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The Nature of Creative Thought - Part 7

There are many other examples of commonness in the mental patterns of creativity in different fields. Writers, for example, have been most generous in supplying directly, or indirectly, evidences of their creative processes. The only field in which we are shy of good examples is that of business. It is possible to trace out the patterns and actions of business executives and demon­strate that they do, indeed, follow the same patterns as those of people we are more apt to think of as "professional" idea men. But because executives themselves frequently do not have a full appreciation of the creative processes that they employ, they have not as yet analyzed themselves to the extent that creative workers in other fields have.

This is unfortunate, because it also means that they have not analyzed their weaknesses. And since even great leaders in busi­ness (or any other field) may also have great weaknesses, these tend to propagate along with the occasional strengths. In busi­ness, more than in almost any other field, the "followers" tend to ape their leader to a great degree—even to the point of blindly adopting his weaknesses and bad habits. Therefore, these weak­nesses can have a multiplying effect in an organization. Let an executive be a poor communicator, and chances are his subordi­nates will also be poor in communication. On the other hand, let a manager show some dash and courage in his conduct of the business, and his subordinates will also "catch the spirit."

This is one of the basic reasons why an executive should famil­iarize himself as much as he can with what is known about crea-tiveness in all fields. All through the ages, there have been individ­uals who have stood apart from the mob by virtue of being independent of spirit and independent of thought. If they were also bold, curious, discontented, and imaginative, they were usu­ally able to inspire others to follow them in their efforts to improve the world and build a civilization. Today's business executive, sometimes by virtue of some demonstrated ability, sometimes by virtue of chance or circumstance, also stands apart from the crowd. Whether he can muster the imagination to be a creative leader is up to the man.

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