I’ve been reading a lot about creativity, innovation, risk taking, and the creative power of group genius. At gapingvoid.com, a cartoonist named Hugh MacLeod challenges “crassly at times” how creating team-players might actually undercut the creative power of teams. The best companies (the best movements ?) champion autonomous thinkers, who while being part of a team resist being “team-players” in the organization. Such thinkers are not afraid to be creative…to risk tooting their horn….to think independently. In a sort of convoluted logic, teams made up of team players wont be a creative force for change, while teams made up of unafraid, articulate, independent creatives bring innovation out of the friction of their collaboration. The best companies and movements recognize this and create an environment where team members and teams are not afraid to be wrong.
Hugh describes it this way:
Since the modern, scientifically-conceived corporation was invented in the early half of the Twentieth Century, creativity has been sacrificed in favor of forwarding the interests of the “Team Player”. Fair enough. There was more money in doing it that way; that’s why they did it.
There’s only one problem.
Team Players are not very good at creating value on their own. They are not autonomous.
So now corporations are awash with non-autonomous thinkers.
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
And so on.
Creating an economically viable entity where lack of original thought is handsomely rewarded creates a rich, fertile environment for parasites to breed. And that’s exactly what’s been happening. So now we have millions upon millions of human tapeworms thriving in the Western World, making love to their Powerpoint presentations, feasting on the creativity of others.
What happens to an ecology, when the parasite level reaches critical mass?
The ecology dies.
If you’re creative, if you can think independently, if you can articulate passion, if you can override the fear of being wrong, then your company needs you now more than it ever did. And now your company can no longer afford to pretend that isn’t the case.
So dust off your horn and start tooting it. Exactly.
Source: Gapingvoid.com