Creativity & Innovation Toolkit

Employers' comments

“Being creative is like playing with fire. You need it to stay alive and be outstanding against your competitors, but you have to use it carefully if you don’t want to get burned.”

(Employer of Griffith Graduates, 2005)

“Creativity is a configuration of the brain which allows the lucky ones to think outside the square and view things in colour. The creative elements add to life its spice and make society a more interesting place to live. Our industry [photography] exists because it has the ability to supply this vital ingredient. It extends our society’s conceptual framework, and enriches its cultural content. It is therefore crucial that people with such gifts are concentrated and helped to generate this essence of novelty and discovery. Society, as with snakes, shed their cultural skins from time to time. Creative industries are there to make sure that the new skin is all the more colourful.”

(Employer of Griffith Graduates, 2005)

“…and innovation as well – that’s a very broad term, and it’s not just about inventing things. It’s about looking at processes and information flow and communication flow, and making suggestions and being aware of how processes work, and how business works, and assessing and researching it for yourself. That brings value to the organisation, which in turn will have an enormous flow-on to your own career.”

(Employer of Griffith Graduates, Careers Fair, 2004)

“[We look for graduates who can] see opportunities. I wouldn’t say weaknesses, but opportunities in the business. It’s important in our game to stay on top, otherwise we’ll get left behind and our market share will diminish, putting our company at risk.”

(Employer of Griffith Graduates, Careers Fair, 2004)

“[To engineers, it seems as if the universities use] ‘a + b = c – that’s the rule’ [as a model], and if you put ‘d’ you are wrong. But in the real world, it doesn’t happen like that, because the weather was dark, and therefore the answer was ‘b’. You just can’t tell. I think that university students come out with [the idea that] ‘There is only one answer, and it has to be y,’ and they get 100% if they get the right answer, but the real world doesn’t work like that. The real world is very much like, ‘Which way was the wind blowing?’ Stuff happens.”

(Employer of Griffith Microelectronic Engineers, 2002)

Graduates' comments

“Being creative can seem a bit risky, but it always adds interest, rarely hurts you, and can give you great rewards if you are willing to follow through with hard work.”

(Griffith Graduate, 2005)

“Creativity is the basis of problem solving, which is an important characteristic for the work-ready graduate. To effectively solve problems, you need to consider not only the issues underlying the problem and solutions that others have found, but also to consider quite new strategies – the development of which relies on creative thought.”

(Griffith Graduate, 2005)

“Creativity powers change, which is an important consideration in an increasingly competitive and technologically complex marketplace. Creativity can provide a solution to a problem; new ideas; the flexibility to see/accept different perspectives; and original and imaginative products and services.”

(Griffith Graduate, 2005)

Students' comments

“Creativity in business is simply using one’s initiative and taking risks to gain a competitive advantage. It involves thinking outside the square to stimulate new ideas and creations to better a business/product/service. Creativity should be present in every aspect of a business, from the features and benefits of a product/service to the general day-to-day motions of a business to keep up with ever-changing and competitive markets. Creativity is a vital ingredient of a successful business.”

(Griffith Student, 2005)

“Creativity is important in my field (engineering), because there is often more than one solution to a problem. Creativity helps explore different options for a solution.”

(Griffith Student, 2005)

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