Insecurity => creativity?? LO10539

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 17 Oct 1996 17:34:21 +0000

Replying to LO10504 --

Rol,

I'll take on only a piece of this for now. That is to strongly
oppose the idea

> On the other hand, does
> down-sizing, which creates insecurity and instability, contribute to
> increased creativity?

and its following question
> How would I structure insecurity and instability to increase
> productive creativity?

Creativity is a response to change. It does not occur at equilibrium. It
does not occur much, either, in conditions of insecurity and instability.
That is, human beings do not get noticeably postively creative in those
conditions.

(Yes, we can say creativity occurs when non-living systems or structures
approach instability but that is another of the confustions between living
and non-living that leads to blind alleys and worse.)

Saying creativity is a response to change doesn't necessarily have ANY
implications for what management should do. Change is a constant in our
environment, in our internal states, in life itself. We don't have to
make it. Our power emerges when we are present to it, awake, aware.

> If I were a corporation, how would I increase
> creativity?

And, because a friend of mine said of my style, "It's not good telling
everybody the Titanic is sinking if you don't have any lifeboat" I'll
offer one statement in response.

Increase creativity by increasing connections - to the world, to each
other within the company, crossing formal boundaries, etc.

--
Michael McMaster :   Michael@kbdworld.com
book cafe site   :   http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
"I don't give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity 
but I'd die for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." 
            attributed to Chief Justice Brandies

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>