Eight months ago, I launched this series of columns to demonstrate that creativity is relevant to all fields and professions. I have shared examples from leaders in many different sectors to support my firm belief that creativity will be the critical skill needed for success in ANY field as automation increasingly changes the ways in which we work and live.

Then the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic hit. It changed everyone’s plans for just about everything. Every country turned its focus to handling this pandemic. The decisions made at all levels of government have impacted every organization, from large corporations to small mom and pop stores and to non-profits, large and small. Likewise, the lives of every person have been touched. Some have seen their way of working change drastically; some have lost their jobs altogether. Students of all ages, along with their families, are managing remote learning. Everyone is living in much smaller bubbles in a collective effort to prevent this virus from spreading exponentially and overwhelming our healthcare system. We as a global society have been faced with an unimaginable set of challenges as a result of COVID-19.

However, in the face of this incredible change and uncertainty, I have seen some astounding creativity. Schools at all levels conceived, developed and launched online learning in a heretofore unthinkably short amount of time– often less than a week. Businesses, even those that had not previously been known to embrace technological advancements, found themselves moving to remote work or establishing other innovative approaches to business continuity in a very short time frame. Did we ever think restaurants, for example, would be touting their contact-free service capabilities? However, what we may not know is the staggering creativity that was required to implement these drastic changes, especially so quickly. I can tell you from what we experienced at my own institution that it has been — and continues to be — truly remarkable; unbelievable, in fact.

Already, the world is turning to creative thinkers to help solve some of the pressing issues we face in dealing with this crisis. The United Nations has issued an open brief to the world for fresh, innovative ways to translate “critical public health messages into different cultures, communities and platforms” to help prevent spread of the virus. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterre, “the creativity of the response must match the unique nature of the crisis — and the magnitude of the response must match its scale.” NASA has challenged its workforce to generate ideas for ways the agency and its resources can help address the challenges presented. Companies not normally focused on healthcare are working to solve problems faced by medical professionals. They are creating workable ventilators from snorkeling and scuba masks and investigating ways that N95 face masks can be reused. Other companies are finding ways to meet the shortage of masks available for use by the general public. These and other creative solutions have led surgeon Ed Livingston, an editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), to call this “the biomedical engineering community’s Apollo 13 moment.”

As Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, asserts, “the coronavirus crisis highlights the growing need for creativity in today’s society,” and “the ability to think and act creatively is now more important than ever before.” In short, creativity is getting us through this unprecedented time in our history. It is enabling innovation to address healthcare needs and keep businesses and schools running. As we continue on and emerge from this pandemic, creative thinking will lead us to solutions for catalyzing the economy. It will show us how to retain the best of what we have learned through this experience to improve our lives and work and to find a new normala. Until then, creativity will help us feed our souls, as artists stream live performances from their homes, museums take us on virtual tours, and films and books bring us along on adventures.

I wish you all safety and health, of body and of spirit.

Larry Thompson is president of Ringling College of Art and Design.-