Creativity, knowledge and the F word

We are all trying to reach the sweet spot; that illusive space of creativity whereby you can express yourself in your truest form. In my years of working in education in various forms, stages and countries, I have seen this time and again in places expected and unexpected. Be that in the conventional creative sense through the arts or through other forms of creativity, such as making a killer spreadsheet or epic code, the main aim when creating something is to form an original piece of work, which is an expression of your talents and skills.

Now there are two big questions; how do you get to your sweet spot, and most of all how can you stay there. Lets look at some of the ways in which this question can be explored. Lets start with the brain. All you need to do is look at the objects right in front of you to see the mountain of evidence that humans have been seeking and realising their creative sweet spot through every possible medium. From the table you may be seated at, to the technological device you are using to read this, not to mention the electricity harnessed and utilised by a vast array of things to capture, generate and deliver this energy.

So what makes someone get creative? Ken Robinson, a highly regarded creativity expert and a personal hero, argues that we need to find our ‘element’ to help us realise this creative potential. This begins with working out who you are and what makes you feel connected and what is referred to as ‘being in the flow’. The closer you feel to this state, the more likely it is you can be creative. I liken flow to that feeling when you are so immersed and engaged with what you are doing that you lose track of time. This feeling of being in your flow, I would argue also links to our underlying emotional state, conscious and sub-conscious at the time. If we look at educational theorist Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs, and can see that we need to be able to feel safe and secure before we move up the scale to the next level and we need these different aspects in order reach self actualization, i.e. our creative space. While Robinson says that the building blocks you need are to know your strengths and find your flow, what lets you get to this space might be down to having your most basic human needs being met first; food, shelter, safety and love.

Creativity and this ‘self-actualization’, can therefore be intimately linked to how you feel. If you feel comfortable, safe and secure and I would argue, confident, then you are more likely to feel like being creative.

However, what Maslow didn’t consider was the role that unconscious bias can play in all of this. Unconscious bias refers to biases that are outside our control and we make assumptions we are unaware of. These small biases add up and can contribute to a societal norm that becomes accepted. If we go back in to colonial history, we can see evidence of beliefs and norms that rationalized the subjugation of whole continents of people based on racial profiling.

Recently, I have been studying epistemology, the study of knowledge, and it becomes apparent that a lot of knowledge has come from a certain perspective. Knowledge as we know it in the form of universities and other institutions emerged from the Enlightenment, born from reason and from a fact based, empirical and primarily male perspective. What has happened over the last 300 years or so is that our understanding of the world around us has evolved. We now realise that non-tangible power relationships all have an impact on how our world around us is constructed. Some epistemological perspectives even argue that the only real truth that we can have is from our own perspective; reality is relative.

What has this got to do with the F word? As we move into a more ‘equal’ world (we are not delving deeply into the argument here but lets assume equality is where we are trying to move towards), our thinking and perspectives as a collective human knowledge base will change and evolve over time. From the integration of feminist scholarship, we have seen critiques of previous forms of knowledge as they were primarily from a male perspective. A male, western perspective. We even have critiques from a post-colonialist perspective such as Edward Said and Orientalism. Feminism is not about women vs. men, it is about equality for all. Equality meaning equal opportunities, and challenging our thinking and our own unconscious bias. Some leading technology firms are actually training their staff to understand this further and trying to overcome this way of thinking that can hold women back. This is an important step in being able to overcome unconscious bias and to challenge our perception of knowledge. From this perspective we can celebrate diversity, which many studies have now shown means a better, richer, working environment, less ‘groupthink’ and therefore greater creativity and consequently greater returns for businesses, especially when looking at women in leadership positions.

Other than the basic human rights argument for feminism and yes, that means equality, there is also evidence that suggests that binary gender norms actually do a massive disservice to men. In a poll by Cosmopolitan, only 27% of males surveyed said it was acceptable for them to get emotional at any time, whilst 71% said it was unacceptable to cry in public. Add to this that in February this year the Office for National Statistics in the UK have said that male suicide rates are the highest since 2001 and is still the biggest killer of men under 45.

Therefore, these feelings of safety, security and confidence should be accessible and available for all so that we can realise our own full potential and make a positive contribution to this world.

I shall leave you with a picture I took on a recent trip to Washington DC. The monument features portrait busts of three leaders of the US woman suffrage movement: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott. The fourth space is left un-carved, as a symbol that the battle for equality is continuing.

Therefore, the final question I pose to you is what will you do to foster your own creativity and in others to help strive for a greater equality for all?