Imagination is one of the most important tools that we have in life. It is often the catalyst for innovation, dynamic change and creative thinking. Like any tool we have, we must use it often and take care of it for it to be useful and of value in our life. We must hone it to a fine edge where it is sharp and cutting edge.
Far too often in today’s world, we find ourselves in a position of doing repetitive things. We execute well written step-by-step directives that do not require imagination. We find ourselves on endless conference calls and a barrage of emails and time dated tasks that we must sign off on while wondering if anyone cares. In truth the very things we do every day stifle our imagination and blow out the flames of creativity and the excitement of innovation.
The world we live in is changing at a rate that is breathtaking. The great ideas of just a few years ago are now dated, unimaginative and mundane. If we are to survive this bleak apocalyptic environment and move on to better days we have to go back and find that spark of creative imagination. Back where in our mind’s eye we can see change and we can imagine a place where people gather together in groups and share in creating a better way, to make dynamic change.
If what we do requires no imagination then the product, the service and the experience that we give our customers will lack all the elements we need to excite that customer. Their expectation of what we do, our products, and their experience will be a failure of imagination. They will leave you and find that place that exceeds all they ever could imagine it would be.
Point Of View:
We are born with life’s greatest gift, imagination, the ability to see in your mind a world filled with possibilities. We can imagine what it looks like, how it will feel, how you will get there and the possibilities beyond the now.
In retail, we need to move beyond the restraints of implementation and create a culture of imagination, innovation, and creativity. In retail today one person may have a vision and a thousand people execute it. Imagine if you will a culture where many people work together to create a vision. Imagine the talent within that group of people. Imagine if you let them loose to create a vision that starts at the store level and flows upward.
Ideas, creativity, and vision should not be proprietary to one lone person at the top that trickles down that vision to the frontline people. It should be a creative force that starts at the front door and expands like a shockwave across the company. We must change the way we create, or become like the dinosaur fading away because we could not adapt and change. In my articles on customer service, I struggled to understand why the customer service was so bad and how a company accepts that as the norm. I realized that the people in the store did not care because they were not a part of the company they just worked for the company. They did not feel valued or part of the creative force of the company. They had no vested interest in the success or vision of the company.
I encourage my team to present ideas to me and they embrace this with great passion and excitement. They have a voice and they are heard. They say our store, our ideas, and our success. We changed how we create and who is actively creating. Try it. You will be amazed at the change in the store experience.
Larry, as I was reading this, I stopped a couple of times to write some thoughts for my next article. Thank you for this. Imagination truly is a gift bestowed on each of us. We must not allow it to be squandered. Thankfully, with encouragement, people can use their imagination in ways they might not have thought possible. Thank you for this!?
Thank you. l look forward to reading what you write
Thank you so much!?
Excellent article, Larry. I agree (with Einstein) that imagination is more important than knowledge. The products of our imagination may wither over time, but the original idea for anything and everything was born in someone’s imagination. Some interesting work on imagination by Dr. Mark Waldman and Dr Srini Pillay.
Imagination includes the generation of ideas that did not exist before, or the generation of different ways of seeing a situation, is important for achieving creative actions.
Imagination is a process of facilitation to achieve the goal: the more images, the more emotions increase. And, the more the intensity of emotions grows, the more motivations will be to get it.
This is a determining factor especially when there is a goal to be achieved. Yeah, because imagination is nothing but the preliminary phase of visualization, the static phase inside of what will then be transformed into dynamic, with tangible effects, more or less close to the initial representation of the mind.
No question about imagination being so special, Larry. In fact, I recently read an article in the paper about how robotics and technology are going to replace many jobs in the future….but none that require problem-solving, innovation, and imagination as machines do not possess those abilities.
Thank you Sandy. A robot will never enjoy walking down a dirt road or sitting on a front porch swing.
Boy that is surely true!!
I met with someone yesterday saying that I was really creative. She asked how did I every get this creative?
I told her it’s because I interact with a lot of people and have experienced many things, including a lot bad things — traumatic things. So all I do is take what I already know and turn of it into something good.
We are the sum of our interactions. Until yesterday, I didn’t realize that creativity and imagination were part of that sum too.
Thank you Chris. I feel the same way as you all of my interactions influence how I engage life