By Dag Heward-Mills
A leader needs to ‘innovate and create’ in order to manufacture something. It takes much more creativity to manufacture a Mercedes Benz than it does to harvest oranges. The inventors of the iPod and iPhone have innovated and created much more than the man harvesting yam and corn on a farm. Obviously, the incomes of people who create the iPads will be far higher than the incomes of the people merely harvesting oranges.
The Advantages of Creativity
- Creativity will change your life completely.
Creativity helps you to change the old things in your life by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. You will benefit from the privileges and outcomes of your ideas. This will make you competitive and you will learn how to win at all costs. You will learn the need to achieve in everything you do. You will learn the need to be first and not second or third.
Creativity will make you a hard worker. You must be creative because it will make you a hard worker and a strong leader who has his own goals. Creativity will boost your confidence as you achieve greater and greater results.
Creativity will cause you to develop in practical wisdom and common sense. You must be creative because you will learn a lot of common sense and good judgment.
- Creativity will make you into a truly successful person.
You must be creative because it will make you successful in spite of your age, sex or educational level. “During the1950s, 60s and 70s the large majority of people starting companies were in their 30s and 40s. Not true during the 1980s or today, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were both in their early 20s when they started apple computer. At the other extreme Ray Kroc was 59 when he started the McDonalds’ restaurant chain.”
Until recently, entrepreneurship was considered by many to be an all male affair. This is no longer true as more businesses are now being started by women than are being started by men.
Knowledge and skill are very important. However, how you acquire your skills and knowledge is less important.
In some cases, university degrees have been known to be a handicap rather than an asset. One researcher suggested recently that one of the biggest handicaps you can have when you start a business is a PhD. For example, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft left Harvard after his second year.
- Creativity will make you enjoy your work.
Most people who work in regular jobs get exhausted at the end of the day and dread the morning of the next day, especially after weekends. Now, an entrepreneur works all the time
and thus puts all of his energy into his work. By working this hard, he enjoys whatever he does and because of this, whatever venture he puts his effort into, will eventually turn out to be a great success.
Work is often what one is forced to do. Creative people do things because they love doing them. Creative people do not work primarily to enjoy the pleasures of the rich. Getting to execute his ideas is what satisfies him. For a true entrepreneur, work is not a means to an end.
It is an end in itself. The process is as rewarding to him as is the end product. Because an entrepreneur is consumed by his desire to work hard, he gets really no time to engage in trivialities of everyday life.
- Creativity will allow you to be in control of your life.
The best thing about a creative person is that he creates his own life and is in absolute control of his life. He does not have to report to anybody. He can take a vacation any time he feels he needs one. He gets to decide what can happen in his venture. Best of all, nobody can fire him. It is great to be your own boss and to create your own destiny.
- Creativity will allow you to experience real success.
Very few get to experience real success. Creative people accept the challenges, work hard to overcome them and when victory results, they savour the moment. Even when they fail in the beginning, they do not give up.
Anytime someone innovates and creates he actually walks in the image of God in which he was created.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:27
Such a leader elevates himself above the life of an ordinary man. Anybody who innovates and creates lifts himself above the curse and the poverty that afflicts most of the planet earth.
Innovators and creators are paid heavily for their achievements. This is why all nations which have innovated, invented and created things like watches, cars, telephones, televisions, videos, iPods, iPads, computers, aeroplanes, trains, air conditioners, heaters, pianos, guitars, washing machines, cookers, microwave ovens, blenders, motor bikes, etc., have become rich.