Do you consider yourself creative? Are you one to turn to when a fresh idea is needed? Or do you typically look to someone else for these thoughts?
I recently came across Dean Rieck’s “8 Bad Habits that Crush your Creativity and Stifle your Success” and found it quite interesting. His blog, Copyblogger, offer tips on various subjects for writers and entrepreneurs about how to increase their branding, traffic and subscribers. This post specifically targeted the main reasons why people are scared to be creative. This struck me because as PR professionals, we are REQUIRED to be creative in all aspects!
This post also tied into our reading from last week about the importance of creativity and brainstorming throughout the stages of campaign planning.
So what were his eight bad habits that hinder creativity?
1. Creating and evaluating at the same time
2. The expert syndrome
3. Fear of failure
4. Fear of ambiguity
5. Lack of confidence
6. Discouragement from other people
7. Being overwhelmed by information
8. Being trapped by false limits
Of these eight habits, I believe PR practitioners, especially those entering the profession, are hindered most by numbers two and three.
Rieck describes “The Expert Syndrome” as people trying to follow exactly what the gurus of the profession did to become successful. He points out that, “It’s wise to listen, but unwise to follow without question.” I thought this was interesting because a person cannot be creative if he or she does not try their own ways of discovering new ideas. If the same routine is used over and over (as the gurus did it), how can fresh ideas and perspective ever be brought to the table? It is key to listen to what others have suggested in order to be successful, but it is never frowned upon to try something in your own way.
Secondly, many people, even outside of PR, are afraid of failure. The feeling of someone rejecting your ideas is never encouraging. Once ideas are pushed out the window, you are prone to feel like future ideas may never be considered. According to the post, by taking more chances, you’ll succeed more often. Therefore, the more ideas you come up with, the less your mistakes are remembered.
Our industry is surrounded by the demand for creativity. Although many agencies have a creative department, that doesn’t mean we should be boring when designing media kits, reaching out to the public, or even in every day press releases. Generating ideas means creating more success. So don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
So what do you think? How does creativity play a role in PR? Do you agree that these two points are most often seen in PR professionals, or do you have a different opinion?