Creativity has a fascinating history. In ancient times, people linked it to revelation and divine inspiration. They saw poets, prophets, and artists as creative figures. They did not use the term creativity because they believed that only God could create. Gradually, this concept expanded to other domains, such as natural sciences, medicine, and literature. Many innovators emerged who shaped various aspects of life.
Creativity is influenced by culture, first of all in terms of concept: Each culture define creativity from its point of view and set different rules and methods to shape creativity.
Creativity is shaped by culture in many ways. First, culture defines what counts as creative from its perspective and sets different norms and methods to foster creativity. For instance, some cultures stress the importance of individual expression while others value group harmony. This may explain why individualistic cultures tend to promote more divergent thinking and risk-taking, while collectivistic cultures tend to encourage more cooperative problem-solving. Second, culture is also influenced by creativity; creative work or products can affect ideas, identity and values can be a force for change. There are many examples: the invention of printing in the fifteenth century created a new cultural environment in Europe. The Internet in the twentieth century transformed the whole scene. Nowadays, creativity has become essential for any entity to survive. It is not a matter of choice anymore, as life today is more complex and challenging than ever before, and many of these challenges are shared by the whole world. We have to collaborate to enhance creativity to solve the global problems and uncertainties that we face.
Therefore, producing more creativity requires embracing global openness. Even at the level of companies and organizations, we do not think that competition among them is still effective and profitable. All parties need cooperation to equalize opportunities and to share ideas, experiences and solutions. And perhaps the first step is to rephrase terms and concepts used in this direction and to use inclusive language within companies themselves and among workers, as well as in external relations among companies.
Creativity has even become a basic criterion in employment, where the traditional resume will not last long.
Creativity is not only a valuable skill but also a basic requirement for many jobs nowadays. The traditional resume is becoming obsolete as artificial intelligence threatens to replace millions of jobs that involve mechanical tasks and no creative input from the workers. Many employers use job simulations to assess the creativity of their candidates. In these simulations, the candidates have to perform a realistic role in the workplace and demonstrate their creative abilities. Some of the key criteria for evaluating their performance are the quality of their solutions, the effectiveness of their processes, the clarity of their communication and teamwork skills, and their willingness to learn new things in different situations.
Creativity is a skill that anyone can develop and train. It is not limited to one category of people, but it requires proper techniques, suitable people and an encouraging environment. The last factor is especially important; for instance, a person needs to have a sense of independence to unleash his creativity; but sometimes he may not have the support of others who value this quality. Creativity development is most crucial at the level of the education system, which has the responsibility of preparing the child from the early stages to nurture his creative potential. A beautiful example of this is the experience of Erin Gruwell, who was a high school teacher in Long Beach California. She transformed the lives of 150 students who were in difficult circumstances by teaching them writing skills. She introduced them to many memoirs and biographies and discussed with them the experiences of their authors, then encouraged her students to do the same. She supported her students in writing their own diaries, which was a creative expression that helped them overcome the challenges they faced, including violence. Later these diaries were published as a book called The Freedom Writers Diaries.
we can envisage education in future will be based on ideas and projects, where a trainee comes with an idea or desire in a certain direction of science, with a specific interest and ambition.
Some existing techniques for fostering creativity, such as reading books or attending workshops, can inspire people. This might be a good start; maybe a spark from here or a simple exercise can shift the individual’s mindset and stimulate them to think differently. But this is not enough. Developing creativity is a long journey that requires many factors, motivators and hard work. In this crucial part, education plays a key role. We can imagine that education in the future will be based on ideas and projects, where a learner comes with an idea or a passion in a certain field of science, with a specific interest and ambition. The academy then guides that learner/student on a rich and long learning journey to create a real project at the end. The future of the education system should tailor all the information and knowledge to the student’s project and interests, and support the journey with all the technologies, resources and people around the world that are relevant and suitable for working and learning with them. Education systems in general will have to redefine their goals and methods, by focusing on relevance, effectiveness through research, discovery and communication.