Blog

4 reasons why creativity is good for your business

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Write, create, innovate!

 

Richard_Florida

During my research I came a cross interesting study from 2014. It was delivered by independent Forrester Consulting group and focuses on the impact that creativity can have on business results. Now, when we think of business performance and innovation first things that come into our mind are productivity and technology, but what about the most important part of human resources – creativity? Well, this study tries to answer some of these questions.

During the study, many senior managers that come from corporations across a diverse set of industries were surveyed and interviewed  to give their quantitative and  qualitative overview of how creativity impacts business results (you can read the report here).

In general, the study confirms what I always truly believed: creativity is a resource and skill that can be nurtured in organizations with aim to recharge business performance in terms of  key business indicators, like innovation rate, revenue growth, market share and talent acquisition.

Key findings in this study also include that:

  • Despite the perceived benefits of creativity, 61% of companies do not see their companies as creative.
  • More companies that foster creativity achieve exceptional revenue growth comparing to their peers.
  • More creative companies enjoy greater market share and competitive leadership.
  • More creative companies win recognition as a best place to work.
  • Companies put creativity on the business agenda.
  • Creativity thrives with leadership support.

What also we can learn from these conclusions is:

  1. In any kind of work and entrepreneurship creativity is becoming a vital currency for us to monetize our competitive advantage.
  1. Creativity can help us moves forward on the leadership ladder in our industry.
  1. Business that encourages creativity is a healthier working place.
  1. Business that encourages creativity is more attractive both to customers and potential coworkers.

How creativity is treated in your work place? Please share in the comments bellow. And as an inspiration for your creativity at work I’ve included a poem to keep you motivated and on track:

Team Work by Edgar A. Guest

It’s all very well to have courage and skill

And it’s fine to be counted a star,

But the single deed with its touch of thrill

Doesn’t tell the man you are;

For there’s no lone hand in the game we play,

We must work to a bigger scheme,

And the thing that counts in the world to-day

Is, How do you pull with the team?

They may sound your praise and call you great,

They may single you out for fame,

But you must work with your running mate

Or you’ll never win the game;

Oh, never the work of life is done

By the man with a selfish dream,

For the battle is lost or the battle is won

By the spirit of the team.

You may think it fine to be praised for skill,

But a greater thing to do

Is to set your mind and set your will

On the goal that’s just in view;

It’s helping your fellowman to score

When his chances hopeless seem;

Its forgetting self till the game is o’re

And fighting for the team.

5 components of the winning productivity

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!

Voltaire - best philosopher in austere times notes and queries

Simplifying our schedule and work environment are first steps in gaining our productivity back. Hence, staying productive and turning it into a habit, requires also a work from our side. Here, I propose few approaches that can help you become and stay productive.

Prioritize three main tasks.

In this digital age, when technology is conquering every inch and second of our life, many people use to-do lists to stay organized. What really counts is the intention we put behind our planning. No to-do list or planning is effective unless we act upon it: strategically and efficiently. In other words, pile of things you schedule yourself to do with a reminder  that will beep somewhere in the background can only make you more nervous and anxious.

First thing you can do to increase your productivity at work is two prioritize three main tasks you need to do for the next day. The best thing is to write them down, before sleep. In that sense you are putting yourself forward, intentionally preparing your mind for the things that need to be done next day. Late dr Wayne Dyer used to call that “let your ideas marinate over night”.

Become an early riser.

If there are any parts of your life you would like to improve – squeezing in some time for exercising, eating healthier or simply stop being late all the time, you need to start building your morning routine, one that focuses around your needs.

Do less important and repetitive tasks when your productivity is low.

Observe yourself: note at which times your attention and concentration levels are not at their best and do tasks that don’t require that much of your energy.

Kill that nagging perfectionist inside.

No matter how good we are at our work, efficient and reliable, many people simply are never satisfied we the work they produce. But this not affecting only them, but also the people they work with. I had a colleague that what ever she was doing, she did it at such slow pace, the rest of us would always need to wait for her to finish report, to come at the meeting on time and ext. Her work was good, yet she was never satisfied, always in need to correct, add, erase…you get the picture. Now, I’m not the proponent of sloppy work, but at some point you need to put the limits and say “This is good enough – for the conditions, resources, time given – I produced a hell of good job!” – Instead of  terrorizing yourself inside with achieving unreachable perfection for never-ending goal!

Take meaningful breaks.

Take enough rest during your working hours since it can help you feel energized during the day. Instead of stressing about the things you still need to do, try to reflect upon the things you’ve already done: that sense of relief and gratitude for the things you already did, will set you on the right foot for other things ahead of you.

Why sit ye idly dreaming all the day,
While the golden, precious hours flit away?
See you not the day is waning, waning fast?
That the morn’s already vanished in the past?

When the glowing noon approaches, we will rest
Who have worked through all the morning; but at best,
If you work with zeal and ardor till the night,
You can only make the wasted moments right.

Think you life was made for dreaming, nothing more,
When God’s work lies all unfinished at your door?
Souls to save and hearts to strengthen–ah! such work,
Such a richly freighted labor, who would shirk?

Then arise, O idle dreamer! Dreams are sweet,
But better flowers are growing at your feet.
If you crush, or pass unheeding, idle friend,
You shall answer for their ruin in the end.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Are you a ‘deep reader’? 3 reasons why you should nurture this habit

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Read, write, lead!

lewis

With expanding technology, the way information is transmitted and ultimately perceived by the recipient is rapidly changing. Short messages, texting and visual content is replacing and interrupting the habit of slow reading, which is focused on understanding the meaning and reinforces deep immersion in the written word.

Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto explore how habit of slow, deep reading has influence on our behavior and perception of the outer world. Their studies have shown that this type of reading enables individuals easier to accept other peoples point of view.

In a study, researches Maja Djikic and Keith Oatley (2014) at University of Toronto, came to similar results, where they concluded that beside developing the empathetic characteristics, readers were able to act in more altruistic ways. Researches have gone even a step further where they claim that deep, immersive reading can lead to destabilizing personality, making it more receptive to inner experiences.

This type of enjoyment of exploring other people’s mental states can lead to something that is referred to as a pleasure reading. Slow, progressive reading gives deep readers time to reflect upon their reading, analyze and form their own opinions.

Even C.S. Lewis in his highly acclaimed work “An Experiment in Criticism” emphasize the importance of reading.

Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realize it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented…. In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.

If you are already a ‘bookworm’ these findings probably haven’t surprised you. Yet we do need to remind ourselves from time to time that written shortcuts, and fast scrolling though a gigabytes of irrelevant information cannot replace a cozy afternoon with a book, that “intimate conversation” between you and your favorite author.

Come hither, Boy, we’ll hunt to Day
The Book-Worm, ravening Beast of Prey,
Produc’d by Parent Earth, at odds
(As Fame reports it) with the Gods.
Him frantic Hunger wildly drives
Against a thousand Authors Lives:
Thro’ all the Fields of Wit he flies;
Dreadful his Head with clust’ring Eyes,
With Horns without, and Tusks within,
And Scales to serve him for a Skin.
Observe him nearly, lest he climb
To wound the Bards of ancient Time,
Or down the Vale of Fancy go
To tear some modern Wretch below:
On ev’ry Corner fix thine Eye,
Or ten to one he slips thee by.

Thomas Parnell

Are you ready to enter a new relationship? 9 luscious ways to seduce your reader with your writing!

by Maja Todorovic, posted in Business in Rhyme, Read, write, lead!, Write, create, innovate!, Writer's creative bites

John Cheever

You as a writer and author, while building your audience are becoming a brand. And your writing is your best branding and marketing tool that exists. Words, emotions, message you transcend through your writing is that magnet that attract readers who share your values and point of view. But once they jump into your writing boat, you and your readers began to interact and build certain relationships; things become different, and a little bit complicated. But you as a writer, don’t want the status: It’s complicated. You want the status: Engaged.

Think about it for a second:

When you are in a relationship with someone and you enjoy it:

  • it is a person you are looking forward to see;
  • it someone you care about and like spending time with;
  • it’s probably someone who shares your values as well;
  • you interact on the basis of mutual trust.

Even classical marketing is moving from brand oriented marketing to marketing that is oriented towards building relationships.

To truly understand what kind of impact is your writing having on your readers you can ask yourself these questions:

Did my writing enabled me to build meaningful connections with my readers?

If not, what can I do to emulate the positive dynamics of such relationships?

  • It has to be a content your reader likes spending time reading;
  • It has to offer something of interest that makes your reader want to  expect fresh content and read it again;
  • That content deals with topics your reader cares about and shares his values.

In order to achieve these objectives you can apply certain tactics through your content:

  1. Offer your readers opportunity to know about you and don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability. In that way you are engraving that human component in your writing and building foundation for future relationship.
  2. Offer understanding, compassion; be helpful through your writing.
  3. Use catchy anecdotes and funny stories that are amusing and captivating.
  4. Show you’re interested in their perspective on things, even if it doesn’t agree with your own.
  5. Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. What I mean is that pretty much the same message you deliver you can say in different ways and modes of expressing. People digest information differently. I remember while I was working with students, the more graphics I used, the students at the class were more ‘tuned in’ with the information, absorbing it in with wide open eyes, not wanting anything to miss. So use visuals as well, audio features, retell what you have to say in different ways.
  6. Be chatty. Start a conversation by asking questions.
  7. Always spice up everything with your quirkiness, with something that makes you different and that can enrich your content to the level it is worth remembering and sharing.
  8. Let your readers know that you are accountable and professional, but throw some ball once in a while. Add some playfulness in your writing because too much of serious approach can be sobering and counter effective.
  9. But never go across the line of NOT being you. What ever you write, be true to yourself because dishonesty leads to mistrust and deceit and like in any relationship, your reader might just break up with you and your writing (remember: rebound can be painful 😉 ).

Why does this written doe bound through these written woods?
For a drink of written water from a spring
whose surface will xerox her soft muzzle?
Why does she lift her head; does she hear something?
Perched on four slim legs borrowed from the truth,
she pricks up her ears beneath my fingertips.
Silence – this word also rustles across the page
and parts the boughs
that have sprouted from the word ‘woods.’
Lying in wait, set to pounce on the blank page,
are letters up to no good,
clutches of clauses so subordinate
they’ll never let her get away.

Wislawa Szymborska