Preview There Are Many Killers of Creativity: But this one might just be the most lethal one (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 128)

Preview There Are Many Killers of Creativity: But this one might just be the most lethal one (The Creativity Explorer. Episode 128)

In the last email I sent you I wrote about the positive effect that happened when I put up a dome on my rooftop and how that triggered many new ideas for the rooftop.

 

This time I want to talk about how wonderful ideas get butchered.

 

The local government of Lidingö where my island is just came back to me today and told me that they will NOT issue a building permit for the dome. ;-(

 

The reason they stated was “It looks more like a tent than a building.”

 

They happily ignore the fact that it is (!) a tent and not a building I want to put up. 

 

(Because I live on an island I need a building permit for any structure that I put up – even a tent – but when I apply for the building permit they see the tent and think “that is not a real building” and turn it down… If I lived on the mainland I would not even need any kind of permit to put up a tent…)

 

I always feel so weird and uncomfortable when government bureaucracy gets stuck in their own rules.

 

I am sharing this story to add the sad ending to the idea of putting a dome on the rooftop – but also to make you think and reflect on the creative process.

 

Remember:

 

a) Bureaucracy, rules and regulations should encourage good ideas – not kill them. Remember that when you create rules and regulations.

 

b) Even wonderful ideas might fail. (I have received amazing feedback on my dome (and not a single negative comment), and yet I am not allowed to keep it up because someone in some admin role decided it does not look good because it’s made out of plastic. No matter how great an idea is, not everyone will like it.)

 

c) A friend in Ukraine recently posted: “They might destroy it, but build anyway.”

 

I love the sentiment of that. 

 

Creativity is about taking risks, about building things, about making things happen. And yes, sometimes someone is going to try to tear it down, prohibit you or destroy what you are building – but build it anyway. 

 

So build. Build anyway.

 

Fredrik Haren – The Creativity Explorer.

 

 

P.S. I am happy about the summer I got with my dome.

And who knows, perhaps the last chapter of this story is not written yet.

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