Becoming a creative thinker generates original ideas and solutions and according to LinkedIn across 660 million professionals and 20+ million jobs is the greatest skill gap. According to McKinsey & Company, creative leaders outperform their competitors in revenue growth, return to shareholders, and enterprise value.

The tipping point of unprecedented world change and the future of doing business has yet to be seen, however, leaders already face a firestorm of complexity and daily rapid change where strategic plans are obsolete before they can be implemented, and often lack clarity on how to take their business from point A to point B. Or even what point B should be.

Frequently with no playbook to follow given so much marketplace volatility, leaders must acquire a set of skills and mindsets that tap the imagination, spur creative insights, think in contrary directions, challenge assumptions that underpin perceived realities, and lead where the act of problem-solving does not culminate in one truth. That is not a leadership approach that may come easily for leaders.

The intuitive randomness of human creativity in the current business environment compared to AI is expected to help future workforces leverage the benefit of technology experiences and processes rather than be replaced by it. Creative leadership is the most important skill and competitive advantage to lead the future.