All these books and seminars and training videos on creativity and innovation at work really annoy me. Creativity and innovation are a complete waste of time. Unless…

But first, have you ever watched a production line in motion? A worker does his thing in a few seconds, the product moves on, the next worker who does her thing in a few seconds, and so on. Imagine if one of those workers had a new idea, a what-if-I-tried-it-this-way moment. What would happen?

Chaos! A supervisor’s nightmare.

Many businesses are not designed to deal with creativity and innovation because they don’t need it. They need smooth execution of what has already been designed, tried and tested.

Unless your business is the art of the new, it is better to teach focused action than free association.

Not convinced? Well, would you fly with a let’s-try-this sort of pilot?

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.