The Three Keys to Sustainable Creativity

The Three Keys to Sustainable Creativity

In his book The Accidental Creative, Todd Henry states that there are three components to being sustainably innovative: 

Prolific + Brilliant + Healthy = producing great work consistently and in a sustainable way.

He goes on to say that many creative people consistently perform very well in two of these areas, but are lacking in at least one of them.  For example:

Prolific + Brilliant - Healthy = Burnout

Hardworking, highly motivated and productive people are often the ones bosses look to for heroic efforts, but they rarely can sustain that level of productivity indefinitely, and often fall to burnout when they can no longer sustain their pace and the fruitfulness of their ideas.   Without focusing on maintaining their health, all the hard work can be for naught, as family relationships, friendships, and personal support suffer.

Further, to be prolific means that you not only have great ideas, but that you actually do something with them.  You have to have the discipline, the teamwork, and the competencies to deliver.  If the focus is too much on being creative, but not on the real-world application of the ideas, the result can be a great deal of work for little value to the customers served.

Brilliant + Healthy - Prolific = Unreliable

Lastly, brilliance is about the ability to see clearly and incisively to the core of the problem, and identifying workable solutions quickly.  Being healthy and prolific but lacking the ability to cut to the core of a challenge and identify ways to improve that can be implemented can make work groups churn unproductively without solving the real-world problems that demand attention.

Healthy + Prolific - Brilliant = Fired

Where do you and your work group fit?  What strengths can you build on, and what will you do to enhance those areas that aren't functioning at peak?  Remember to think of all three  --  striving to be consistently Prolific, Healthy, AND Brilliant -- in order to have a sustained capacity for innovation in your organization.