| The midwife
holds up the newly born baby and declares, "we've got a creative
one here all right. This one's a genius and no mistake." You
can tell just by looking at them can't you?
Well, the people that society judges
to be genii, the cleverest people that humanity has ever produced
all say that although babies are born with a tendency to be better
at some tasks than others or be interested more in one thing than
another, 'being creative' is not something you are born with to
a greater or lesser degree than anyone else. It's like running.
Babies aren't born Olympic sprinters or long distance runners, they
become them many years later by training. We could all become Olympians
if we went through the relevant education and training and it's
the same with creativity.
A dictionary definition of creativity
is "the ability to create new ideas or things using your imagination".
Notice it doesn't say "the ability to be able to draw and paint
a lifelike representation of a bowl of fruit".
So why do people think it is? Perhaps
it's because creativity hasn't been understood or taught particularly
well in so many schools.
This could be changing. Teachers
have realised that creativity can be taught alongside and within
every subject. The National Curriculum is tackling this and have
come up with their own definition of creativity: "First, creativity
involves thinking or behaving imaginatively. Second, this imaginative
activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an
objective. Third, these processes must generate something original.
Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective."
It sounds a bit vague perhaps but it seems to encompass everything.
Dr Edward De Bono, originator of
the concept of lateral thinking says creativity is to do what you
are doing in a 'better' way. This may mean doing it faster, at less
cost, with less waste, with higher quality or in a simpler way,
or to do better things. Good stuff, but long winded. Can we boil
it down even further?
Creativity is the process of making
associations between disparate concepts, to make decisions based
on those associations and then take action. What that means is that
creativity is looking at things, making connections between things
that weren't connected before and then doing something about it.
We can simplify that to a formula:
Perception + Decision + Action =
Creativity
So what's this all about you say,
and how does it relate to me making more money? Well the products
of creativity are ideas. Ideas are the currency of tomorrow’s
world. We need more ideas. If you can consistently come up with
good ideas in your field, for your business, for your life, you
win.
Still think you're not creative?
No, I didn't think so. I know you'd never admit it but you're probably
the most creative person you know.
If you thought creativity was a long
winded thing to define, how about art? Have a read of But
is it Art? |
