You were born innovative. Why have you stalled?

Keep your creativity going, even outside the special room where the company expects new ideas. In this video from 2011, I talk about breaking small habits and becoming curious about things you normally walk past.

Keep your creativity going in everyday life

I compare it with children who draw, build and invent without worrying so much about fitting in. I felt we adults could more easily become trapped by expectations and the way things had always been done.

That was my observation, not a study of all children or of how creativity develops.

Small changes can bring new impressions

I mention things such as taking a different route to work, reading about a subject you don’t normally follow or seeing art and films outside your usual taste.

My idea was to encounter something that surprised or challenged me. Sometimes I discovered I’d overlooked something exciting.

You don’t have to change your whole life to begin. I used small breaks from everyday routine as a way to keep my own thinking moving.

Give employees opportunities to experience something new

I also suggested companies could vary tasks and events and make room to try new things.

For me, innovation meant more than booking a room with unusual furniture and asking people to be creative on command. There needed to be curiosity in the everyday way of working.

The examples are my ideas from 2011. My point was to practise seeing things from new angles, not that one particular activity always creates innovation.

Also read about seeking more perspectives on the world.

Keep your creativity going, even when you’re not in an innovation room

I hadn’t made many videos in the previous ten days because I’d been skiing. When we were due to go home, there were both plane problems and a snowstorm, so we had to stay a few extra days. It wasn’t the worst place to be stranded, but it got a little close to my trip to Denmark.

An exciting programme awaited: I was helping a company with e-business, giving a talk about e-business in Frederikshavn, speaking about innovation in Esbjerg and success at a private event in Aalborg. An interview with a journalist about the Esbjerg talk got me thinking about what companies actually do to get people innovating.

Some create a special innovation room. You go in, and you’re almost expected to become wildly creative. Perhaps the chairs hang from the ceiling, or the decor is otherwise meant to jolt people out of everyday life. I’m certainly not dismissing the value of being provoked and getting different impressions. But I think something matters more: Keeping your innovative energy going day to day.

Children invent before they start holding themselves back

My point was that we’re born innovative. I looked at my own children building Lego, drawing, painting and playing. Whether the drawings were beautiful was debatable, but their parents certainly thought so. They invented and expressed themselves.

They could stand up and sing in front of each other or other people. They could dance in public without all the reservations we adults have. That innocent childishness of simply doing something is, I think, part of creativity.

As adults, some of it may have been knocked out of us. Perhaps friends laughed, school taught us to sit still and do things a certain way, or a parent told us to stop dancing. Those were my reflections in the video, not a study of every child’s development.

In many ways, we’re brought up to resemble others: Wear the same clothes, get an education, behave properly and fit in. I felt you could be rewarded for exactly that. Then you’re hired by a fine company that suddenly says: Now be creative. Now go against the norm and do something different from everyone else.

Start with small breaks in your habits

So I told companies that creativity is something we need to cultivate throughout life. I saw it as a gift from childhood we should try to rediscover. It’s about doing something you don’t normally do.

Start small. Take a new route to work. Read a newsletter about something you don’t think interests you. Try food you normally dislike. Visit an art museum even if art isn’t a big interest, or look at art you don’t immediately like. Perhaps a long French film you’d never have chosen yourself.

The point is small changes to everyday life that give you something different to think about. You don’t have to start by changing everything.

The challenge can be bigger too

In the video, I also mentioned bigger possibilities, such as changing jobs and asking yourself what would happen next. Or looking at whether your relationship had stalled and trying to bring it back to life. I explicitly wasn’t saying you should get divorced.

I also tried getting things going at home myself, but actually thought my wife was much better at it than me. That was another area where I had to remind myself not to let habits dictate everything.

The same with holidays. If you always choose Gran Canaria because it’s easy with a children’s pool and kids’ club, you could try something completely different. I mentioned trekking in Nepal as an example of encountering unfamiliar situations with the family. You didn’t need to attempt the wildest mountain climb. I was talking about trying something new itself.

I saw it more as something to rediscover within yourself than an ability you first needed to invent. When you keep encountering new impressions, you can start seeing the world from other angles and getting unconventional ideas.

If everyone does the same thing, we end up fighting over price

As a business leader, this matters because your employees need to come up with ideas. If they do exactly the same as competitors, there aren’t many things left to compete on. Then you easily end up fighting over price, which I don’t find much fun.

I suggested letting people switch roles and giving them opportunities to try new technology. In 2011, for example, I mentioned giving employees an iPhone, encouraging them to download interesting apps and letting them use Facebook during working hours. Those were my examples of providing new impressions, not a recipe for every company. I discuss my experiences of giving people room and developing a company in Min vej som leder.

Company events could be different too. Instead of the local inn with herring and schnapps, you could try an Indian restaurant or an unexpected activity. I mentioned belly dancing while also laughing that I wasn’t particularly creative myself so early in the morning.

Do something that surprises people and keeps them fresh. I noticed that people who seem young at heart often dare to try something new and challenge themselves. Perhaps they even dare to dance in front of others.

I also do things I don’t immediately want to do

I try using that approach myself. I’ve eaten things I disliked and learnt to like gorgonzola that way. I’ve looked at art outside my usual taste. In the video, I also mentioned occasionally smoking a cigar even though I thought it tasted terrible. That was a personal example from back then.

What interested me was regularly discovering something and thinking: What on earth have I been missing? That was bloody fantastic. That’s how I tried to keep myself going.

I ended by hoping we’d meet at the talk in Esbjerg, which I thought was on 1 March, or in Frederikshavn. Others organised it and had booked me, and I thought the prices were very reasonable. That invitation belongs to the video from 2011. You could take the video as an advert or a little creative nudge.

Best wishes, Martin