August 2019

Many people think that creative solutions come about purely by luck or chance. While this is true in a few situations it is rarely the case for the majority.

Most creative solutions come about as a result of lots of hard work and perseverance. New creative breakthroughs are often the result of hours upon hours of trial and error from people who are not afraid to fail.

Such people use failure as a means to reflect and learn from. New learning gives way to new skills and knowledge, which in turn provides new ways to experiment. Rarely do things fall into place easily. Successful people understand that failing is part of success.

It is hard work that brings creativity and therefore I would say that the creative solutions equation is…

Hard work + Perseverance = Creative Solutions

In order to achieve such a level of effort though you should consider channeling your efforts into an area that you are passionate about; passion can make days feel like hours and hours feel like minutes.

Passion also makes hard work feel like a joy.

Go to your local library and read the biographies of some successful people that inspire your or that you respect. This might be a great motivator to get you started on the path to your very own successful creative solutions. Good luck.

Technology enables us to automate many processes and do things much more quickly, as a result, we find that the latest greatest product suddenly has many, very similar competing products also on the market.

Take the recent surge in tablet computers as an example. Apple releases the iPad and then within a year, there are hundreds of other tablet-based computers to choose from. Many of which are very similar to each other. When products or services become too similar customers then choose what they want to buy based on how much they cost. For businesses, a lower price means lower profits, margins, etc.

In the modern world, companies have to constantly keep innovating in order to avoid differentiating solely on price. Having a different product means you can demand a higher price. Until once again that innovation itself has too many imposters – and then once again the cycle has to begin again with yet more innovation.

The key to product/service differentiation and increased revenues/profits is, therefore, to keep innovating with either a radical innovation (something completely new) or an incremental innovation (an incremental improvement to an existing product or service or modification to enable it to be used for a different purpose).

This process of innovating to keep your products and/or services ahead of the rest begins with creativity.

So creativity from a business perspective is about thinking about what could be different in a product or service. How can something change while still remaining relevant and meaningful to the customer? Customers have needs and products and services are there to meet those needs. What can you do different and still meet those needs? Creativity needs to be based on solving problems and adding value to the customer.

How do you add value to a product or service? Better, quicker, smaller, faster, larger, less functional, more functional, louder, brighter, etc., etc.

Today’s world requires lots of creativity and lots of creative ideas to be transformed into useful innovative products and services.

Creativity and innovation make the world go round. Turning new ideas into products and services are great for social and economic growth.

So how can you contribute? What can you do to make a difference?

Think about where you work – is there anything that frustrates you or perhaps something that the customers of the business are always complaining about? Some thing or some process that isn\’t quite right? Is there anything you can do to fix it?

What about a hobby or passion that you have outside of work? Is there something or some skill from that hobby that you could transfer or apply to your work?

Realize that things are always changing so why not let yourself be the one who initiates the changes.

If you’re still stuck for ideas then team up with some close work colleagues and do a brainstorming session together. Perhaps you can work together towards initiating change within your workplace.

Get started now and make a difference.