Over the past few decades, creativity has evolved from a characteristic normally associated with artistic activities into a quality that is found in people of various professions. However, in the 21 st century, creativity has become a rather controversial issue. Some people have a significant bias against it, believing that creativity is linked to irrationality, failure to manage tasks and time, and disrupts regular operations. Others believe that creativity contributes to work performance and is crucial for organizations aiming to promote innovation and remain competitive. This essay aims to discuss the two positions on creativity and argue that being creative is vital to achieving success in the 21 st -century workplace, as creativity contributes to problem solving and effective leadership and helps in fostering innovation. First of all, creativity is perceived as a useful quality that encourages out-of-the-box thinking and is thus tightly linked with problem-solving abilities. The 21 st -century business environment is highly complex and unstable, which creates unique challenges both for leaders and for workers. Creative person would be able to approach the problem from a different angle and to compose a solution based on his or her interpretation of the problem. This can be explained by the fact that creativity affects the way individuals interpret and use the information to solve issues (Carmeli, Gelbard & Reiter-Palmon 2013). The positive influence of creativity on problem solving is evident in different types of 21 st -century workplaces. For instance, Chan (2013) argues that creativity is associated with improved problem-solving skills in nursing care. Thus, creative workers’ ability to solve problems allows them to be successful in a variety of modern workplaces. Nevertheless, not all organizations and people encourage a creative approach to usual tasks. For example, creativity becomes irrelevant when there is a certain procedure that has to be followed by workers, such as in factories or large production organizations. In these cases, creativity might disrupt the normal function of the workplace, especially if creative workers try to apply their ideas to processes without the leaders’ approval or encourage others to do so. Whereas this might be true for some of the lower-rank positions, creative people still make excellent leaders that have a positive influence on the modern workplace, thus achieving success in their job. Firstly, as noted above, creative workers are knowledgeable and competent in problem solving, which makes them useful in strategic planning and improving performance. Mainemelis and Epitropaki (2013) state that creative leaders are particularly important in extreme situations, where they can take calculated risks and make decisions that would drive the company forward. Moreover, creativity allows leaders to be effective in managing the 21 st -centrury workplace by promoting the company’s vision and developing useful HR strategies. Today’s workplaces are notably varied and diverse. A lot of large organisations employ people from various cultural backgrounds who have different goals, skills, and talents. Creative people are naturally charismatic, open-minded, and inquisitive, which allows them to build useful relationships with employees and to understand them better, thus promoting effective huma