The Etch A Sketch designer, Andre Cassagnes, died at the age of 86 this past month which got me thinking about creativity. A few things to note:

• People often create outside their discipline. Cassagnes was an electrical technician who was working with metal powders and noticed the potential for a toy.
• Etch a sketch itself, much like the ipad today, creates conditions to make it safe to fail. All you need to do is shake or erase and you can start over.

It’s too bad we find it so difficult to collaborate with others outside our discipline and shake and start over in organizations!