Messes, Tidiness and Creativity

Like all parents, we have to keep reminding and goading the kid to pick up her toys and keep them up after she’s done playing. For many of us to whom tidiness comes naturally, says Zohan Lazar:

“Messy surroundings can be spiritually draining.”

But mess has its own advantages, as per one researcher, Kathleen Vohs. Like increasing the odds of being creative. How? By increasing the odds of serendipity:

“When things are tidy, people adhere more to what’s expected of them. When things are messier, they break free from norms.”

And so, for some people,:

“Mess is an organizational strategy.”

But:

“Mess may help us create ideas, but tidiness helps us act on them.”

While that sounds like it makes sense, I am wary of any of these recipes/formulas for creativity. If there were a formula for creativity, wouldn’t big companies have institutionalized them? And yet, isn’t it true that most innovations come from small companies, not the established ones?

Now before you point to Apple as the exception to what I just said, was it really Apple that was innovative or was it Steve Jobs? What exactly has Apple produced after Steve Jobs? And so I agree with Seth Godin when he says:

“When creativity becomes a profession...It often stops being creative.”