EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
4th May 1997

Competence is baseline
creativity is value creation

This message is sent from my private island in Venice where I hold seminars from time to time. Once a year, at about this time, I hold a special 'advanced' seminar. This is not being held this year as I am going to visit Hungary. Anyone who wishes to attend this advanced seminar should let me know well in advance.

There was a time when career paths were well defined: business, public service, law, medicine, trade etc. Today there are new professions particularly in the media and in information technology. On the whole, however, there will be much more fluidity in the future. Instead of there being fixed career paths there may be a cluster of personal skills which can be combined in different ways to carry through different tasks: computer fluency; creativity; people skills; crisis management etc.

Creativity is never a substitute for competence. If the car does not start there is no point in being creative about destinations. On the other hand, competence is only a substitute for creativity when everyone around is being incompetent. Competence is the baseline - creativity is value creation.

The task for this month is the design of the new professions that will be needed in the future.

Visitors to this site include those who have already registered their commitment to serious creativity by joining the Creative Team. There are those who believe themselves to be creative but do not see any reason to join the Team. Then there are the usual 'zoo' visitors who want to wander through and watch and are not motivated to be contributors.

One aspect which does fascinate me is the matter of self-image in creativity. I have come across many people who think they are very creative when in fact they are not. I have also come across many people who have never thought of themselves as creative but who really are. Then there are the few who genuinely want to become more creative.

Edward de Bono
3rd May 1997
Venice