Creativity is defined as the 'state or quality of being creative', and 'creative ability and process'. It's the act of creation, and it's one of the things that separates us from the other forms of life. For many of us, when we think of creativity, we associate it with the 'Arts'. We oftentimes link creativity with books, movies, songs, paintings, and other creative works. While it's true that people in these fields are exhibiting creativity with their works, it can also be expressed in more subtle ways.

When I think of creativity, I harken back to my childhood. Growing up in a poor working class ghetto, money was oftentimes scarce, and trying to feed four children on $70 bucks a week was not an easy task, even in the 60's. Although I didn't realize it at the time, my mother used her creativity in her own special way. Her creativity consisted of taking a piece of meat and turning into four meals. For example, she would take a Roast that we had on Sunday, take the leftovers and have Hot Beef Sandwiches on Monday, take some of the remaining leftovers and have Beef Stew on Tuesday, and with the remaining leftovers fix a Beef Pot Pie or something similar on Wednesday. She would do this with everything she cooked, and although we were eating leftovers most of the time, we never knew it. We thought that we eating like kings thanks to Mom's creativity in the kitchen.

In a similar manner, we all use various forms of creativity in our daily lives. We express it in practically limitless ways; from figuring out a way to buy 'that' house, to changing our schedule to be able to take classes, to decorating the house, to creating the perfect meal, to finding a way around the traffic jam, and thousands of other subtle ways. And while we give little thought about the creative process behind them, they are creative actions none the less. This is true in business as well as our personal lives.

In its basic form, a business is a group of individuals using their unique creative abilities to solve assigned tasks. From the most rudimentary to the more complex tasks there is almost always some creative input involved. And creativity comes in all forms and shapes. One of the most creative people that I recall was a plumber that I worked for during the summer back in my high school days. There was nothing that this man couldn't figure out when it came to plumbing. Although much of his talent came from years of experience, I observed him on several occasions come up with solutions to problems that looked unsolvable. I've seen the same creative ability in people in other fields.

Creativity is not just something that actors, writers and other 'creative' people possess, but it's something that we all have and use constantly. Although the world may not always take notice, we need to recognize our own unique creativity and realize that we are all 'creative' in our own special way.