Now you may be saying to yourself “that’s not true” there are lots of boring companies that are not creative! I agree with you. I think those companies are at the end of a creative cycle. They were at one point creative but they haven’t learned how to come up with new ideas and will therefore stagnate and maybe, just maybe, die off. Larger companies who are idea stagnant actually use their money and position to try and stagnate others. It is a loosing battle. Creative things will always rise to the top. Humans are suckers for newness. We’re also smart and when a better way of doing something is created we usually like it better than the old way.

Capitalism taps into one of the most intriguing aspects of humanity. Let’s call it the “lottery mentality”. Even though the odds are stacked enormously against us we still think we will be the lucky one to make it. It will be my invention that will be sold in every store. It will be my company that makes it. Our resistance to believe statistics is a good thing. We keep trying to live the dream. Because of this we keep starting new businesses. We keep trying new ideas. We keep believing in ourselves. It is this human tenacity that has brought us to the creative orgy that we are in today.

Creativity builds upon itself and corporations have used that to grow. Companies have invested billions, if not trillions, of dollars in research and funding into products that allow the public to be more creative. Computers being at the forefront of that change. For instance, the creative work and drive of those who made the computer what it is today has allowed me to post this original article on my own website. It has taken hundreds of thousands of people’s creativity and ingenuity to get us all to the point were we can read blogs and upload photos. That’s not all we can do either. The average person can now send correspondence around the world for free. You no longer need to have huge amounts of capital to start a business. Creativity has caused all of these good things to happen.

While in some organizations creativity is frowned upon (usually in the dying, overprotective, monopolistic, uberconglomerates), it is being encouraged and rewarded. Take Google for example. If you work at Google they have what they call the 80/20 rule. For eighty percent of your week you work on your job, whatever it may be. For the remaining twenty percent you work on a pet project. Usually it has nothing to do with your job. For example this is how Gmail and Google News were created. Google has managed to weave creativity throughout their organization. Why? Because they are smart AND because their founders are obviously creative.

Actually if you look at any company who is doing well right now you’ll find creativity is the basis for their success. Sure, good management, decent products, and other MBA type things help, but it’s the creativity that brings us there. Apple, Pixar, Google, Yahoo, Flickr (which is now Yahoo), MEC, The Smart Car, Dean Kamen, etc. They are all finding creative solutions to problems or creative ways to convince us that their products are best.

Creativity is alive and well in today’s businesses. It will play a huge role in the years to come as we find new ways to learn, new ways to power our world, and new ways to entertain ourselves. The companies who are encouraging creativity will live on even if they fail the first time around. Those who are not will go bankrupt.

It will be very interesting to see what happens when those who used to be creative and made a lot of money during the process (i.e Microsoft, Oil Companies, etc) start to feel the crunch of their non-creative cultures. They will probably try and spend their way out of it. Good luck with that.

For the record I agree with Steve: Creative is not a noun.