Powering the great ongoing changes of our time is the rise of human creativity as the defining feature of economic life, Creativity has come to be valued - and systems have evolved to encourage and harness it - 5 because new technologies, new industries, new wealth and all other good economic things flow from it. And 1 as a result, our lives and society have begun to
§ resonate with a creative ethos. An ethos is defined as
'the fundamental spirit or character of a culture'. It is 10 our commitment to creativity in its varied dimensions that forms the underlying spirit of our age.
The creative ethos
§2 and reinforce the role that it plays. Furthermore,
creativity
requires a supportive environment that
provides a broad array of social and cultural as well as 55 economic stimuli. It is thus associated with the rise of new work environments, lifestyles, associations and neighbourhoods, which in turn are conducive to creative work. Such a broadly creative environment is critical for generating technological creativity and the 60 commercial innovations and wealth that flow from it.
[j First, creativity is essential to the way we live and work today. From the early days of the Industrial Revolution to modern times, much of the growth in 15 productivity and material wealth in the industrial nations came not just from creative inventions like the steam engine, but from the widespread application of hard-nosed, 'cooking in quantity' business methods like massive division of labour, concentration of assets, 20 vertical integration and economies of scale. These
methods were creative
developments,
the new
corporate models of their time, seldom used before and never in such forms or on such a scale.
[3] Factories with massive division of labour were a 25 radical departure from the small-shop craftsmanship of the 1700s. In the late 1800s, when Andrew Carnegle built his highly integrated steel empire, he was hailed as one of the first to truly understand the power of such integration. Since then creativity has become
30 even more important.
Traditional economic factors
such as land and natural resources, physical labour and capital have become either less crucial or more readily obtainable.
Moreover, new ways of eliciting and
applying creativity have become ingrained features of
35
our economic life.
As the Stanford University
economist Paul Romer once said, the big advances in standard of living - not to mention the big competitive advantages in the marketplace - have always come
3 from "better recipes, not just more cooking.
40 [4] Second, human creativity is multifaceted and
4 | multidimensional. It is not limited to technological
42 innovation or new business models. It is not
43 something that can be kept in a box and trotted out
4U when one arrives at the office. Creativity involves
45 distinct kinds of thinking and habits that must be cultivated both in the individual and in the surrounding society. Thus, the creative ethos pervades everything from our workplace culture to our values and communities, reshaping the way we see ourselves 50 as economic and social actors - our very identities. It reflects norms and values that both nurture creativity
[$1 Third, perhaps the biggest issue at stake in this emerging age is the ongoing tension between creativity and organisation.
The creative process iS
social, not just individual, and thus forms of 65 organisation are necessary.
But elements of
organisation can, and frequently do, stifle creativity.
A defining feature of life in the early to mid-twentieth century - a period referred to as the organisational age - was the dominance of large-scale and highly
70 specialised bureaucratic organisations.
[6] The rise of creativity as an economic force over the past few decades has brought new economic and 15 social forms into existence that mitigate this tension to some degree, but they have not fully resolved it.
75
Everything from the rise of the entrepreneurial startup company and the formal venture capital system to the loosening of traditional cultural norms regarding work and life reflects attempts to elude the restrictions of organisational conformity.
Of course,
large
80
organisations still play dominant roles in our society, and are required to do many things.
Whereas one
person can write brilliant software, it takes large organisations to consistently upgrade, produce and distribute that software. And though many larger 85 organisations have become more nimble and flexible, they remain large-scale bureaucracies. As a result, organisations are evolving too - developing new ways to foster creativity while providing a structure in which to produce and manage work.
90 [7] This does not mean that creativity has won the day and now powers everything we do. Our new creative economic system is far from fully formed and continues to evolve. Furthermore, it is not a panacea for the myriad social and economic ills that confront
95
moder society. It will not somehow magically alleviate poverty, eliminate unemployment, overcome the business cycle and lead to greater happiness and harmony for all. In some respects, left unchecked and without appropriate forms of human intervention, this
100
creativity-based system may well make some of our problems worse.this is the article