Messy: How to Be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World

by Tim Harford

Messy disruptions will be most powerful when combined with creative skill.

Page showed that in many problem-solving contexts, ‘diversity trumps ability’. For example, if you already have four brilliant statisticians working on a policy problem, even a mediocre sociologist or economist may add more to your team than another brilliant statistician.

People think harder when they fear their views may be challenged by outsiders.

So far, the desire for formal order is winning. We like tidiness to the point of fetishising it; we find clutter and irregularity disturbing and don’t notice when it is doing us good.

The fetish of tidiness

Real creativity, excitement and humanity lie in the messy parts of life, not the tidy ones. And an appreciation of the virtues of mess in fulfilling our human potential is something we can encourage in our children from an early age – if we dare.

When we overprotect our children, denying them the opportunity to practise their own skills, learn to make wise and foolish choices, to experience pain and loss, and generally make an almighty mess, we believe we’re treating them with love – but we may also be limiting their scope to become fully human.