The Stealer
All of a sudden
you get a great idea on how to improve the process. Then you see your
boss looking at you and you know that your idea will never fly. That
is, it will fly high - but not with your wings.
He's a creativity
stealer. By stealing your ideas and then passing them off as his
own, he robs every ounce of initiative from his workers. They ask
themselves, "If it's only going to glorify that jerk, why bother?"
The English
Teacher
"My
father would crush, albeit temporarily, the creativity out of me.
I don't think it was mean spirited, rather a lack of understanding.
I would write these plays, and I would show them to him. Then instead
of telling me what he thought of my idea, he would pick out the
typos."
The Revenge
of the Non-Company Un-Cloned
"There
are some companies that I've told myself that I will never work
for. Why? Because everyone that works for them must fit the mould.
Everyone must look, act and think alike. I just know that my originality
and innovation would be swallowed up by them."
"My revenge?
Not applying for jobs. These organizations are the ones that are
missing out by not encouraging diversity, individuality and innovation.
They are the ones that are going to end up bankrupt."
It's Always
Raining on My Parade
"The
first words out of his mouth usually were, 'That can't be done.'
But sometimes it might be: No; I don't like it; but we've always
done it that way; or don't mess with something that works."
"It really
doesn't matter what he said because his negative attitude just sucked
that creative sensation out of me, leaving me wilted and wondering
why I even tried."
The Sadist
"She
lurked, watching every move. Whenever she thought I wasn't working,
she would snap her whip, shouting loudly, "Get back to work.
We pay you to work, not sit around." She never realized that
I wasn't just sitting around, I was thinking. What did the company
lose? New ideas and a motivated staff."
"I've heard
of other bosses that must be related to my old boss - these ones
say, 'We don't pay you to think; that's our job.'"
The Divided
of Mind
"Sometimes he liked something, other times he didn't. He
just couldn't make up his mind. No matter what I did, he always
snarled, 'Didn't I tell you I didn't like that?'"
Do you know of another Creativity Killer? Let
us know.
