What if school slowly taught you to stop thinking creatively?
Richard Perez argues we are born curious, experimental and driven to learn, then gradually trained into narrower ways of thinking. In this conversation with Rob Hersov, the head of UCT’s d.school explains why education, universities and businesses struggle with complex problems, and why creativity, failure and multidisciplinary thinking matter more than ever. They discuss: • Why education can suppress creative confidence • Why experts often jump to solutions too quickly • How design thinking changes the way people approach problems • Why engineers, lawyers and accountants struggle with uncertainty • Why failure should become part of the innovation process • Whether universities are losing relevance in the age of the internet • How South Africa could approach complex problems differently • The future of creativity, leadership and education • UCT’s d.school and its work across business, government and society From voting and gender-based violence to housing, water security and the future of universities.This conversation asks a bigger question: are we teaching people to solve problems, or simply teaching them to follow established systems?