How efficiency makes us less creative

And it is precisely that inventing is getting worse and worse for us. Take LinkedIn, for example. In the past year, I have come to the conclusion that LinkedIn is the place where we as a society bury our collective creativity. In doing so, I deliberately leave out playful job titles such as corporate boss and communications architect. During an average LinkedIn session, you stumble over the pictures of coffee-drinking professionals with generic questions designed to make you think. The fact that these are increasingly lazy translations of English-language posts with hundreds of thousands of likes doesn't seem to bother anyone. You don't even have to write anything yourself these days. In fact, the comments under popular contributions are increasingly abused to shamelessly promote your own company or product.

"Nothing wrong with that," I hear you say. As a budding marketer or entrepreneur, why shouldn't you rely on the success stories and life lessons of others? Surely there comes a point eventually when someone has to tap into their own originality, right? Wrong. By now, there is so much content available that there is always something to copy. And with all the built-in translation options, you no longer have to limit yourself to English in the process.

Becoming sleepy rich

Back in 2007, Timothy Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Work Week, live anywhere, and join the new rich. His mantra for a happy and successful life? Delete, automate and/or outsource as much as possible. Eight-hour working days? To hell with it! According to Ferriss, you can literally become sleep-deprived rich with just an hour a day. Do only what is fundamental to your organisation and outsource everything else. Focus on results. Very practical if you started your own IT company from Bali, but much less logical for a creative field like ours.

Yet in marketing and communications, the focus is increasingly on measurable results. Even we as content and PR professionals find that everything has to be faster and smarter, and preferably automated as much as possible. However, if my recent LinkedIn annoyances have taught me anything, it is that creativity cannot be automated away. New ideas are almost never conceived within a tight timeframe.

Creativity pandemic

Back to Darwin. If we continue to reward individuals for their non-creative behaviour; with likes, coffee dates, assignments - you name it, it won't be long before we as a species have lost our originality. After all, according to evolutionary theory, only favourable and necessary traits are passed on to offspring. The only solution to stem the current tide is a global creativity pandemic that will restore focus on the intangible, the holy spirit: inspiration. Down with efficiency, get all the creatyfus anyway!