Ever since the economic downturn began – with the consequential loss of jobs – I have worried that the rampant fear and uncertainty might diminish creativity and risk taking.  After all, if you take a chance, you might fail!  And that might cause you to be noticed in a potentially negative context, leading to your name ending up on a layoff list.

In fact, this is the time for the most creativity and risk taking…and those who exercise it should not only keep their jobs but move rapidly forward.

Regardless of the time, taking risks – especially creative ones – is what gets us ahead.  Doug Pay’s new documentary, “Art and Copy”, tells the story of several iconic campaigns driven by killer headlines: “Just do it!” “Got Milk” and “Where’s the Beef?” for example.

Each of these was risky, and each was either initially discouraged or turned down. 

The lesson here may be especially applicable to these times, because so many people seem just plain stuck.  I didn’t know there was a scientific explanation for it, until I read a recent piece by the wonderfully brilliant Natalie Angier.  She examines the effects of stress – certainly a by-product of these economic times – and reports on a study involving rats put into stressful situations.  Under stress, the rats started doing rote work that was as unproductive as it was unremarkable.  [You know...do the same thing, get the same results.]  ”On the one hand,” Angier reports, “regions of the brain associated with executive decision-making and goal-directed behaviors had shriveled, while, conversely, brain sectors linked to habit formation had bloomed.”

It’s interesting to see that indeed something very scientifically measurable happens to us when we’re under stress.  Having that awareness may help us step back, break the chains of our rote behavior, and take some of the risks that might just lead to the next “Just do it!”