Creativity and Business

By Timothy Christie

I have not normally thought of myself as a creative thinker. I am a Finance
major with a concentration in data analytics. I came to USC for business and never
thought of anything else. I did not even declare a minor until last year. I was getting
a little bored of taking the same types of classes and wanted to add something new.
On a whim, I added Advertising and Public Relations as my minor, and I did not
think I would get a lot out of it. I just wanted a break from all the business classes
and figured it would look good on my diploma. I was pleasantly surprised to find
that this minor had a lot to offer and all the classes are fresh, insightful, and I
noticed that they held some relevance to my business path. This class especially
caught me a little off guard because I did not expect a class on creativity to be so
useful even in the business classes I am currently taking. This class has caused me
to change my outlook on business and given me insights that I will be able to use to
my advantage.

This class has taught me a lot of things. One of them is the value and
effective methods of brainstorming. I never really grasped the importance of
brainstorming, and what a difference it makes. I have a lot of projects to do for my
classes, and I decided to try and use brainstorming methods to help me with them.
What I noticed is while the projects would take a little bit longer to complete, I was
doing a lot better on them, and I have come to realize that creative thinking does
have a place in business. Before this class, I just always saw business as a very
black and white industry where there is one correct way of thinking and doing
things. I have noticed now that while a lot of things follow an established process,
there is a lot of room for creativity. For instance, there are many different ways of
reporting financial information, so I was able to use brainstorming methods to
evaluate different options and which would be the most useful or profitable. While I
do think some areas of business are very technical and do not have room for
creative thinking, there is a lot of areas that do.
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I think that one of the common misconceptions about business is that you
cannot be creative. In movies, shows, and other media forms, the creative person is
always an actor, or an artist, or a writer. The businessperson in the media is usually
shown as a sort of serious, robotic looking thing in a suit that does not show
emotion and everything they do is calculated and not a product of their own free
thinking. In the real world however, I think that the businessperson is probably more
creative than the artist. The artist has a blank canvas, so its easy to do whatever
you want. I do not think an artist would have to go through and evaluate all their
ideas and find the best one. They get an idea, and they bring it to life. I think the
businessperson spends a lot more time actually brainstorming, evaluating, and
finding a solution that will put them ahead of competitors. There is a lot of pressure
to succeed in business, and the creative thinkers are the ones who end on top. An
artist can be creative, but I think the creative process is not going to be utilized by
the artist to its fullest. This seems a little contradictory since the artist is supposed
to be the creative “right-brained” individual. However, Since the artist has unlimited
freedom and potential to create, they can create a work of art without even thinking
about other possibilities. That art could be great, but it could also have caused the
artist to miss out on something more.

The businessperson is not allowed to do this.In an industry where everybody is aggressively climbing to the top, you have to think creatively just to survive. Effectively utilizing the creative thinking process has very direct effects in the business world. I think it says a lot more to be in an industry full of restrictions and paths that are cut out for you and being able to use the creative process to break away from the crowd than to be completely free to make whatever you want.I think that this semester, I have completely flipped my view on business.This class has made shown me that the creative process is a very important part of business. Not only that, but it has shown me that a lot of jobs where you do not think of creativity are actually the jobs that require the most, whereas the“creative” jobs have so much freedom you do not have to be creative to find solution (although the creative will always come out on top no matter what career you go into).