Beyond creativity

“Without work, nothing appears. Without teamwork, nothing prospers.” – thinkUP

Building capacity for creativity to thrive is the capital requirement for success in entrepreneurship. Creative thinking is the foundation of entrepreneurship. Capacity building on the other hand, is the foundation of entrepreneurial success.

The creativity of teamwork is stronger than the work of creativity.

The creativity of labour is stronger than the labour of creativity.

Entrepreneurship begins with creativity no doubt. It is capacity building that takes creativity from indoors to industry and turns economic goods into commercial success. Are you a creative genius? You need more than creativity to succeed in entrepreneurship. Creativity is thinking about possibilities. Capacity building is undertaking responsibilities.

Possibilities are responsibilities. Entrepreneurship is 25 percent creative thinking and 75 percent capacity building. Capacity building is the foundation of entrepreneurial success.

Building entrepreneurial capacity is everything about growing and developing the skill sets required to turn a creative idea into a lucrative opportunity, moving from conceptualization to commercialization.

Work and teamwork mean possibilities and shared responsibilities, respectively. Entrepreneurial success is 25 percent thinking and 75 percent undertaking. Entrepreneurship is about overtaking possibilities through creative thinking and undertaking responsibilities through capacity building.

Creative thinking is work. Capacity building is teamwork. Work is created while teams are built. Creativity creates, while capacity builds. It takes a mind to create something, but a team is needed to build (start, sustain and finish) what is created. Mark Zuckerberg created The Facebook, but the Meta team continues to build it. Creative thinking is the ability of the mind to generate entrepreneurial ideas. Capacity building on the other hand, is the ability of a team to turn an idea to industry. The bridge that connects idea to industry is teamwork.

Entrepreneurs create work, but entrepreneurial leaders build capacity for work to prosper. Creative thinking is required for entrepreneurship to start, while capacity building is required for success in entrepreneurship. Creativity may start the entrepreneurial process, it is capacity building that gives value to creative thinking.

In this article, work and teamwork are used as proxies for creative thinking and capacity building, which in turn represent the substance of entrepreneurship and leadership, respectively.

Work (Creativity) – Work means activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. It does not necessarily take a team to think creatively, it takes a mind. Creatives create works to be started, sustained and finished by a team. Entrepreneurship is work while leadership is teamwork. Entrepreneurship is the ability to create value, while leadership is the capacity to follow through to see that value creation is sustained. Thinkers generate entrepreneurial ideas, while “team workers” build ideas into thriving industries.

Teamwork (Capacity) – The creativity of teamwork is stronger than the work of creativity. Teamwork is the capacity to follow through to see that what is created is started, sustained and finished. Team alone means capacity, while work according to the foundation I laid earlier represents creativity. It is therefore logical to opine that teamwork means capacity and creativity. Teamwork is creative capacity! Creativity can start the entrepreneurial process, it is creative capacity that sustains it. Creative capacity is stronger than creativity and is required for entrepreneurial success.

Summarily, entrepreneurship is 25 percent creativity (work) and 75 percent creative capacity (teamwork). Creativity is resident in the minds of thinkers, while creative capacity is locked up in the minds and muscles of team workers. The journey of an entrepreneur does not begin with teamwork, it begins with creative works. The entrepreneurial journey is not sustained by creativity, it is sustained by creative capacity. Teamwork makes the dream work simply means that it is creative capacity that makes creativity work. The fruitfulness of creative thinking is at the mercy of capacity building.

In a more practical sense, please understand this, that a product is created does not mean a business is started. The goal of entrepreneurship is moving from conceptualization to commercialization. Entrepreneurial creativity may lead to product discovery, it is leadership capacity that turns a product into commercial success. Without creative capacity, a great product can become a commercial mess. Even though a product is not great with respect to its conceptual framework, creative capacity can make a commercial success out of a conceptual mess! Never underestimate the power and influence of teamwork. Creative capacity amplifies, multiplies and perfects creativity. Never forget that the creativity of capacity is stronger than the capacity of creativity itself. Teamwork does not only make the dream work, it amplifies, multiplies and perfects a dream.

Creative thinking is the foundation of capacity building. The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid. As a startup, can you compare your creative capacity to that of established and successful businesses? You are not small because you lack creativity, you are small because you lack capacity. Likewise, as an established organization, you are not great because you are endowed with creativity, you are great because you have developed capacity to amplify, multiply and perfect the seed of creativity. To succeed in entrepreneurship, you need more than the seed of creativity, you need to develop entrepreneurial capacity, which is everything about working to gather (idea generation), as well as working together (industry creation). Creative thinking may lead to idea generation, it is capacity building that leads to industrialization. Add capacity to your creativity.

Don’t just strive to become an entrepreneur, aim to become an entrepreneurial leader. Leadership is the ability to create rules and set goals. It is the capacity to follow through to see that rules are followed and goals are accomplished. Entrepreneurship is the passion to create products and start a business. It is the capacity to follow through to see that products are commercialized and business is successful. Again, entrepreneurial leadership is the ability to add capacity to creativity.

Creativity and capacity birth entrepreneurial success. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision… It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” – John C. Maxwell

“Growth is never mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson

“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” – Abby Wambach

“Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.” – Pat Riley

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” – Vince Lombardi

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