A Memo on Creativity & Originality
Originality is dependent on the audience’s view of incremental value. It is acceptable to leverage existing ideas or technologies, but it is critical to create additional value. This is where the originality lies. The additional value created is what differentiates replicating from innovating.
In my experience, managers view originality synonymously with application and impact of the end product. If the outcome yields incremental value, it is original in thought or action. For example, licensing a ticketing solution (JIRA) for IT ticket management and automation can be considered an original and innovative application to a mom-pop shop, but less so to a Fortune 100 firm (Walmart). This is based on the audience’s (or manager’s) assessment of impact. In the workplace, managers care about the effects of the idea and not the originality of the technology behind it.
Andrew Haradon raises a key point regarding originality within the creative process. In Blurred Lines (2019), he states, “the difference between creativity and copying is how far afield you look and how many different ideas you bring together.” Coupled with a Gestlantian view, this point summarizes my thought process towards impactful originality.
The Gestalt theory states, “the whole is something else or something different than the sum of its parts” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). My approach towards originality in the creativity process is focusing on creating new applications. I can overcome my fear of the first step, or procrastination, and have a Bias towards Action (Amazon, 2021), which is centered on the research and combination of existing ideas to solve new problems.
