EDUCATION
Failure isn’t the terrifying spectre, the doom and gloom thing we all think it is; it can be wonderfully beautiful as part of the creative process"
when attendees start to realise just what they’re capable of. Take innovation. While most people wouldn’t find it difficult to suggest five ideas to change their organisation, many employers don’t give them the chance. “Sometimes what it needs for many people is just a sense of opening up the possibilities for themselves,” says Dr Philip Stiles. “Just being on a course where you get people to rethink their assumptions or to change their horizons can be a hugely liberating thing to do.” And many skills – in addition to creativity – can be taught. Resilience, for example. Work can become stressful very quickly. Techniques for coping can range from having a quiet
concepts and applications of creativity in a way pretty much guaranteed to enrich people’s working lives. In contrast, his students learn to think differently – and that’s particularly true when it comes to the concept of failure. Instead of fearing it, failure becomes something to be embraced. “We have to recognise that failure isn’t the terrifying spectre, the doom and gloom thing we all think it is; failure can be wonderfully beautiful as part of the creative process,” says Dr Carter. With this mindset comes the realisation that you can move on from failure. “Freeing yourself from that failure is essentially a process of trust, it’s to recognise that yes, you faced problems like this before and got through them,
so carry on, you will get through this, you will find a solution.” Nurturing people’s creative and innovative side is ‘a great thing’, agrees Dr Stiles at Judge Business School. It’s also, he says, a big ask. “There will always be opportunities for people who can do that because it’s a difficult thing to do,” he says. Creative, innovative characters may use their talents to transform existing firms, or – as entrepreneurs – set up their own businesses. “That requires self-belief, masses of energy, lots of sacrifice and often the ability to withstand the failure, and to go again.” Courses at Judge Business School that focus on creativity and innovation often see the most spectacular results
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ISSUE 05
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