Logically Speaking

We were once young, full of energy, ideas and wonder. What happened?

Every morning when I’m seeing my three boys out the door on their way to school (now I’m seeing them off to the kitchen table, their new makeshift classroom environment) I remind them to answer all the questions, and question all the answers. My hope is that they will eventually hear my plea and actually take these words to heart and act on them. Of course, if they do, I am certain that I would be hearing from the school about their inappropriate behaviour, intentionally inciting the classroom (or chat room) into a state of mass hysteria and insubordination. Traditionally, the school system thrived on a compliant classroom where answers were not to be questioned and that children were taught that there is only one correct answer to every problem – nothing more, nothing less. As adults, we are products of this legacy school system, one that took our naturally inquisitive, creative and playful minds and forced us to adopt the analytical, sensible and “trained mind”, that promised it would do us well in our career search. 

The workplace, as we all know, is not very different than the school system when it comes to looking for answers. In our everyday work, we are expected to maintain an appearance of confidence and certainty about what we know, that appearance comes with an attitude and associated habits such as restricting ourselves to ask as little questions as possible while maximizing on providing the greatest number of solutions.

What we know is that as the number of questions decrease so too does the amount of learning. As children, our curiosity spurred much of our learning by asking questions and then exploring to find the answers, we did it almost effortlessly and then somehow it came to an abrupt end, right about the time we entered the school system.

The beauty of the phrase answer all the questions and question all the answers is that it represents the perfect mix of creative problem solving, combining both a convergent and divergent view. The notion that there is only one set answer (answer all the questions) is juxtaposed with a reversal of the same words (question all the answers) to offer the idea that every answer should be probed for possible further exploration.

If we want our employees to develop and learn, and to become the best possible versions of themselves, we must create spaces where questioning is not only welcomed but expected. We must find ways to support each other and nurture what co-authors and brothers, David and Tom Kelley call our creative confidence. The brothers define creative confidence, in their book by the same name, as having a belief in your ability to create change in the world around you.

The silver lining in all this is that creativity can be learned, or more accurately relearned. At one point you were able to generate countless ideas, a barrage of questions and a never ending propensity for failure and risk – all key ingredients to the creative process.  

I’ll end this entry by sharing the lyrics to one of my favourite songs from Supertramp. Roger Hodgson’s words in “The Logical Song” are a great reminder of the importance of the creative mindset. In it, we hear the well-known story of how many of us lost our creative way as a youth and struggle to ever reclaim it.

Throughout the song, Hodgson frustratingly and repeatedly asks “please tell me who I am” – conflicted by who is he and who he is expected to be. I am hoping that this song (and my words) will help you remember your creative potential and provide you with the courage to build your creative confidence. Now sit back and enjoy one of the classics.