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Learn why embracing your creative side will help guide your entrepreneurial journey.

Creative Entrepreneurs

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Business leaders are expected to be practical, data-deciphering decision-makers. We don’t expect them to bring creativity to the boardroom. Save the creativity for the designers and writers, right?

If you think it only takes number-crunching skills to run a business successfully, it’s time to think again.

For any leader, entrepreneurs especially, it’s critical to embrace your creative side if you want to optimize the potential of your business. Here are some benefits of being a creative entrepreneur.

It Fosters Innovation

As a creative entrepreneur, your aim isn’t just to meet but to exceed customer expectations. The journey from taking your product or service from an idea to reality distinguishes it between a mere invention or a true innovation.

An invention is unique, but it’s the blend of uniqueness and utility that defines innovation. To innovate, creativity is key to reimagine the conventional.

Leads to Higher Overall Success

Analytical intelligence is critical to navigate life’s challenges – but creative thinking is equally vital.

Many educational institutions and businesses continue to prioritize intelligence over creativity. Perhaps this preference stems from the ease of measuring intelligence compared to the elusive nature of creativity.

However, the tide is turning. The world is awakening to the invaluable contributions of creatives within organizations. As a creative entrepreneur, your unique skills can yield substantial benefits when nurtured and used effectively.

It Encourages People to Think

In today’s world, creative problem-solving is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone for addressing organizational challenges. When wielded by a creative entrepreneur, it thrives alongside sharp, intensely focused, and disciplined thinking.

Commonly, discussions revolve around two modes of thinking: convergent and divergent. Individuals may engage in either or both modes.

Convergent thinking leans heavily on analysis, with the aim of a singular, precise solution. It often relies on computer systems, accounting software, and various data sources to reach conclusions.

Divergent thinking, on the other hand, is all about creative exploration and brainstorming different ways to resolve a problem. For the best business outcomes, a creative entrepreneur should do their best to integrate both modes of thinking and learn to approach challenges practically yet flexibly.

It Helps Transcend Boundaries

The essence of groundbreaking discoveries often lies at the intersection of diverse disciplines. For a creative entrepreneur, it’s crucial to dissolve the boundaries between these disciplines, to allow the collision of insights.

This deliberate mingling helps cultivate fresh perspectives on challenges. Creative problem-solving, in particular, excels at bridging disparate domains of expertise, which can help in applying a viable solution from one field to another that’s seemingly unrelated.

It Helps Increase Productivity

For a creative entrepreneur, it’s essential to venture beyond the familiar and plunge into the unexplored to uncover unique and valuable insights. This demands not only creativity from the leader but also the cultivation of such skills among employees.

To encourage creativity among teams, an entrepreneur must allocate both time and resources for the discovery of innovative ideas and solutions to challenges. This investment proves highly cost-effective and ultimately boosts productivity within an organization.

Recognized as catalysts for success, creativity and innovation are indispensable assets on the journey toward organizational excellence.

It Can Help Exploit Employee Potential

When organizations fail to nurture creativity among their employees, they’ll receive only a fraction of their full potential. Fortunately, many businesses are waking up to the wealth of untapped creativity within their workforce.

When you take full advantage of your team’s creative talent, you maximize your ability to innovate and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

It Can Be Developed

While most people used to believe that creativity is an intrinsic trait, it’s now believed that creativity is a renewable resource that can be learned and tapped into at any time.

Every individual possesses creative potential, which can be cultivated and strengthened over time. Taking on new hobbies and learning new skills helps elicit our creativity and expands our ability.

It’s A New Era for Entrepreneurs

The days are gone when being an entrepreneur only meant thinking analytically. We’re now in an era where progressive organizations are embracing creative minds and realizing the unlimited potential they bring. Find your community of other creative entrepreneurs for new perspectives and inspiration for your business. 

Refine your vision and learn from other creative entrepreneurs.

This article is derived from content written by Andrew Cravenho, an entrepreneur who helps both small and midsize businesses.

The original article was published in April 2015 on the EO Blog.  

Allie Frank

Author Allie Frank

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