Creativity the Great Equalizer
By Peter LloydAs uncreative as it sounds, the acceptance of innovation follows a predictable pattern. The innovator finds a creative way to do something that eases some sort of discomfort or dissatisfaction. Early adopters observe the innovation and eagerly begin to use it.
More slowly the mainstream begins to adopt the innovation. Then what we might call late followers get on board. Finally laggards tag along, except for a small number of Luddites, and eventually the innovation becomes commonplace.
Did I mention that this pattern, as familiar as it sounds, was recently documented not in some corporate office environment but among chimps at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo?
Researcher Lydia Hopper at the zoo’s Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes observed chimp creativity and watched it appear first and most prominently among those at the bottom of the social order.
Those who need to find alternatives to the rule of brute force that runs chimp society, naturally rely on their wits to get ahead. Then come the adopters, one by one, but never the top chimp.
Sound familiar? Who’s surprised that chimp and human organizations run a similar course when it comes to creativity? In both cases, those who need to innovate are found among those who need to gain advantage. Those at the top of the powers that be, if you will, remain cautions, skeptical, or disdain innovation altogether.
Creativity, then, might be considered the great equalizer. Invention and innovation make greater inclusion and equality possible. From the printing press to the smartphone and from the Magna Carta to the right to marry, vote, and express one’s self, creativity roots for brain over brawn.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen R. Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.
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