Creativity in Business: My Interview with Dan Pink

My 11th Creativity in Business Thought Leader Series interview is with celebrated New York Times best-selling author, Dan Pink. Dan is the prolific author of several provocative books about the changing world of work, including Drive, A Whole New Mind, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, and Free Agent Nation. Dan’s latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us  has been called “an integral addition to a growing body of literature calling for a radical shift in how businesses operate” (Kircus) and “a new model of motivation that offers tremendous insight into our deepest nature” (Publishers Weekly). A great read for anyone who wants to create or inspire an innovative work culture!

Q. How does your work relate to creativity?

Pink: I like to think that what I do itself requires creativity. But what's probably more important is that the arguments in my books are in some senses arguments for creativity.  For instance, in A WHOLE NEW MIND, I argue that routine, rule-based, "left brain" abilities -- such as simple accounting, basic computer programming and so forth -- have become easy to outsource and easy to automate.  That makes abilities that are hard to send overseas or reduce to software -- for example, artistry, empathy, and big picture thinking -- more valuable.

Q. What do you see as the emerging paradigm of work?

Pink: It's non-routine -- that is, you can't reduce it to script, a formula, an algorithm or a series of steps that lead to a correct answer. It's multi-disciplinary.  It involves elements of design, empathy, and symphonic thinking. It's self-directed rather than "managed." And it's animated by a sense of purpose.

Q. What is the role of creativity in that paradigm?

Pink: It's threaded through the entire fabric. If you look at the work and the abilities that are disappearing, or at least becoming less important, they're the antithesis of creativity -- routine, rule-based, single discipline, and managed. The defining work of the 21st century is conceptual, empathic, and big picture.

Q. What attitudes are essential for effectively navigating the new paradigm?

Pink: At the heart is a sense of intrinsic motivation -- doing something not for the extrinsic rewards it brings, but for the inherent satisfaction of the task itself. Beyond that, it demands a sense of autonomy and self-direction as well as a yearning to get better at something that matters -- all of which are pointed toward a cause larger than one's self.

Q. What is one approach for bringing more creativity into work and business?

Pink: One of my favorites comes from the Australian software company Atlassian. Once a quarter, they say to their software developers: "For the next 24 hours, go work on whatever you want, any way you want, with whomever you want." All the company asks is that people show what they've created to the rest of the company at the end of those 24 hours. They call these things "FedEx Days," because you have to deliver something overnight.  It turns out that those one-day bursts of intense, undiluted autonomy have produced more innovation and creativity than just about anything else the company has done.

Q. What is Creative Leadership to you?!

Pink:  It's providing the context and environment that allows people to do their best work -- and then getting out of their way.

Come engage with Dan Pink in person about the concepts in Drive at The Center for Creative Emergence's Interactive Dialogue with Dan Pink (http://www.dialoguewithdan.eventbrite.com) event in Washington, DC on March 11. Pre-registration suggested - we expect to fill up.

Comments

[Bonifer]

Thanks for posting this, Michelle. Lots of need for improvisation, eh?

[Michelle]

Thanks, Mike! Yes...improvisation is getting its due :-)

[Aaron Koehane]

Very interesting stuff, I think the argument for the facilitation of development of creative intelligence within schools made by Sir Ken Robinson would assist in the emergence of the type of business model that Pink describes.

[Michelle James]

Thanks for your comment, Aaron. You might also be interested in The International Alliance for Learning, and also the work of Dr. Win Wenger - they've been focused on creative intelligence in education for decades.