Creative People vs Organized People: Who’s better at building culture?

The biggest myth in creating culture is that creative people do it best. I guess it’s because casual Fridays, an in-house barista, or Family Friday Fun Nights all seem like the invention of a creative brain.

On the other hand, most creative people are generally the least organized people on the planet. Meaning, they probably have a lot of great ideas that don’t get past the I-have-an-idea stage (which is only 1 stage of 5 in the bringing-ideas-to-life process: know your audience, the problem they’re facing, come up with solutions or ideas, create your blueprint, and go test everything).

With that said, you might think organized people are better, because they are more likely to get stuff done. The challenge here is what gets done might be missing that spark, that X factor, that special something. It may be more about mechanics for organized people. This isn’t bad, but it’s not necessarily enough on it’s own. The emotion required to build culture is often missing.

So which is, the creative or organized people?

It’s both. And it’s neither. 

You can be successful with both types of people, but it’s really the wrong criteria to measure. Instead of creative or organized, people who are motivated by relationships are your best culture builders.

Culture can’t be built without people. People are designed to be in relationships with other people. Dr Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Science Director at UC Berkeley, says research across biology, neuroscience, psychology shows our bodies actually work better when we’re not alone. We’re supposed to be collaborative and relational. 

People who prioritize people are the best culture builders, and a little creativity and organization along the way certainly helps.