How Creativity Sparks Entrepreneurialism

by Startacus Admin

By Janice Valentine

If you consider culture as being the realm into which all sorts of creative streams flow, then there’s much evidence to say that having a rich cultural realm can benefit the business community.

Why? Well because these days thriving business communities are those whose employees are innovative. And to be innovative you need to be creative. But not everyone thinks they are, especially those who work in environments not particularly conducive to creativity. The clean, straight sartorial lines of the corporate world; its bureaucratic structure and the linear rigidness of its social hierarchy are at odds with what’s typically perceived to be creative.

On the other hand, in creative workplaces employees typically don’t wear suits. Their working environments are more haphazard and loose. Typically they’re a bit rebellious and want to put their own stamp on things. The repetition and prescriptive nature of much of the process driven work in many corporate jobs is anathema to them. They’re rule breakers, and maybe even makers; not exactly rule followers. That’s why many of them work for themselves; they don’t like to be told what to do.

There’s a reason for the two environmental moulds above. Creativity relies on the flow of ideas; the spark of inspiration that helps a maker of the literary, scientific or technology kind, connect the dots in their domain differently; to see things that no-one has yet seen. To experiment and flip old ways and ideas on their head, so that something unique can be found; an innovation to make an old way better. This requires a mind open to seeing beyond the norm and environments that allow this. Businesses rely on order, structure and process to facilitate the scale that is required for profit. But you see these days the corporate and creative worlds are coming closer together. Not necessarily in how their environments are configured or the kind of outputs they create. But in that a criteria for success in both worlds is creativity.

Creativity requires a dexterous mind to deal with its various stages. At the early stage of creativity observation and reflection is needed to see the big picture. In business this could lead to an idea that’ll improve a process or identify another way of doing something. The other way that gives your business an edge above others doing a similar thing, and maybe even a more socially conscious, altruistic way of engaging with your market and the wider one in which your business operates.

Psychology tells us that the mind needs rest, novelty and stimulation for it to work at its best. Culture can provide both a spark of inspiration and the space in which to make sense of it and apply it to your own working world. Here in Dublin every week sees another event where the minds of frazzled employees can be removed from the day-to-day grind and reinvigorated by all that is in Dublin’s cultural realm. There’s no excuse for staying pub bound because of a lack of things to do here.

Just this weekend gone saw The Projects Arts Centre  host Prototype, which is a festival all about play. The weekend before that there was No Idle Day, a festival celebrating creative activity in Dublin; before that there was Hard Working Class Heroes. And regular events like Banter and Madeit by way of inspiring speakers serve plenty of stimulation to the employee looking for something to jolt them out of their process stupor. You just need to see the big picture of Dublin and you need to open your mind up to this fact: Just because you’re not a designer; your hair may be a close crop on your head and your working wardrobe may be a slick, iron pressed suit rather than a pair of jeans that are skinny at the ankle worn with a slogan t-shirt beneath a hoody; but somewhere inside you there is some form of creativity just waiting to be sparked.

The path to mediocrity is a long and lonely one; but that’s the one businesses will end up following if their employees are not willing to spark the creativity that‘s inside them. So people. Get out and about into Dublin’s cultural realm; follow its various creative streams, see which one you like best. You may be surprised with what you learn about yourself and how much more successful and happy in work you can be.

Janice Valentine is a writer and about to be entrepreneur. In the planning stages of starting her own business, she is a champion of Ireland’s startup community and creativity. A master of following dreams and an advocate of living life to its maximum potential ,Janice believes a way to do this is to understand your own creativity and find ways to harness it to make your working and personal life the best it possibly can be. Follow her on Twitter @JaniceValentine and check out her blog.

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Published on: 21st October 2014