Removing 10,000 Obstacles to Creativity

[Yusuf Mansur]

Based on the positive and enthusiastic responses I received from my column of the last week "Jordan as a Creative Economy", I decided to follow up with another article on the topic; this time, the focus is on how to do it. In order for Jordan to become a creative economy, a good starting point is to remove not one obstacle but 10,000 small ones that have imbued the system with monkey wrenches and creativity detractors. The mechanism I suggest below is simple, costless and involves all.

The framework needed for instilling a creativity oriented mindset can borrow from the competitiveness model of Michael Porter who placed significant emphasis on value added in the model. His saying that it does not matter whether one makes a potato chips or a computer chips, but how it is made, should be the point of departure for making a creative economy. Innovation and sophisticated content in every thing is what makes an industry creative.

The so-called Porter diamond is about increasing sophistication everywhere and creating both competition and cooperation among the economic agents (an economic agent is any one who partakes in the purchase or sale of goods and services). The diamond is a four-corner model with each of the four corners having in it one of the following determinants: supply, demand, firm rivalry and competition, and supporting and related industries. The strength of the diamond lies not only in the level of sophistication of each of its components but in the linkages that exist among the corners.

The role of government in the competitiveness model is to establish a modern, stable institutional and legislative environment that is conducive to enhancing creativity and competitiveness. Thus, the government provides a national framework, ensures the modernity of legislation and institutions, avails sophisticated infrastructure, detailed information, and creates a level playing field—fair chances for all to participate in economic activities everywhere.

Let's start with an example of a policy that needs to be changed in Jordanian universities. For promotion purposes, Jordanian universities do not recognize research conducted by a scholar that is based on her dissertation work. Yes, after spending years of training under the tutelage of the best minds in the world, and conducting research in the top institutional and mind changing environments with a wealth of resources and distillations of all that is new and advanced, one has to discard his research and start afresh in Jordan if one is to be promoted.

The strength of a dissertation is a ticket for employment in the West, it dictates the path of research (creative value added) chosen by the scholar and the type of research the person will follow in order to create new knowledge. In Jordan, a young graduate from a top university in the US has to throw all this way and start new research, which can never be as good as his research under the guidance of the best specialists and most creative minds in the field.

Can you imagine the reason why this silly rule is applied? Because the dissertation was already used to gain the title of assistant professor, so parts of or research that is based on it can not be used again to gain a promotion into the rank of an associate professor. Noble laureates such Paul Samuelson, Gerard Debreu, Joseph Stiglitz, among others, would have never received a Noble Prize, years later, for their dissertations and life's work had US universities applied a similar rule; and none would have seriously contributed to knowledge.

The folly of this rule is obvious while, alas, to many in the management of academia it is justified. The upshot of it is that Jordanian researchers hardly ever publish in world class journals or make a name for themselves and the country. This is one wrong that should be chucked. It is just an example. There are, I believe, 9,999 other rules like it. We can determine them collectively. We can through a social network invite statements from people to share and explore online, and then present them to officials jump-starting the work towards change.

Now to the starting point: we set up a social network encouraging contributions in Arabic and English. I found Ning to be an easy and free platform that seems to be perfect for such a network, so I registered http://urdunmubdi3.ning.com/ to be the online location for the 10,000 Steps toward a Creative Jordan. Here we can contribute what we all believe should be changed in policy and thinking in order to progress toward a creative economy.

Contributions can be classified according to the four sides of the diamond by a panel of bloggers—there are some very smart bloggers out there who have been observing the economy for some time now. The contributions can be commented upon by anyone and then voted upon. They are then ranked according to their significance and urgency by anyone interested in participating, and once the 10,000 changes are compiled, we can present them to policy makers as a blue print for a Creative Jordan. A community driven campaign can grow like wildfire through the energy and passion of everyone, spreading the spirit of change and activism so that a Creative Jordan becomes a mind style, a lifestyle and an achievable goal.

This may be the quickest way to engage people in a movement that promotes creativity. Once we hit the 10,000 suggestions, we will know that we have started our journey toward a creative economy. Implementation belongs to all, policy makers and those of us who care enough to make it happen; all of Jordan.

We all know that the time to start the change should have been decades ago, but to start now, and start we must, and with gusto would be better than never. It is not too late.

Jordan Times, 30 12 2008

[Badee3]

http://www.employer-employee.com/creative.html

May be of interest to you Yusuf

Badee3

[Yusuf Mansur]

Thanks for the link Badee3. We've added it to the references list here. How do you feel you can make your industry more creative?

[ramseytesdell]

I feel that while many of the obstacles to a creative economy in Jordan are official, many of the obstacles are self-imposed.

Jordan has space for people to be creative. There is a middle class here (even if it is shrinking) that has time and resources to spend on building a creative economy.

But obstacles like self-censorship, copying ideas and culture from the West, and not mining a long and rich tradition of Arab culture are more self-imposed that officially imposed obstacles. I am not undermining the point that the educational system is limiting the creative capacity of the country, but just to mention that some of the blame should be reflected internally.

Great discussion. I look forward to continuing the conversation.