Fact: according to entrepreneur.com “8.7 percent of job seekers gained employment by starting their own businesses in second quarter 2009.”

Entrepreneurs in residence are springing up on both coasts (and in the middle), paying innovative thinkers to do just that, sit and think, with the hopes of cashing in on creative and innovative ideas that can change the world (really, think Google). And in the not so different world of film, a bicoastal and international production, The Hurt Locker, seems to have taken some folks by surprise as the winner for Oscar’s Best Picture – in comparison to the more obvious modern template for creativity, Avatar, which seemed to be the likely contender. But the win shows that creativity is multi-faceted, and flexibility with innovation is not necessarily in the form of modern creation, but sometimes grounded emphatically in the use of traditional art. The Hollywood Reporter’s Elizabeth Guider writes: “In the end, and despite opening the competition to 10 contenders, the Academy’s decision might have come down to that reflex preference for art over commerce or to its sense of purpose in rewarding art in an increasingly corporate, commercially driven film industry.”

At the 2009 TED Conference when talking about creativity and educating our youth to embrace and develop such, Sir Ken Robinson said “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Yet, in our risk adverse economy, being ‘wrong’ sounds like a scary proposition. So then, how do we get it right? How do we make it okay to be wrong, yet be creative? To begin with, we use past knowledge and experience as a springboard for understanding ways in which we need to replicate or change where we’re going. And then, we research, evaluate, and apply.

As I head to Los Angeles next week to begin filming a podcast series on successfully innovative and creative teams, I will keep aversion out of my mind and mistakes on my radar.

“Experience is the name that everyone gives to their mistakes.” – Oscar Wilde