Tip 43 – Boosting Creativity
As well as being a core competency for leaders and managers, everyone needs creativity to address challenges and solve problems. It is known that organisations led by creative leaders have a higher success rate in innovation, employee engagement, change and renewal.
But what are the skills that are essential for the creative processes...
As an indicator of the increasing abundance of creativity, it may be hard to believe that only a 100 years ago...
Plutonium, insulin and antibiotics hadn't been discovered.
Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”
Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
The average life expectancy in the US was 47.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
More than 95% of all births in the US took place at home.
Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub.
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The 5 leading causes of death in the US were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza, 2. Tuberculosis,3. Diarrhoea, 4. Heart disease, 5. Stroke.
One in 10 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Punch card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.
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The Blind Golfers
A clergyman, a doctor and a business consultant were playing golf together one day and were waiting for a particularly slow group ahead. The business consultant exclaimed, "What's with these people? We've been waiting over half and hour! It's a complete disgrace." The doctor agreed, "They're hopeless, I've never seen such a rabble on a golf course."
The clergyman spotted the approaching green keeper and asked him what was going on, "What's happening with that group ahead of us? They're surely too slow and useless to be playing, aren't they?" The green keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The three golfers fell silent for a moment. The clergyman said, "Oh dear, that's so sad. I shall say some special prayers for them tonight." The doctor added, rather meekly, "That's a good thought. I'll get in touch with an ophthalmic surgeon friend of mine to see if there's anything that can be done for them." After pondering the situation for a few seconds, the business consultant turned to the green keeper and asked, "Why can't they play at night?"
author unknown
