We are constantly told by our line managers, parents, governments, CEOs, “thought leaders,” and media to be creative. Apparently, creativity is the new lifeblood of the modern economy.

The rush to “be creative” is having a huge impact on everything around us, from the places where we work to the ways we are managed. The traditional corporate hierarchy is now a defunct system that negates creative activity, we hear. Governments are too bureaucratic and stifle innovative policy thinking. Regulation is the enemy of flexible, agile, and creative work.

Social services, charities, and other institutions are failing not because their funding has been drastically cut, but because they are not creative enough. Hospitals, schools, and universities that fail do so because they are insufficiently entrepreneurial and can’t adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace and digital technologies.