Can arts boost worker creativity?

[9 December 2006 - Providence Business News] Craig Wright, director of human resources for Textron Fluid & Power, would seem to have a work force recruiting problem. For the second year in a row, he said, the United States has graduated more theater majors than engineers. But as a business leaders learned last week at an Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island forum entitled “Clobbering the Competition with Creativity,” technical skill is not the only way to success in today’s world. In the first of a two-part series, sponsored by a grant from the MetLife Foundation, Wright was one of the panelists answering questions such as, what are the best practices for companies wanting to use creativity in solving problems? and how are companies using the arts to inspire employees to be more creative? He spoke of how Textron has used creativity to find workers to replace the retiring baby boomers on the company’s staff, especially in the technical fields. More