Using College Creativity For Technology And Future of Work

 

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

As children, we’re taught that there’s a right brain and a left brain. One side is the colorful, creative, artistic side, while the other is black and white, filled with numbers, computations, and all types of boring, binary things. As we grow up, we tend to neglect that creative side, trading in the delights of artistry for the utilitarian skills that our modern day jobs tend to demand, and there is a sort of national consciousness that’s been growing in favor of these skills ever since the Obama Administration began emphasizing STEM above all else in 2009.

Of course, this surging initiative toward STEM didn’t start with Obama–it’s been undulating around since at least the time of The Cold War–but the intensity with which technology has been advancing prompts heightened contemporary interest in the sciences. The rise of automation means that technology is destined to infiltrate almost every part of our lives, even replacing us as workers in some instances, and forcing many who don’t consider themselves “techies” to contend with the reality that nobody will escape this wave of tech-innovation. Even standard office jobs are going to see automation and a higher reliance on tech in the day-to-day. The worry is that the future of work is going to be a drab, dreary place where creativity is stamped out by automation and software, and percentages and calculations. This couldn’t be further from the truth—in fact, automation will make creativity in the workplace that much more sought after and important in our economy.

Creativity Goes Hand in Hand With Innovation

Creativity exists beyond the arts, but we’re often not very good at identifying it or its applications in society. When writing on the importance of creative intelligence, writer Joan Vinyets mentions that “creativity is a key driver in the global economy. However, in the majority of national education curriculums creativity is perceived as secondary to many other subjects.”

This is a shame, because beyond the power to innovate externally, creativity helps to inform individual purpose. It challenges the self against the self, and sparks feelings of importance vital to work. Preston Waters writing for Elite Daily sums up this feeling succinctly: “When you allow your creativity to prosper, [you] don’t even worry about money because that comes as a result.”

 

Creative intelligence and innovative capacity in the workforce will set apart the individual from the flock, because these are the qualities that dictate how the technological future is going to play out. Consider that we’ve only gotten so far with computers and other electronics because of those who dared to think creatively, outside of the box. Siyana Sokolova writing on LinkedIn explains:

“Creativity goes hand in hand with innovation. And there is no innovation without creativity. While creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, innovation is the implementation of that creativity – that’s the introduction of a new idea, solution, process, or product. Creativity is the driving force behind innovation and the incorporation of looking at things from a different perspective and freedom of restrictions by rules and written or unwritten norms.”

How Automation Technology Will Affect Creativity

The unfortunate sentiment is that a future filled with technology will mean nobody gets to flex their creative muscles, leading many students to focus solely on STEM ventures while the liberal arts are neglected. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In an article for TechCrunch titled “The Automation Revolution and the Rise of the Creative Economy,” Aidan Cunniffe argues that human beings are really only uniquely adept at two things: creation and implementation. “We design things, come up with interesting strategies and ideas and then we execute them,” he says. “Whether that means building a physical product, writing code or organizing a global supply chain, all are channels for expressing our creative ideas and manifesting those ideas in the physical world.” All of these activities mentioned require a certain degree of creativity to execute.

The flip side is that everything else human beings are able to do–typing, driving, lifting–is something that computers and machines can do better. The rate of technological advance is such that automated robots will eventually take over most physical and rote tasks. Take driving, for example: the self-driving car could cost Americans 5 million jobs, and this isn’t just a problem of the future, either. Uber, who previously acquired self-driving trucking startup Otto for over $600 million, recently made the world’s first autonomous truck delivery. Innovations like these mean that technology won’t kill creativity in the future–quite the opposite, actually.

Since automation is bound to take off, creativity will be highly desirable in the future of work, if not outright necessary. Machines are a long ways off from being able to manifest creativity, but they are knocking at the doorstep in terms of non-creative labor.

Cultivating Your Creativity

Employers have actually already begun looking for more “creative” liberal arts and humanities majors, according to WSJ, for their strong soft skill backgrounds (as opposed to hard skills, which machines can generally be taught to do better). Additionally, creativity is still how we achieve the impossible. The truth is that college students who focus on cultivating creativity stand a better chance at getting a job in the future than students who don’t, regardless of technological prowess.

Fortunately, it’s entirely possible to improve creativity. Going back to Joan Vinyets, he says that the first step in fostering and spreading creativity is “to break the myth that creativity is a talent that only a few special people possess.” Vinyets is supported by studies that have shown it possible to improve creativity by up to 50% simply by spending reflective time in nature. Other simple tricks to boost innate creativity include reading more often and even a change of diet.

Whatever the case, it’s important to remember that cultivating your creativity is a worthwhile venture. The future of work depends highly on the innovations of creative and knowledgeable people, and the unforgiving automation revolution will favor humans with more “intangible” skill sets.

Whether you’re going for a degree in the Sciences or the Liberal Arts, be sure you always make a point to keep creatively sharp. Your future job just might depend on it.

Andrew Heikkila is a writer, business owner, and artist. He’s a futurist who believes in the power of technology and innovation to create a better world, and particularly enjoys talking about the IoT, robotics, A.I., and the Singularity. Contact him on Twitter @AndyO_TheHammer