In War. The stakes in war are the highest that are possible. Creativity, therefore, is not merely an additional tool but an absolute essential activity for the leaders directing and leading the battle. An engineer or a surgeon can continue to apply his well-tried techniques in his profession, but for a military commander such practice of well-tried techniques will almost certainly lead to disaster. He has to continuously think of new ideas and new tactics, or simply put, be more creative than his enemy.
During Non War Periods. Creativity is an attitude. It needs to be nurtured, appreciated and rewarded. Only then, will it flourish and be available during war. Further, in the present environment where `more bang for the buck' is the buzzword, it is imperative that resources, be it financial, human or material, are optimally exploited. The situation is further compounded when variety of terrain, equipment and origin of hardware in our armed forces necessitates innovative means to ensure operational availability of the `forces in being'.
Creativity: An Essential Attribute Of Leadership
Scientist, Artist, Great Politician and Military leaders, achieve their great feats owing to creative thinking. A higher military leadership is required to carry his organization to the path of efficiency by carefully preparing the road map for excellence. In today's technologically advanced battle field, opposing forces will be equally pitched, both in terms of qualitative and quantitative strength, weapon system, and equipment. In such situation, leaders will have to gain mental ascendancy over their opponents to subdue him. Creative thinking, thus, enables leaders to anticipate the future environment they are likely to face, foresee the opponent's move or reactions and respond to them appropriately.
Military history is replete with examples of application of creative thinking by higher leadership to subdue the enemy with minimum cost and also of non application of creative thinking by higher leadership which caused enormous loss of human life and materials. Following are few examples to illustrate this point:-
(a)The exploits of Shivaji is still read with disbelief as he defeated vastly superior enemy forces with poorly equipped militia men, whom he eventually turned into a highly efficient army. Shivaji employed novel and useful idea i.e. guerrilla warfare, to overcome his weaknesses and exploit the vulnerabilities of enemy.
(b)The stripping and reassembly of the tks at Zozilla pass for fighting the Pakistani troops during 1948 aggression is a classic example of creative thinking.
(c)Call to Pakistani forces to, either surrender or perish, by Field Marshall Manekshaw, which ensured the collapse of Pakistani forces, thus saved the casualty.
(d)Navy commandos, in Vietnam, overcame their blocks and put on women's panty hose when they marched through the swamps and jungle. The pantyhose cut down on the friction and rubbing from the plants and aided in removing the dozens of leeches after a mission.
