Fostering Creativity in the Workplace

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Fostering a creative environment in the workplace is like nurturing a garden.

Though I’ve had tulips in my garden for the past 6 years, this Spring marks only the second year my tulips have bloomed. Each year as the green leaves of my tulips appear, I eagerly anticipate the colorful blossoms. Unfortunately for the first 4 years, all I saw was a garden of green stems sitting atop the leaves. In talking to one of my neighbors, she asked if I let the tulips die back. Being a novice gardener I replied, “Once I see the greens starting to wilt, I cut down the plant.” As it turns out, tulip bulbs reabsorb the energy from the dying plant. Rather than cutting down the plants, I learned I should let them die back naturally. Just like gardening, creativity in the workplace needs care and feeding.

Book Review: A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink

In this nonfiction work geared towards a business audience, Pink argues the age of “left-brain” dominance is giving way to “right-brain” thinkers whose minds are more akin to designers, inventors, teachers and storytellers than lawyers and MBA’s. With the coming of what Pink refers to as the Conceptual Age, the future is in the hands of creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and