The Truth About Better Decision-Making (Collection), 2/e

Truth 55. Creativity is a balancing act

Some departments seem to have all the fun. Their walls are covered in bright colors, with pretty or funny pictures tacked up everywhere. Little toys sit on cubicle ledges, and shreds of bright bunting are stuck to the acoustic tile overhead, which bristles with pencils that have been flung up there (colored pencils, no less, certainly not that old standby Ticonderoga #2). Laughter rings out from the half-walls on a regular basis. It’s like those guys have no sense of dignity. You’d think this wasn’t an office so much as a kindergarten. What a bunch of goofballs. And that’s the accounting department, for Pete’s sakes!

When you see that kind of high jinks inside a company, it’s easy to assume that those folks ...