Are you killing creativity?

We all know about the education crisis in schools and colleges. But the real education crisis is in business. Business needs a radical overhaul of training and practices.

Why is this getting so little attention? Why is everyone still talking about business reform and reinvention when what we need is a radical overhaul?

For example …

In Costco magazine, Sir Ken Robinson talks again about the school crisis. It’s part of his ongoing crusade to revolutionize education — not just reform it. You’ve probably seen his viral TED video, “Are schools killing creativity?”

He says schools are stuck in the Industrial Age. Schools kill creativity. But he only touches the tip of the iceberg.


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Business training and practices haven’t changed in nearly a century. They’re still based on an antiquated paradigm designed for a different era — when structure and efficiency were paramount.

What’s paramount today? Alertness and perceptiveness.

And practices conceived for the previous century actively kill perceptiveness and innovation.

Most businesses today actively kill creativity. They actively stifle engagement. They just don’t realize it. Do you?

If school and college education were to be transformed right now, everywhere, we won’t even begin to experience the effect on jobs or the economy for at least half a decade, maybe a lot longer, well after the current crop of graduates join the workforce.

But if business training and practices were to be transformed right now, everywhere, we could conceivably see the effect on jobs and the economy in months, not years.

So why are so few talking about revolutionizing business in the same vein as Sir Robinson et al talk about revolutionizing schools?

Here are Sir Robinson’s words, substituting school education for business. Read it carefully. Contemplate it. You’ll see your role in business from a whole different perspective. Then, join the revolution.

The Game Changer

”The big change has to be from seeing business as a mechanical or industrial process to seeing it much more as a human and organic one.

unning a business is much more like gardening than engineering“Gardeners know that they can’t make plants grow. Plants grow themselves. Gardeners provide the right conditions for that to happen. Good gardeners understand those conditions.

“Running a business is much more like gardening than [like] engineering. It’s about providing the best conditions for growth and development.

“And if we get that right we’ll see an abundant harvest of talent, commitment, imagination and creativity in all of our employees and in all of our businesses.

Ken Robinson, paraphrased

Are you a relic of the Information Age?

Skills 2.0 ::: Next PracticesIf you have an innovation-training program, make no mistake — you are killing creativity. If you have an employee-engagement program, make no mistake — you are crushing engagement. These are relics of the Industrial Age and the Information Age.

Stop launching initiatives to hide the fact you don’t know how to cultivate the right environment where creativity and engagement blossom — on their own.

Before your people will think outside the box, you must lead outside the box.

Reform is
doing more of the same things
or, less of the same things.
Revolution is Skills 2.0
Get started here


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