Playing safe is boring

First there was the industrial economy. Then two Gap-pocket-tee-and-Levi’s-denims-wearing Steves – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak – had the audacity to dream of a world with personal computers, ushering us all into the information economy right in their garage. And the World Wide Web rose while the Berlin Wall collapsed, bringing the world into the knowledge economy.

The world is flat, says New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman. Geography doesn’t matter much anymore. Distance is now dead. We had a gallery look at this when the currency in Thailand stumbled – the rest of Asia suffered the financial crisis. And, more recently, when the US subprime mortgage situation happened, the whole world felt its effects. The Euro zone still hasn’t been able to recover to this day.

Technology has also ushered us into the Creative Economy. The need for creativity is very real and very urgent. Corporate clients of mine who have requested me to talk on quality and customer service a few years ago now request me to do talks and trainings on innovation and creativity.

You and I need to be creative and innovative. Creativity and innovation are the keys to make our businesses grow and survive.

The question is, are you creative?

Also important is: are our schools teaching and training our future leaders to be more creative? Or are the schools actually stifling their creativity?

When I was in high school, and that was a long time ago, I was considered the most outstanding kid in school. I was always outside, standing, as punishment for my misbehavior. I get bored easy. Force me to sit down, sit still and silently listen to a boring teacher who speaks in monotone, and you’ll drive me crazy.

Most schools carry stringent rules that they label as discipline. I had a propensity to break rules. My classmates laughed at me for it. In their eyes I was a fool.

Following the rules, being neat and clean ensures safety from punishment. Taking risks is for fools who want to be made to stand in the corner. I stood in the corner so often in my high school life that they named the corner after me.

I follow rules and regulations, and the law, but when it comes to doing business, speaking and training, I take risks. I challenge convention. Tell me an audience is hard to please, and I end up not only pleasing the audience, but probably upsetting them as well.

Being safe is the farthest from my mind. Being helpful by being creative is my goal in life. I’ve been asked to play it safe, and I do too, but if the result wouldn’t benefit my clients, I refuse to take on the job.

I have a job – to challenge people to change, not to play it safe, not so that the client will get me again next time, but to bother people long enough to think and to provide them with tools so they too can be creative and can change for the better.

We are in the creative economy. We’ve been given the ability to create, as we all came from an Excellent Creator. So take risks and stop being boring.

(Only a few seats left in Francis Kong’s upcoming leadership seminar! Develop your leadership skills as he facilitates the well-acclaimed Dr. John C. Maxwell Program “Developing The Leader Within You” on November 21-22 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Hannah at 09228980196, or call 632-6310658 or 6310660.

Looking for an out-of-this-world birthday party for your kid? Try the Mad Science Birthday Party! Mad Science is the world’s leading brand for dynamic science edutainment. For inquiries, call 727-0291 or 727-5692.)