Why Creativity is the Most Important Skill in the World | Top Skills - LinkedIn Learning

Recently at LinkedIn Learning, using the power of our Economic Graph, we determined the skills companies need most.

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And there was a bit of a surprise at the very top of the list: creativity. 

Technically, creativity is the second-most in-demand skill in the world, with cloud computing at the top. But cloud computing is a hard skill, which means it applies to only a section of the workforce and doesn’t have the staying power a soft skill has. 

Conversely, learning how to think more creatively will benefit you the rest of your career. And, macroeconomic trends suggest creativity will only become more important moving forward. 

Hence, it’s no stretch to say creativity is the single-most important skill in the world for all business professionals today to master. Why? 

Let’s start with the what...

But that’s not what it means to be creative, because creativity doesn’t mean artistry. Yes, an artist could be creative, but so could a software engineer, a mathematician, a salesperson or a CEO. 

What does it actually mean to be creative? LinkedIn Learning Instructor Stefan Mumaw, who has authored six books on creativity, has this definition: “Creativity is problem-solving with relevance and novelty.”

Let’s break that definition down into its two parts:

• Relevancy: Relevancy means actually solving the problem. As in, it was relevant to the problem at hand, and provided an actual solution to it. A solution without relevancy is no solution at all.
• Novelty: Novelty is harder to judge, but it’s when you are able to solve a problem in an original way. A way that isn’t what’s expected or has been done before.  

Putting it together, creativity is really just solving problems in original ways. 
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Source: LinkedIn Learning (Blog)