Yes? You are lucky because you have experienced the most beautiful aspect of life. And unfortunately, one of the worst parts of it. Love and broken heart go hand in hand. They follow each other. When there is love, there is no broken heart. When there is a broken heart, there is no love. Life flows in these cycles. And the cycle of a broken heart can teach us something crucial for our success — creativity.
Today, creativity is more important than ever before. Everyone agrees that it is the most important skill in the twenty-first century. Thanks to Steve Jobs, it became part of even the most conservative industries. Because of him, the concept of "design thinking" became the dominant strategic framework. Companies are now fostering creativity in a structured way. Many business schools, like Stanford, made the subject a part of their curriculum. Others, like IDEO, offer extensive courses, which I recommend. And all are saying the same thing - we are all creative. And we can become more creative.
I want to talk about one principle of creativity that can enhance everyone's creative power. I call it "creative destruction."
Creativity is like magic. You don't know where it came from, it appears in front of our eyes and captivates our soul. The same thing is with love. It's magical. You don't know where it came from. It captivates. And everyone feels the pain when it's gone - when a heart gets broken.
But what is good about a broken heart?
Its remarkable ability to assemble back. To be rebuilt in ways that we cannot imagine that it could be possible. It became bigger, fuller, better, more open, and tolerant. And it allowed us to love (again) in the ways we could never think that we could.
No one would want to have too many broken hearts to become more creative. Still, we need to acknowledge two opposing forces happening in this process. Creation (love) & Destruction (broken heart). The act of destruction (broken heart) made the creation much better (love). These two forces operate in the universe on a grand scale as well as in our minds. If we want to be any good at creating, we also have to be good at destroying that very same thing. Be it any mental construct or ideas that we hold dear in our heads.
We live in a world of duality, focusing only on one side while neglecting the other will put us out of balance. The magic happens when we balance and unify duality. Hence, we need to be ready to create and destroy ideas at any given moment. Not embracing creative destruction will only make us a prisoner of what we already know. We'll not be able to liberate ourselves from ourselves for something new and better.
Those who practice Tai Chi understand this principle very well. In the movement, you need to reconcile two opposing forces. Fullness & emptiness, expansion & contraction, Ying & Yang. Harmony of these two is the ultimate goal. So is the ability to switch from one to another, effortlessly.
What can we learn from the legendary Zhang Ruimin?
No, he is not a Tai Chi Master even though he is Chinese. He is one of the most renowned business disruptors that has run Haier for 35 years. The company is the world's largest seller of white goods. And is well ahead of Whirlpool and Electrolux.
Haier customer complained about a broken refrigerator. Zhang brought it back to the factory and looked for a replacement. After checking the entire stock, he discovered that 76 refrigerators were defective. Some suggested selling them at a discounted price but not Zhang. He selected 75 employees and gave them hammers. He took a hammer and destroyed one of the faulty refrigerators, and asked everyone to do the same. Then he said,
"We cannot expect to destroy refrigerators every day. But actually, I think about doing it every day."
This moment was a turning point for the company and its success. Zhang understood better than anyone else the principle of creative destruction.
We have to be obsessed with creating & destroying everything that we do.
Today is a good day to start and make things better. Start with the best idea that you came up with. Brake it into million little pieces. It will hurt, I know. But like a phoenix, the better one will rise. And at the moment when you think that it has reached its perfection - destroy it again.
Keep creating & keep destroying - perfection (if exists) is somewhere between these two.