Strategic foresight adviser Dr Morne Mostert of Stellenbosch Business School described creativity as more than artistic expression, arguing that creativity functions as a practical process for building new futures. Speaking to Channel Africa on Wednesday, Mostert defined creativity as the act of creating connections between ideas, tools or experiences that would not normally be linked.<\/p>\n
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Mostert said creativity sits at the heart of futures thinking, because futures are not fixed. Futures science assumes multiple futures are always possible, a perspective that encourages institutions to explore \u201cwhat could happen\u201d before deciding \u201cwhat should happen\u201d. This approach, Mostert said, helps close the gap between the most likely future and a more desirable future.<\/p>\n
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Mostert warned that large institutions often struggle to innovate because incentives reward stability rather than experimentation. Many executives are judged against targets set long before new realities emerge, creating an environment where maintaining the status quo becomes the safest option. Mostert said the pattern leaves incumbent organisations vulnerable to new entrants and entrepreneurs, who tend to be more agile and more willing to test unfamiliar ideas.<\/p>\n
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From an African perspective, Mostert described Africa as uniquely positioned to benefit from creativity because diversity fuels creative capacity. Africa\u2019s diversity of languages, cultures, landscapes and perspectives can act as a \u201cstimulant\u201d for innovation when differences are treated as assets rather than threats. Exposure to difference, Mostert said, strengthens the ability to adapt and respond to complexity.<\/p>\n
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Mostert also challenged the myth of the single \u201cgenius\u201d idea, describing creativity as a discipline of generating many ideas and discarding most of them. The practical skill, Mostert said, is becoming comfortable with rejection and continuing to produce alternatives until workable solutions emerge.<\/p>\n
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World Creativity and Innovation Day is celebrated as a reminder that the future does not simply arrive. Creativity, Mostert argued, allows the future to be actively designed rather than passively endured.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32748,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-32747","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"World Creativity and Innovation Day is prompting renewed debate about the role creativity can play in shaping societies and economies, especially as uncertainty, technological disruption and overlapping global crises force governments and businesses to rethink long\u2011held assumptions.","published_date":"","news_description":"World Creativity and Innovation Day is prompting renewed debate about the role creativity can play in shaping societies and economies, especially as uncertainty, technological disruption and overlapping global crises force governments and businesses to rethink long\u2011held assumptions.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32749,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32747\/revisions\/32749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}