Individual Creativity

It’s intriguing how easy it is to find examples of creativity in our everyday lives. We’re surrounded by evident situations which have evolved from creative thinking; however, we, for some reason, simply neglect to recognize and/or acknowledge them.

Many examples are not necessarily related to business and/or organizations. You can find a great number of individuals who have demonstrated creativity in very unique ways. For instance:

William James Adams, Jr. is of Jamaican descent and is a very talented, highly revered, sought-after musician, songwriter and producer. He is also an American hip hop musician, songwriter and founding member and frontman of a Grammy award-winning American hip hop/pop group from Los Angeles who have sold an estimated 30 million albums and singles worldwide. Still don’t know William?

Before joining the famed musical group, William attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. In 2001, he began designing his own signature clothing line which made its official debut in 2005 at the Magic apparel trade show in Las Vegas. Still in the dark? Maybe this will help.

He was recently cast as John Wraith in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the X-Men film series.

In January 2008, this talented entertainer wrote a song, “Yes We Can,” in support of the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which in turn became a wildly popular music video. The lyrics of the song are composed almost entirely of excerpts from Obama’s speech following the New Hampshire presidential primary election. The video features appearances from numerous well-known celebrities.

He recently appeared as a guest on the very highly rated CBS prime-time television special “Celine Dion: That’s Just the Woman in Me.” He shared the stage with Grammy Award nominee Josh Groban and the five-time Grammy Award winner and multi-platinum recording artist Celine Dion. The program was taped before a live audience at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.

On his own, William has established himself as one of music’s top producers. He has collaborated on tracks with Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Kelis, Nas, The Game, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, The Pussycat Dolls, Busta Rhymes and the Black Eyed Peas, and Fergie. Still no clue?

The work of this rapper and producer helped steer the Black Eyed Peas, one of the most intriguing acts in hip-hop, and later made them one of the most popular acts on the charts. He is better known by his stage name — will.i.am! Not only have they sold millions of albums worldwide but have also won three Grammy awards and have been nominated for 10 total. He also has his own label called will.i.am music group which has enabled him to work closely with a wide variety of very talented and well-known artists.

The story goes that while William was very proud of his name, he wanted a moniker that would relate to the reality that his talent and potential was unique from so many others in a very competitive business.  Therefore, he merely made a very positive statement of his self-esteem and pride by strategically inserting a couple of common periods within his highly regarded birth name.

William became will.i.am.

A very simplistic, creative decision that has certainly served him well. In that same vein his world renowned group chose their popular name because “Black Eyed Peas” are food for the soul. They felt they were too.

Creativity doesn’t have to be overwhelming, expensive, or complex. Sometimes, “simple” does the job!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

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