I originally wrote this blog entry for the Central Penn Business Journal’s “View from the Corner Office” (a quality blog featuring weekly guest entries from central PA business leaders), but thought it deserved some space here too:

In an advertising agency setting, the talented and lucky ones who create the ads (or just about anything else that requires an artistic eye or written word) are called “creatives” and they, by default, are all part of the “creative department.”

My own background is as a creative, but I’ve never been a fan of the title. That’s because I believe the power to be creative and think creatively shouldn’t rest with one group of people. It’s not fair to the creatives (they’re already over worked, which is why they get to wear jeans and Chuck Taylors around the office), but it also limits the powers of creative expression and the creative expectations of those not in the “creative department.”

Now I realize it’s just a word or a title and maybe I’m getting too wrapped up in the semantics of it all, but my point is this: Everyone—in every company—is a creative. From HR to marketing, and from the CEO to the new accounting intern. This can be applied on a company wide level (try it and see what happens), but it can also be applied on a regional level to mean that every business and enterprise in central Pennsylvania has the power to generate ideas and solutions capable of solving whatever economic obstacles we may face.

After all, ideas are the new commerce, and thinking should not only come from “creatives,” it should be expected from everyone. And the sooner we, as the leaders of this creative revolution, can break down the walls that limit this creativity, the sooner we can trade our pant suits and tasseled loafers for jeans and Chuck Taylors.