Don’t live by the rules

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Tom

We live in a society where knowledge is the next currency.  Labour has moved to countries like China, India, Bangladesh and even routined jobs are being outsourced.  What remains is something that can’t be moved.  Knowledge and creativity.

limits

But isn’t it weird that when someone hires you because they believe in what you’re capable of, what you can do for them,… the next thing they do is stuff your office with rules?  We trust people to do an important job, but don’t trust them enough to let them make up their own mind about what can and what can’t.

Ask what you want, than what you’re capable of, than what you’re allowed to do.  Without intending it, we put even the most creative people in a box, giving them guidelines how to ‘think outside of the box’.  Pretty ironic right?  Imprisoning people, telling them they’re free to do whatever they want. 

At brainstormsessions you always have that one loud-mouthed person that shouts ‘you can’t have any restrictions during a brainstorm’.  But at the end, he’s the first one to pull out his red marker and cross off ideas that can’t work for this or that reason.  The reason why few (or none) of his ideas are crossed off the board is because his ideas started from restrictions before they even went on it.

Rules are great, they have a purpose, to define the way we act with others in a certain environment.  But in business, aren’t we using an outdated view about rules?  If creativity and knowledge is what keeps us competitive with low-cost countries, how can we keep it up when we use the same rules as they do?  Shouldn’t we be developing a new set of rules to keep our edge, or do we lack the creativity?

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  • Hi Tom,
    We need to strike a balance between creativity and productivity. Creativity requires freedom where as productivity needs rules to produce more for the masses. Both are equally important. A company or society cannot survive only on creativity unless they can generate their product or survice at a lower cost affordable to customers. But when a society strikes the balance between creativity and productivity, the golden age comes.
    -Sudipta
  • Hi Sudipta,
    You're right, but we see that a lot of processes that require 'just' productivity are being outsourced to countries that can do it much better for less money. You're right that rules are needed, but you can't deny the fact that creativity and knowledge (first use) are what keeps us (or should keep us) on top of the economic food chain.

    Thanks a lot for the comment,
    Tom
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