Nidhi's Insights!: Creativity and Risk Management

Nidhi's Insights!: Creativity and Risk Management: A demanding job, a full blown happy family life, 10 year old daughter to cater to and a couple of volunteering tasks to add to my kitty...

Creativity and Risk Management

A demanding job, a full blown happy family life, 10 year old daughter to cater to and a couple of volunteering tasks to add to my kitty – where is the time and mind share for creativity?

Over years, as I started to grow professionally everything ate away at my time and energy, EXCEPT my creative pursuits!

Why are we even talking about creativity?

Creativity…the buzzword!

I was used to thinking that being creative, and thus creativity, is art-craft, painting, culinary skills, freedom of expression etc. But as I grew (in my maturity and experience/ expertise), I realized that creativity is all about being inventive, being innovative be it art-craft, your personal life or your profession. It truly is about your deepest passions that many a times, you use to create something…create something original, as we say “out of the box” or “your take on something existing”.  And, in the bid have fun, derive satisfaction and commit!

Creativity, thus, is purely about experimentation and not feeling regretful…not getting deterred!

Ah, my brain takes me to the story of (one of my favorite store's) Chumbak - a great example of creative experimentation. The founding couple simply married their idea of fun with their desire to do something different, and voila, Chumbak was born! Seed capital raised by selling their house, such was the conviction to their idea and their appetite for experimentation! 

Creative thinking (and creative problem solving; in consulting parlance) are essential in today’s corporate world so how can we not give “our creativity” the due importance and credit?

Creativity… has a natural premium!

According to Greenfield, a research scientist and author, “there remains a premium attached to deconstructing and challenging the status quo through the creative thinking and unusual associations of the human brain”

Only people who are able to break the pattern to see or think beyond the obvious reap the rewards of creativity. It is the only means to make you stand out!

Albert Einstein, Sir Issac Newton, some of the greatest scientists of their times totally revolutionized the world of science, almost single handedly by looking beyond the obvious! Need I say more…

Creativity… a simple lack of skill or a fear of something?

Many corporates come to consultants to leverage their creativity in solving the business issues! It’s not always that the organizations lack the capability to solve for their issues, but most of the times what they lack is the creativity or the ability to take (or, manage) the RISK that will arise. And, it is this in-ability to manage/ fear of risks that pushes the creativity to back seat.

Many businesses, despite providing the best and most creative solutions, fail. The problem thus is not so much in skill or fear or failure, but, may be the problem lies in the associated risks…possibly a management of associated risks! 

Does this mean that there is a big element of risk management that links to creativity?

To me, very clearly innovation, initiative, experimentation, entrepreneurial et al. link to creativity. But, as I expand my thinking a big chunk of it is also in risk management! Rightly so, otherwise who could explain all the innovations – some super successful and some failing!    

The ode is thus to creativity and risk management!