People love creativity, as evidenced by our love of the results of creativity.
Our systems however, are not set up to reward creativity.
Our systems at work, at school, and in life in general are set up to maintain a status quo, to result in the least amount of risk possible (especially as those systems become larger), and in general to reward predictability, consistency, and obedience. All of which describe the opposite of creativity.
The reasons the systems are this way is due to our style of management, primarily in the US. Carrot-and-stick styles, with emphasis on short-term goals and comparison of employees to each other (bonuses for the top 5% etc) result in short-term thinking styles and discourage creativity in the workplace. Bonuses and employee evaluations also tend to focus on measurable goals, and creativity is difficult to measure and difficult to quantify, therefore it's optimized away. Just one of the many negative unintended consequences of our default individual-focused reward-and-punish management style.
Deming-style management process would likely fix this and encourage wider thinking and creativity, with less of an individual focus. Read more and spread the word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
> People love creativity, as evidenced by our love of the results of creativity.
I don't think this follows. Just because you like the result of a process, doesn't mean you like the process. For instance, just because people use the fruits of scientific and engineering processes, that doesn't mean they actually think, or want to think, like scientists or engineers.
I would argue that work does favour creativity. If you go to work just like everyone else does, you'll make an income just like everyone else does.
It is only the people who reject the status quo and find their own way to work that actually are able to make incomes that rise well above the typical worker.
Our systems however, are not set up to reward creativity.
Our systems at work, at school, and in life in general are set up to maintain a status quo, to result in the least amount of risk possible (especially as those systems become larger), and in general to reward predictability, consistency, and obedience. All of which describe the opposite of creativity.
The reasons the systems are this way is due to our style of management, primarily in the US. Carrot-and-stick styles, with emphasis on short-term goals and comparison of employees to each other (bonuses for the top 5% etc) result in short-term thinking styles and discourage creativity in the workplace. Bonuses and employee evaluations also tend to focus on measurable goals, and creativity is difficult to measure and difficult to quantify, therefore it's optimized away. Just one of the many negative unintended consequences of our default individual-focused reward-and-punish management style.
Deming-style management process would likely fix this and encourage wider thinking and creativity, with less of an individual focus. Read more and spread the word: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming