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signatures (65 per cent) and sharing (48
per cent).
TAKE YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR
COMFORT ZONE TO RE-SPARK
YOUR CREATIVITY, SAYS DAVID
USHER
Former Moist frontman David Usher
spoke with HRPA’s Duff McCutcheon on
why creativity is important for everyone
and how to re-engage your creative self.
WHY IS BEING CREATIVE SO
IMPORTANT TODAY?
David Usher: The world is moving faster,
and technology is moving us out of our
comfort zones. Creative thinking isn’t just
about building better things, it isn’t just
for arts – you can apply it to anything. All
fields are moving at an incredibly fast pace
right now, and for people to keep up, they
need to engage their creative thinking and
creative thinking methodology. Because as
the world changes so quickly, you need to
start being more dynamic in how you can
interact and engage with problems.
Creative thinking provides tools to be
agile and nimble and work through problems
quickly.
WHY DO YOU THINK ANYONE
CAN BE CREATIVE?
DU: If you go into any kindergarten classroom,
you’re not going to see five kids
being creative and the other 20 sitting
around like lumps waiting to be told what
to do – they all instinctively know how to
play and imagine. That’s the natural state.
As we get older, we’re all taught how to
sit still, how to think in straight lines – the
rules.
Creativity really is in all of us, it just
needs to be re-sparked.
YOU SAY CREATIVITY IS 5 PER CENT
INSPIRATION AND 95 PER CENT
WORK – WHAT’S THE WORK PART?
DU: A lot of people think creativity is all
about the idea – but that’s really a small
section of the deliverable. To actually get
something to a final process, whether
you’re a musician or an entrepreneur, it’s
all the other things that go into making
the idea a reality – the planning and the
execution.
AND THE OTHER 5 PER CENT
INSPIRATION? WHERE CAN
WE LOOK FOR IDEAS?
DU: Inspiration is all around us, but it’s
our job to open up and figure out how
to start engaging with the world again. I
think as people get older, it’s very natural
to fall into specific patterns.
My biggest advice to people when
they’re trying to re-engage their creativity
and re-engage their openness to ideas is
to physically break your patterns – stop
doing the things you’re always doing. It
can be as simple as having your coffee in
a different way today, taking a different
route to work, going somewhere different
for breakfast. If you’re used to taking
kickboxing, try modern dance. Do things
physically that are going to break your patterns
and open you up to a different set of
ideas.
If you want to think differently, you
need to live differently. ■
We never call
it a day.
Workplace issues never
sleep. That’s why
our 24 hour line is
answered by
a Sherrard Kuzz
lawyer every hour
of every day,
even on holidays.
Whatever the issue.
Whatever the time.
Our 24 hour line
means our clients
sleep well at night
even if we sometimes don’t.
If it’s about your
workplace, we’re the
only call you need to make.
2013
CANADIAN LAWYER MAGAZINE
RANKED
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HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MAY/JUNE 2016 ❚ 13