Sowing the Seeds of Creativity

There is an expanding creativity gap in America’s youth—our future entrepreneurs. As reported in Newsweek (July 10, 2010), creativity in children has declined consistently since the 1990s. Another worrisome trend, most K-12 programs, while focusing on basic skills development, unfortunately offer few (if any) classes on creativity and entrepreneurship.

What does this creativity gap mean to you and our country? The implications are manifold. Today, fewer successful entrepreneurs mean lower employment and less effective leadership. What’s more, on the world stage, the U.S. is losing its edge in innovation and research and development.

How can we help close this gap? We must better sow the seeds of creativity within young minds to spark their imagination and help transform more ideas into a fruitful harvest. After all, many success stories, whether business, personal, societal or otherwise, were born out of an idea.