Creative in Leadership and the importance that leaders have creativity

Essay by krisspsUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2004

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Creativity and leadership are often talked about but are seldom used in the same sentence. That is because individuals generally have difficulty understanding what these two words encompass and how they may be combined. Creativity is usually different from leadership but usually goes hand in hand. The two can be combined.

The American humorist Garrison Keillor(1999) remarked on his radio program once that "life is a series of gifts; we live by gifts and not by what we earn." If Keillor is accurate, then it is true that notable leaders have come full circle with their gifts and have been able to share their gifts with others. Moreover, these leaders should give us openings to recognize, acknowledge, and share memories of the gifts that we so contentedly received in our own lives. In doing so, we can find out new things about ourselves. In the end we can share our gifts and shed a quantity of light on a rapidly darkening society.

When discussing leadership and creativity, two things are necessary to understand: gifts are representations of ourselves and creativity is a gift in which leaders express their true nature.

The term creativity is not a synonym for newness(Coreena Casey, lecture, September 2000). There are many new ideas and products produced each day that are not creative. For example, wearing clothes that don't match may be novel but it is seldom creative. Rather, creativity is the ability to combine elements in a way that results in a unique product or process that is useful or brings insight in a manner not previously available. History is full of creative inventions. Two of the most noteworthy examples of the twentieth century are the formulation by Albert Einstein about the nature of matter and Thomas Edison's production of the electric light bulb.