I am pleased to say that as a student reading for a Masters degree in creativity and innovation within the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking at the University of Malta, I had the honour of meeting the world-renowned Dr de Bono in person this week as he was temporarily in Malta.

Having read some of his books, listening to his talk was of great inspiration and I strongly recommend his books to the public who have an interest in creativity and lateral thinking.

As someone who has lived all his life in Malta, I dare say that the culture or attitude that most of us have been brought up with overlooks the fact that creativity and innovation are two essential aspects in every organisation for the world we live in today. Most of us tend to believe that creativity is only important in creative businesses such as advertising and media agencies and for creative individuals such as designers.

In reality, creativity and innovation no longer remain a luxury but have become a crucial aspect for the survival and effective outcome of all organisations be they social welfare agencies, governmental and non-governmental organisations, in education, etc. Not having an organisational culture which does not promote, but rather shoots down creativity can only breed demotivation, lower performance levels and continuous staff turnover.

As Dr de Bono underlines, creativity does not belong to naturally creative or intelligent people only but rather is a skill which can be learned by practically everybody. It is high time that we eliminate the myth that creativity belongs to the artist; instead we should seek ways of how some creative input can drastically change the way an organisation works...for the better of course!