Creative Entrepreneur Of The Future
Allow me to set your expectations right. I am a dreamer. (Also) I hail from the dreamy valley of Kashmir. So, you will have to flow with my instinct that may or may not drum up your instant approval. Also, though this piece plays on the turf of the creative entrepreneur, I’d like to propose that there exists nothing like an uncreative entrepreneur. Every entrepreneur builds and creates something new, an idea or a product, though, not necessarily unique. All the three key words in the title of this piece represent the forces that will shape the new world – Creative, Entrepreneur and Future. Yes, the world will gradually embrace the true meaning of existence. Love, happiness and creation will top the charts. Once the explosive churn we are in the midst of, will complete the full circle, the world will transform from complicated to simple, structured to amorphous and from derivative to creative. Not just humans, even businesses will find their Ikigai. Creative living and creative business in perfect rhythm with humanity will fuel the Global Happiness Index as humanity will enter a new yuga. Mahatma Gandhi’s teaching - Be the change you want to see in the world, will be more relevant than ever before.
I recently read somewhere - The future of work is creative, flexible, and human. The writer could have not said it better. The Golden Age of Creative Entrepreneurship will be born. Skill departments and ministries all across the globe will play a crucial role in this flowering of this phenomenon. The Government of India is doing well by rolling the dice with the Skill India Initiative. I am especially hopeful that it will widely empower Indian women, enabling them to carve a higher percentage as contributors to the economy.
There was this narrative that, a creative endeavour as a livelihood was a financially unfruitful proposition, instilling the apprehension of likely failure and an unsaid culture of restraint. A few decades ago, if someone was asked as to what they did, and if the answer was, “I am in the creative field”, the response would be, fine, but what do you do for a living? This is no longer the case. I, for instance, have built an entire career around a creative profession. Today, my creative endeavour in the world of Talk functions like a mini-company and is growing as I write, armed with intuitive recognition of future needs and trends.
So in the future, creative entrepreneurs may share commonalities such as being freelancers, consultants, micro-entities or studio-setups working out personal or personalized workspaces, surfing flexible work hours, collaborating on a project-to-project basis and working with professionals from across the globe, thanks to the technology grid. The digital revolution won’t render people obsolete. In fact, creative entrepreneurs will thrive on the aces of the mind, heart and human aura.
The creative entrepreneurs of the future will be armed with a novel idea or product, preferably, whose time has not come, a concept that may be future-oriented, creating new needs and thus new markets rather than addressing existing consumer models. So far, organizations have been profit-driven, their gaze firmly planted on gainful output, but not as much on the worthy outcome. In the future, creative entrepreneurs will have to be driven by a higher and larger purpose other than just profits for a few, so as to be in the league of inspirational businesses. Also, creative entrepreneurs will naturally build a community of collaborative or support resources around them that will help them execute, sustain and expand. Also, within the business, leaders will have to attach a good deal of importance to the pursuit of individual aspirations and attainment of job satisfaction of all employees, consultants and partners.
The creative entrepreneur of the future will be glocal. And, though it makes absolutely no sense, the creative entrepreneur will not be endlessly ambitious, will not be afraid to walk alone, will do things for others and will want to better the world.
Creation was the past. The creation will be the future. And technology will enable the hand and mind of every creative entrepreneur supported by a financial ecosystem that will prefer supporting smaller adventures to help them build upwards and outwards as opposed to funding, gigantic corporate failures.
So, whether an entrepreneur who works with innovative solutions of organic gardening in cooperative societies or a re-commerce site of used and re-created fashion wear or a writers consortium, creative entrepreneurs will enjoy the future, one day at a time. And the world will be a happier Garden of Senses.
