The Dark Side of Creative Cannabis People
Cannabis firms looking to drive product, packaging and brand innovation by hiring more creative people and giving them carte blanche to act may want to think twice about this strategy based on research findings.
In a series of studies, Professors Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely (author of the best seller Predictably Irrational) found that intrinsically creative people tend to cheat more than non-creative people. Furthermore, the professors found that inducing creative thinking tends to trigger unethical behavior.
This isn’t a new idea. Philosopher René Descartes, in his famous 1641 treatise Meditations on First Philosophy, introduced the idea of an “evil genius,” a powerful force of nature who is equally smart and deceitful.
Clearly, Descartes was on to something...plus cannabis has its share of evil geniuses.
Is there a correlation between creativity/genius and unethical behavior? Gino and Ariely explored this question in several experiments involving students and employees at an advertising agency.
Their findings
- Inherently creative people cheated and lied more than noncreative types. Specifically, participants who had scored high on a creativity scale were the most likely to exhibit unethical behaviour, especially when there was a potential for monetary gain.
- People who were induced to be more creative were more likely to display unethical behavior.
- The higher the creativity required for a job, the higher the level of self-reported dishonesty.
Cogito ergo sum
These behaviors could be explained through psychology. By their very nature, creative individuals have an elastic moral sense that helps them rationalize different behaviors and deal with ambiguous situations.
According to Gino, “…moral flexibility is the mechanism explaining why being in a creative mindset or being a creative person puts you more at risk to do the wrong thing. Our ability to justify things is significantly greater if we are in a creative mindset or when we are creative people.”
Implications
> The research suggests that leaders should consider the business risks before unreservedly encouraging creative personalities to design and launch big initiatives.
> Risk management is critical, especially in the cannabis sector; cutting ethical corners can have serious ramifications.
> Obviously, creativity is not a bad thing. Though it should be part of a firm’s DNA, creativity must be managed within guardrails. Leaders should be careful not to staff their teams exclusively with creative types or give decision-making responsibilities solely to creative people.
> Finally, the compliance team should have a sign off on anything that can run afoul of the regulations or generate significant business risk.
#creativity #compliance #riskmanagement #innovation