Creativity? What’s that?
#LetsBlogoff: How do you define creativity? Is creativity the balance between imagination and talent that bring ideas to life?
It’s ironic.
that I am late getting this, of all BlogOff topics, posted! I spent 3 years studying the creative process, what makes it go, what makes it stop, & what it really is. Rather than repeat what Paul Anater said so eloquently in his post, which I agree with 100%, I’ll share some of what I discovered during my creativity study.
All. People. Are. Creative.
Period. There is no such thing as a non-creative human being (unless they are comatose). Even people doing jobs perceived conventionally as Non-Creative are creative.
Take accounting, for example. One would think, ok there are numbers & rules & these people chink out their days in accordance with industry mandate. And yet, we have Enron. And the derivatives trade. Of course, there are legal versions of creative accounting – like estate planning, or minimizing asset loss in a divorce.
Connections, baby.
Given the definition that creativity is about making connections & combinations, and that everyone can do it, there’s the mechanics of how it happens, and what inhibits it.
Simply put, if you can’t relax, you won’t be creative. By relaxing, I don’t mean downing a sixer & watching M*A*S*H reruns. Relaxing in this context means not feeling threatened. (Some people thrive on last minute execution of a task, but that’s another topic.)
I believe the ability to be creative is hardwired biologically in us. Here is a presentation I gave at Ignite Raleigh a couple of years ago on it. Bear with the initial choppiness of the video – I haven’t had time to record a better one yet.
Check out the other BlogOff posts – click the link below!
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But…Shouldn’t we suppress Creativity in the practice of some disciplines? You bring up the Enron case: I guess if Enron was creative, creativity is to you neither positive or negative change? I would posit creativity needs to be life enhancing…with your definition, cancer can be creative.
Interesting observation. I agree that creativity is neither bad nor good, it simply *is*. By that definition, it can land all along the spectrum of legality, but it doesn’t make it Not Creative.
As far as the requirement that it be life enhancing, the sticky question arises, “Life enhancing for which side(s)?”
One of the key skills to unleashing the benefits of creativity in problem solving is alternating active deferral of judgement (during idea expansion), and logical selection (during idea contraction).
If the essence of creativity is defined as making connections & combinations, then yes, cancer is quite creative. It’s trying to survive just like every other life form, and being able to adapt and evade its enemies, it has to find new ways to survive.