Do you know World Economic Forum has listed ‘creativity’ among top 10 in demand skills of tomorrow?[1]
Yes, it’s a bit of a surprise that soft skills are still at the top of the list despite being in this era of technological advancements. Hard skills being applicable to only one section of the workforce and having less perseverance are no more at the top of the list. On the other hand, soft skills essential for every section of the business and generally persistent in nature have topped the list.
Being creative is what that is beneficial for all kinds of jobs and that is valuable throughout one’s professional career. According to recent economic trends, creative thinking skills are going to be the most in demand skills across multiple emerging professions.
So, what creativity actually is?
What comes in your mind when you think of creativity; a priceless painting in a museum? Or a masterwork of literature? Or an awe-inspiring piece of music? Creativity is much more than that, that is reflected in a canvas painting; in the pages of a book; or over the keys of a piano.
Creativity is all about undertaking meaningful and fulfilling activities, employing your imagination to create a new idea or object, and innovating something that once was unimaginable. So, creativity is far beyond than artistry. You may find creativity in the work of coders, marketers, developers, programmers or an entrepreneur involved in an innovative business venture or potentially in the work of any individual undertaking something new and innovative in nature.
And now creativity is most important skill than ever, here is how:
Most of the tasks are no more process driven
In this technological era, most of the tasks have been either automated or are going towards automation gradually, this is why most of the tasks are no more process driven. Whether its media industry, textile industry, hardware industry or potentially any industry, process driven jobs have been automated everywhere. So, owners are looking for professionals offering creative solutions rather than professionals undertaking tasks using conventional step by step approach. For instance, a software company is not only looking for coders who can write code for software already existing in the market, rather they also want those coders to be the part of their team who may introduce new software to offer alternative solutions to existing concerns.
Similarly, businesses are not just looking for traditional analysis rather they are looking for some financial analyst who may offer better interpretation of the given analysis. These are examples from two different kind of businesses who are looking for individuals thinking creatively, in fact, now its essential requirement of every business to hire creative individuals in order to deal with ever changing business tasks
Every business is looking for new and innovative solution
As businesses are no more dependent upon process driven tasks, every task has automated and business owners are no more interested in hiring individuals performing same task again and again, rather they may employ robots for it; now business owners are interested in hiring individuals presenting new and innovative solutions for existing tasks. Solutions that worked previously may be no more applicable, and you need to think of new and better ideas. So, to be a successful professional of any field, you need to polish your creative thinking skills. Creative thinking skills in combination with your hard skills will play a significant role in your overall career growth today as well as tomorrow.
Highly competitive environment because World is being innovated with new concepts, ideas and technology
The world we live in is persistently absorbing new concepts, ideas and technology. You may find a new, innovative and in fact better solution to a problem than that you had employed just a month or weeks ago to solve the same problem. Similarly, every day you will find multiple solutions to a specific problem, in fact, more than your imagination; and you know why? Just because business environment has become highly competitive, there are many businesses offering similar solutions to a specific problem with a little or no significant difference in their services.
So, there must be some competitive advantage that every business must have over its competitors, otherwise chances of survival of that business are very limited. In order to cope up with this challenging business environment, every business is now looking for some creative talent; creative thinkers who may ensure uniqueness of the brand, better solutions and something that has not been created or offered before. Creative talent not only means creative thinkers in the field of science and technology, rather business ventures need creative thinkers in every division including sales, software engineering and even financial management. For instance, a food brand can get better market share just because of the appreciable efforts of its talented and creative sales and marketing staff who is successfully generating sales because of their unique and innovative marketing efforts.
So, this highly competitive business environment demands creative professionals and this is why creative thinking is one of the most in demand skills of tomorrow.
Era of automation and artificial intelligence has changed the way business ventures had been undertaking different tasks, so they are not merely looking for professionals having hard skills rather they are looking for professionals having hard skills in combination with a creative thinking mindset. And the bright side is creativity is an innate ability that everyone possesses up to some extent and further you may work to refine your creative thinking skills. Creativity is something that grows with time and effort and its really worth exploring. Expert use analogy of muscle for the creativity i.e. it can be stretched, challenged and pushed from its comfort zone, so you must think of stretching your creativity muscle in order to start thinking creatively.
Think differently and don’t let your creative envy destroy your creativity, just refine your creative thinking skills and live up to your potential.
[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/
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