Business and Creativity: It’s Not Just for Artists!

There are six distinct Perceptual Styles that characterize the ways the different people see the world. On the surface, some of these styles look more creative than others—but creativity is not a Perceptual Style quality, it’s a human quality.

Often, when we hear the word ‘creativity’ we think of artists and art in the broadest sense of the word—painting, sculpture, composing, writing, etc. But creativity is not limited to the artistic field, and entrepreneurs and other professionals do themselves a great disservice when they dismiss the notion that they have natural creative abilities.

One definition of creativity reads:

the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations

Using this definition we can find creativity in each of the six Perceptual Styles:

1. Activity shuns repetition and routine and will create new ways to accomplish everyday tasks in order to keep them interesting. Rather than giving up on a project, the individual with the Activity Perceptual Style will approach it in multiple ways, trying different solutions until they find one that works for them.
2. Adjustments creates complex systems that reflect the intricate and interconnected nature of their perceptual experience. Individuals with this Perceptual Style see the natural world around them as an elegant sort of clockwork. Therefore, their creative solutions will reflect and highlight unique ways of connecting systems that appear to others to have no connection at all.
3. Flow also sees complexity, but within in the realm of human relationships. Individuals with the Flow Style create extraordinarily multifaceted communities that creatively build relationships, bonding others together using unusual and inexplicable common interests.
4. Goals is a master at creating tactics that directly address the issues and problems at hand. Individuals with this Style have a form of creativity that is driven by their ability to turn mundane everyday tasks into an exciting form of competition. With startling focus, they cut through all that is superfluous and drive to the heart of what needs to be done with relentless energy and endurance.
5. Methods has an unusual form of creativity: reducing organization and regulation to new levels of simplicity. Individuals with this Style take what many see as the opposite of creativity—routine, stability, categorization, and predictable sequences—to a level beyond mere order, creating truly optimized systems. Their creativity lies in their ability to see through the complexity and chaos and make it intelligible to all.
6. Vision creates images of possible futures that stir the passion and imagination of others. Individuals characterized by this Perceptual Style use their high energy to persuade others to join them and to draw out the best in each person by finding creative ways to challenge them. This style of creativity lies in the ability to see and make use of the best that others have to offer.

This list is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive. It is merely an exercise to demonstrate the different approaches to creativity that characterize each of the six Perceptual Styles. It may be true that you cannot paint a picture or compose a symphony, but broaden the meaning of the word and you’ll discover that you’re using your creativity every day in your business.