Time to Create, Part II

“All of man’s troubles stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal

In our helter skelter, rush-around world, time is our most precious commodity. And time—time spent alone, time to think and tinker and play—is the one ingredient that is absolutely necessary for creativity and innovation.

An article in this month’s Inc. magazine, Creative Control: Even Bosses Need Time to Dream, analyzes the need for entrepreneurs and CEOs to make time for idea generation because:

• “Companies need new ideas to thrive.”
• “Staying cretive is among the healthiest tings a CEO can do personally and for the company.”
• “Idea generation may be the CEO’s strongest suit, and consequently a company’s greatest asset.”

Paul Budnitz, founder of Kidrobot, is one CEO who hasn’t given up his creative juice for the more mundane tasks of business life. “He came up with 53 original items last year alone” because he forces himself to make time for idea generation. During a recent trip to China for a week of crisis management, he took time to “sit in a room and think about new toy ideas.”

Travel can be a great opportunity for creative thinking, not only because a change of scenery gives us a new perspective. Time spent waiting in airports and hotels and on airplanes can be used for creative incubation.

Take a hint from Erik Djukastein, president of Contech Electronics, who recently turned the management and finance functions of his company over to somebody else and gave himself the title of chief innovation officer. I’m hoping that title catches on. It will definitely appear on my next business card.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved