Creativity Inc

“Don’t feed the Beast!”

Creativity Inc. by Ed Catnull is an interesting read on how to harness creativity. He says:

"Originality is always under threat in a big organisation, where efficiency and process may always be favoured. That’s what Catmull call the “Hungry Beast”. The Beast makes demands: it expects budgets and deadlines to be strictly adhered to, which of course is necessary in every organisation. 

However the Beast should not be allowed to kill what Catmull calls the “Ugly Baby”. It is a manager’s job to prevent the Beast from threatening the creative potential that produces awkward incomplete creations that require time to grow and become perfect. At the beginning every creation is ugly and imperfect. Give it time to grow and improve! Don’t feed the Beast!"

If we apply the analogy to new hires how often are recruiters and hiring managers ‘guilty’ of feeding the beast rather than seeing the potential of the “ugly baby”.

It poses some interesting thoughts and what the future could look like