The Creative Century
We’re now 25 years into the 21st century. A quarter of the way through.
What will define it?
The internet? Cell phones? AI? Sure.
But there’s another one: creativity.
Few ideas have reshaped our world more this century than creativity.
We think of it as an eternal ideal that’s been with us forever. That’s not the case.
The word “creativity” entered the dictionary in 1966. Yes, 1966.
The concept was first developed in the 1940s by Defense Department researchers trying to identify independent thinkers for leadership.
At the same time, social scientists and advertising executives were searching for a postwar ideal: a way to motivate and fulfill people in a newly consumer-driven America. (For more, see this book.)
Their solution? A democratic form of genius that everyone could aspire to: creativity.
Schools were remade in this image. So were businesses. Entirely new ways of thinking.
Eighty years later, creativity shapes everything — from how we work to who we want to become. Kids today don’t want to be astronauts — they want to be creators. And unlike astronauts, they can actually become one.
For all the power of creativity today, there’s one flaw: the current model is built around individuals.
There are no structures to help creative people become something bigger than themselves.
That’s the gap that Metalabel exists to fill. A new operating system that helps creative people cooperate rather than just compete. Release projects together. Share credit, earnings, and purpose.
The forces reshaping the 21st century are creative ones. Imagination, reinvention, and self-expression are the hallmarks of our time.
Even more than our technologies or our fears, creativity is the force that defines us.
The Creative Century is well underway.
Last week I gave a talk at Creative Mornings, a special community that gathers around the world, that shared this vision of the Creative Century, and previewed some exciting things we’re working on to support it. Watch here:
Peace and love,
Metalabel
