How important is it for a PR practitioner to be creative? And is it possible to learn creativity?

Here's one from an industry group I belong to. I might not have spent a minute on it had I not lately be harboring the impression that the vast majority of PR noise out there may be computer-generated with little human intervention whatsoever. Or maybe it's just little humans intervening. Whatever. So here are the questions --

"How important is it for a PR practitioner to be creative? And is it possible to learn creativity?"

So you see why I was stopped by this. It's so bloody simple. Who is asking this question? Is this a dissatisfied client of one of those "I'm bigger than you are" pan-galactic agencies? Is this a young aspirant terrified that he or she is too boring and might not be able to make it in the cut-throat world of PR without The P.T. Barnum Muse?[now, that is absolutely ridiculous and flies in the face of everything we know about the PR industry!]. Or is this just a totally innocent question? That's probably what it is.

Better not get into the PR business if you are not inventive, understand people, know your consumers and target audiences, know your competition, are great with language, and are a student of trends and the media that transmit them. Every day there is more chaotic "communication" and because our heads would explode if we paid attention to all of it (pure animal threat to survival), only certain "relevant" things are recalled. Do you have any idea how many press releases, pitches, pings, and cold phone calls most serious journalists have to deal with every day? Great creative people have always worked hard at their craft -- perspiration before inspiration. Kids don't want to hear this. They'll have a great "creative" idea with no point whatsoever. Hey, that's what they see every day!

Skills are absolutely necessary but that won't always make someone creative. Imitation is flattery but more often flat, dull, and annoying. I call them "low yield derivatives". And on the other hand, a lot of highly inventive PR and marketing/advertising people just start out in the wrong profession. One of the best PR people I ever worked with came from the Finance department of a huge corporation. His PR work was completely instinctive, sometimes counter-intuitive, inspiring and brilliant. Go figure.