There was a time not that long ago when creativity was a threat to the status quo; at least in the school system. To drive the Industrial Revolution, we needed obedient followers not creative or curious minds. The critical thinkers asking complex questions weren't solving problems, they were creating them and slowing the efficiency of mechanization.
But, today we inhabit a different truth. The progress of our new era requires a level of compassion and creativity that can never be outsourced (no matter how advanced algorithmic art becomes) and it must be sensitized.
Our biggest pain points, in fact, are a call to bring greater compassion, creativity, and intentionality into designing culture with this in mind.
Rather than clamber, push or scramble our way toward the changes we wish to see, we are proposing that the ascent can be a gradual one. Sure, arduous at times like any climb, but gratifying with persistence. We can't workout once and expect to be fit, and so to our progression toward more meaningful levels of creativity and compassion are more beneficial and longer lasting if they are small and consistent.
Creativity and compassion are muscles. We all have them, but they must be exercised to be strengthened. Small, consistent workouts over time build a muscle stronger and more sustainably than the push hard and collapse approach.
Slow and steady... with time to breathe, assess, recalibrate, and enjoy the process.
