You Can Teach Creativity…Right?

You Can Teach Creativity... Right? (Spoiler: We’re not convinced.)

You know that jarring moment when you swallow a chip too fast and it scrapes its way down your throat like a jagged little villain? It’s not the pain that lingers — it’s the surprise of it all. That’s exactly how I feel when someone confidently tosses out the phrase: “You can teach creativity.”

Every time I hear it, I let myself sit with the idea. I roll it around. I try to be open. But then I watch my little brother attempt to draw a stick figure and — nope. There it is again. Some things you just can’t force.

But let’s break it down. Because this debate is a classic one, and there’s something worth exploring.

Be Creative vs. Do Creative

At Lasterday, we believe there’s a difference between being creative and doing creative work.
Can anyone be creative? Sure. Creativity, in its broadest sense, is a mindset. It’s how you approach a problem, how you think around corners, how you come up with a purple, pizza-morphing dinosaur in a moment of chaotic brilliance. We see it in math, engineering, music — all forms of thought.

But doing creative — the art of pulling something powerful, visual, and original out of thin air and making it resonate? That’s a different beast. That’s not just creativity. That’s talent. That’s instinct. That’s wild imagination with a steering wheel.

Talent ≠ Template

It’s not about who’s “better.” My brother can’t design to save his life, but he’s out there synthesizing chemical compounds to help people’s bodies literally heal themselves. That’s wizardry. But so is the kind of design work that stops a scroll or builds a brand from zero to unforgettable.

You don’t need to be a Doctor Designer Hybrid. (Honestly, please don’t try.) We need both. But we also need to stop pretending that creativity can be downloaded like a font pack. Or mastered through a Canva template.

Creatives aren’t born with perfect taste or the right toolkit — we build those. But there’s a base-level fire that can’t be faked. As one quote puts it: “Talent is what we have. Genius is what has us.”

And if you’ve felt that thing — the pull, the itch, the spark you can’t explain — you get it.

So… Can You Teach It?

You can hone creativity. You can study it. You can practice it. But the real stuff? The kind that builds brands with soul and campaigns that actually convert? That’s not taught. That’s tapped.

So next time someone tries to argue that “creativity is teachable,” we’ll be over here, sketching out magic on paper napkins and building brands that feel like something. Something real. Something you can’t quite explain.

But you’ll know it when you see it.