The Creative Process: Leadership

What is the creative process? Is there an exact process? Is it applied in leadership?

According to Webster's Dictionary, to create means: 1. to bring into existence. 2. to produce through imaginative skill. Is that creativity, or is there more to it? In this essay, I'll look at the application of creativity through leadership along with the input of three active leaders' opinions.

The first person I interviewed was my cousin, Whitney Hicks, a high school cheerleader. The second person was my aunt, Jeanine Lowe, a high school business teacher. The third person was a friend of mine, Jeff Gillespie, a director of plant operations at a hospital. All have a great deal of leadership behind them and are active leaders.

What is creativity? Creativity can have multiple meanings. Among all of the candidates, the common agreement was that creativity is something newly created. Something shouldn't be called creative unless it is something new. If the definition of create clearly says "to bring something into existence," then a new idea brought out into the open is certainly creative. Someone took what they pictured, thought, or imagined and gave it to the world.

Does creativity play a role in leadership? I think so and all of the interviewees agreed. Jeff said, "Creativity plays a major role in leadership because one must be able to effectively motivate those that follow." In any aspect of life, creativity does play a role. How you do anything was at one time, considered to be creative because it was a new and inventive way to do something. Everything had to start out somewhere. If there is already a way to do something and it doesn't seem to work, or is lacking in an area, then the obvious thing to do is to think of a new and inventive way to do it. Jeanine said, "Creativity plays a major role in leadership because you have to be ready to adapt to different situations but be tactful in making judgments." Different situations call for different methods.