MBA for some guide
This is the carrot I have in-front of your nose,
The one that will not make you better than those
See a purpose, no matter how far ahead in time.
And stop this that yours is better than mine.
Have a carrot in everything you do
And if you so which, make it two.
Don’t ever tell the inspiration you felt,
But do give recognition if ever
a carrot is somewhere to be seen
and the reward will taste better
than carrots, measured to the exact letter.
carrots help you see in the dark
Post a Comment