> No, they aren't. You seem to be confusing "creative" with "artistic". Creativity can mean a customer service employee coming up with an imaginative, memorabl

> No, they aren't. You seem to be confusing "creative" with "artistic". Creativity can mean a customer service employee coming up with an imaginative, memorable and successful way of satisfying an upset customer. It can mean a driver finding ways to shave five or ten minutes off a delivery route. It can mean a coffee shop owner turning a "cash only" sign into a "we accept these currencies" sign (as per a recent HN post). It can mean reorganizing a paper route to reduce "dead-walking". It can mean finding a way to cut 50 pounds of onions without getting teary-eyed. It can mean reorganizing a desk to make it more effective. It can mean taking the time to codify a word-of-mouth business process in a clear process document. It can mean a manager setting up a venue for staff meetings that encourages meaningful participation. It can mean tweaks to an assembly procedure that reduce errors. I'm firmly of the opinion that there is no job so menial and mechanical that it can't benefit from creative input by the people doing it. Companies that cherish and empower their employees unleash these kinds of creative improvements and enjoy the productivity gains they produce.