Category Archives: essay

Fighting Creative Fear

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In my latest writing ventures, I find myself once again staring down the dead eyes of fear. The polar opposite to creativity when the so-called writer’s block has taken hold. Thing is, it’s not a block, it’s confronting the wide-open unknown. In one aspect, I am playing god with my characters in a fiction piece whose outcomes have been conceived and reconceived several times over while pondering the structure of a nonfiction book. I have confronted fear on numerous occasions, never submitting to it. Yet, I still find myself here.

Some days I wish my life were as simple as coming home from work, turning on the TV, and eventually going to bed. That simplicity would make me crazy. It’s an escapist thought to avoid this inevitable confrontation. Better thought: escape to Disney World for a day or a year. It’s easy to avoid fear, to let it win. And then what – spend a lifetime burying my head and cowering in the corner?

So, what’s the point of me writing this. I’m sure you’re wondering that as I am. To confront fear in the creative sense. To realize, to affirm, to share the lesson that creativity dies when fear fills the void. Embrace the unknown; mold it in your mind’s image. Create your world before bloodless zombies scare it out of you. Hold a pep rally, fall asleep at the bar, enter altered states of dementia; whatever motivates you. Just try not to harm anyone in the process. My point is – as I beat it into my own subconscious – you need to maintain control, kill some zombies, and spend a well-deserved week at Disney because those monstrous writing projects are complete and on their way to publication. Until then, never give in. Let creativity reign.

Business of Fear

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Hook at Tower of TerrorWhether in the business world or in writing fiction, fear of the unknown is pervasive. Fear can be applied to the context of a story – as in “don’t enter that room, the killer is hiding in there!” – or it can be the fear or taking risk, as I recently wrote about in the blog post, “Going There.” Today, I have decided to switch away from the subject of writing; rather, my focus is on business driven by fear.

Fear is counter-productive in business; it prevents an organization from finding new solutions. It hinders advancement, and it creates a culture of skepticism and cynicism when it becomes widespread. In my career of corporate communication, I have often encountered this debilitating emotion and its power to halt productivity and impede creativity. For example, in the case of bringing social media into a business, a common response has been, “if we cannot control it, we cannot be a part of it.” Never mind the fact that the discussion of the business by its customers and haters will occur with or without the company’s involvement. The epitome of having no control is when the company’s voice is absent from the conversation.

I have witnessed fear of changing a business model to compete with a larger competitor sink a small business. “It’s not who we are,” I would hear, or, “Our regulars will keep shopping here.” That proved not to be the case. A small risk can go a long way, exemplified by those few small businesses that survived the onslaught of the big box store chains when they moved into my old town. As for the business I was acquainted with, it died a slow and painful death as it resisted trying new techniques in the name of fear. It missed an opportunity to remain competitive by defining a niche as the other surviving shops did.

It’s an unfortunate reality – so many great opportunities in collaboration and innovation are missed by businesses that abide by the fear of the unknown. Optimism, research, and strategic planning will combat this, however. It takes dedication and perseverance to not back down from what you believe is the right path forward. It takes leadership. Fear can be beat, and it requires hard work. In the grand scheme, the fearless will not only thrive, they will win.

When you have an idea to improve something – your business, you creative endeavor, or your life – don’t let fear be a deciding factor. Do it!

American innovation

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Innovation is a hot topic lately, I hear about it at my job and in the collective consciousness of the business world quite frequently. Innovation for new products, new work methods, new infrastructure … the list goes on. With innovation comes the need for change, a concept championed by some and fretted by many, yet necessary. And at the root of innovation is creativity, which seems in recent decades not to receive the respect it deserves in American business.

As stated in the article “Innovation and Growth ‘Inextricably Linked,’ GE’s New Global Innovation Barometer Finds,” the US is perceived “as the country with the best reputation for innovation.” There is no doubt that the US is where it is today because of its innovative history. Think about the many inventions we now take for granted – automobiles, computers, light bulbs, semi-conductors – all products of American inventiveness, and great feats of innovation that have propelled this country to the global economic forefront throughout its relatively short history.

With the outsourcing of manufacturing to Asia and automation of jobs once requiring mathematical skills over the past few decades, America now finds itself in a rut. Nine or ten percent unemployment as blue collar jobs are shipped overseas and a lack of a new industry to compensate for these losses – it is time for the country to embrace and find opportunity in its innovative spirit as a means to turn this crisis around.

Innovation, creativity, and inventiveness cannot be automated or outsourced. They are part of the American fabric, the source of our former industrious heyday. As the findings suggest in the Innovation Barometer study, the other developed and emerging nations recognize this to varying degrees and are investing in innovation with the intent to drive their economies forward. In order for the US to stay ahead of the curve, it needs to invest in its intrinsic talent pool, despite the slow economy and lack of funding. It can start with the education system, placing a new emphasis on the arts and sciences. Out of that will grow a new awareness and appreciation for innovation and creativity that can be embraced not only by the business world, but also on a larger cultural level.

As a communication professional, I feel it is my obligation to help lead the wave of innovation at my job and in the community. My employer would not have endured a century-and-a-half if it were not for its history of innovation, as I am sure the same could be said about many other older American businesses. We need to sow the seeds now so in one hundred fifty years America will still be regarded as “as the country with the best reputation for innovation.”


See the article that inspired this post, “Innovation and Growth ‘Inextricably Linked,’ GE’s New Global Innovation Barometer Finds” on GE Reports: http://www.gereports.com/innovation-and-growth-inextricably-linked/