Uncreativity: the shadow side of creativity

Abstract

This paper argues that our fascination with creativity is distracting and potentially destructive, resulting in a tendency to discard projects and people before they achieve their potential. ‘Uncreativity’ is used to recognise the importance of continuity over change, the contribution of intermediaries and administrators to creative processes and the possibility of reconfiguring and refining existing ideas rather than inventing new ones. The paper argues that the ‘discourse’ of creativity prioritises novelty over value. This leads to an unsustainable emphasis on new ideas and initiatives in organisations. For individuals, it encourages an overemphasis on individual talent and relentless self-belief. This partial understanding of creative processes results in unrealistic expectations and self-destructive and self-exploiting behaviours. Uncreativity is proposed as a necessary element in creative processes for both organisations and individuals. Cultural policy and cultural management need to acknowledge the important contribution of these uncreative elements as well as simply endorsing ‘creativity’.

Keywords:

• creativity
• uncreativity
• intrinsic motivation
• innovation
• creative labour

Notes

1. Beeman’s research was quoted by Jonah Lehrer in his 2012 exploration of the creative process, Imagine: how creativity works (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), p. 13–19. Lehrer’s own research has subsequently been discredited due to fabrication of some interviews and quotes and his book has been withdrawn by the publishers.