A creative thought involves constant thought

Why is the painter in the family the creative one?

Why do advertising agencies hold the mantle of creative agencies?

They may have explained this on agency induction day, but being ignorant of the tradition, I’ve wondered how and why creative thinking is outsourced to advertisers. The question materialising when our own Business Development Manager was told he stood out because “he’s not a creative one”.

My own journey has affirmed the prejudice, right through to my continuing education I’m told it's the artists, the storytellers, the self expressive who think creatively. Whether it's true or not, I’ve found that a creative thought is way too valuable in your life to come from someone else. Because I believe a creative thought is simply the identification of new advantage from new possibility.

To borrow our BDM again, his challenge is reaching set financial targets. Conventional and critical thinking can and do achieve these goals, however, last month's exceptional achievement was born from a clear case of creative thought. Of the countless changes and events in our business, he’s identified two and married them into a new possibility with one great advantage. We recently acquired a new government account, and almost at the same time we were commissioned for a Vivid 2015 sculpture. Marrying the two was a creative thought that offered exceptional new advantage towards achieving our goals.

Change is the only certainty I’m certain of, and change is where new possibilities come from. If we’re not constantly surveying and assessing these new possibilities for new advantage, be it personal or professional, we’re closing our eyes to progress.

You can’t escape change. So you may as well use it for what its good for – creative potential.