Productive Creativity Manuscript (In Development)

Great ideas are conceived and lost in the hands of creative geniuses, across all disciplines, every day.  

Creatives often fail to reach their potential as organizers and leaders, and their breakthrough ideas bare the consequences.   Frustration, rationalization, and despondence (and often times conformity) loom as creative people move on from idea, to idea, to idea…and fall short of turning any idea into a tangible and lasting reality.  Sometimes creative energy is all but lost when we give up on thinking different and conform, out of desperation, to something wholly unsatisfying, uncreative, but safe.

Across the spectrum, all creative professionals endure the trials and tribulations of trying to harvest creative energy.  In more harsh terms, we all struggle to really “make ideas happen.”

To simplify the approach to Productive Creativity, I've started working with an equation (above).  
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The Creativity component is your own energy and essence. There is a whole nurture vs. nature argument on the source of creativity. However, this project is not about creativity. You likely don’t need more creativity, you just need the system and tools to manage it. The Behance team has never tried to help anyone increase creativity; it is not our place to do so.  Similarly, I have little value to add when it comes to your passion and expertise.  While "creativity," the generation of ideas, is obviously a critical part of Productive Creativity, you likely already have it in abundance.  We’ll leave it to you!

In Productive Creativity research, we are focused on the remaining three components: Controls, Community, and Execution.

Controls include a series of methods, tools, and essential insights that help creative professionals manage their projects, stay organized and productive, lead others, and follow-through on their ideas.  The controls make up the bulk of the "machine" - these are the tools, methods, and habits that you can pick and choose from to construct your own approach to Productive Creativity.  On a purely mechanical level, our research is attempting to answer the question "how do I manage the everyday chaos of accomplishing tasks, organizing projects, and staying mentally clear enough to still be creative?"  Also included in controls are the methods you should consider in managing yourself professionally and leading both yourself and others through the everyday ups and downs of pursuing ideas.  You will come to see that It is at the intersection of creative energy and leadership capability where great ideas become actions and ultimately revolutionary achievements.

The next key component of Productive Creativity is Community; notably your ability to collaborate, cross-pollinate, and create a sense accountability around you.  Extremely productive and accomplished creative people have harnessed the forces of community to push ideas to fruition.  A thoughtful approach to collaboration yields invaluable feedback, idea refinement, new relationships, and a connective tissue between your ideas, other ideas, and existing resources that you can use to make things happen.  Cross-pollination opens the door to new lenses for old challenges and spurs a more informed creative instinct that is beyond the confines of your own head.  Accountability, one of the most critical outcomes of community, is what binds us to the relentless pursuit of our ideas.  As we become accountable to others, action steps seep to the surface of our ideas.  Our creative tendencies and impulses become more tangible; our fledgling excursions become committed journeys. Community refines and strengthens both our creative energy and our commitment to channel it.

Execution is sheer perspiration.  If Controls and Community are the mechanisms for Productive Creativity, Execution is the fuel. There are methods and convictions that can intensify your efforts and help you productively complete tasks and accomplish goals.  You must develop an allegiance to pushing yourself as you push your ideas.  You must also find your tolerance for the relentless, energy-consuming, emotional, and highly-volatile process of breaking through new territory.  You are an explorer, and you need the perseverance to complete the journey.  

Productive creativity is a noble cause. It is not only good for you and your own goals. Productive creativity is also good for society and every discipline contained within.

Two other "frameworks" that I have been thinking about lately...
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(1) The graphic above (on the left) illustrates the fact that leadership capability is often lacking in the creative community. Perhaps the emotional, passionate process of creating gets in the way of managing ideas, projects, and people? Great ideas happen in the "creative execution" zone (upper right hand part of this graphic). The combination of creative energy and leadership capability is a sweet spot for breakthrough acheivements.

(2) The graphic above (on the right) illustrates the benefits of "lenses" that help creative individuals and teams stay focused. I am still working to understand, through the many interviews we conduct at Behance, what these lenses are.