There was an interesting discussion on creativity the day before yesterday on this blog. People leaving comments tried to define it, explain it, consider it.
From my point of view, creativity is a combination of analytical thinking and imagination applied to problems to supply a workable solution. Whether or not there is anything new in the world is not the point. I’m not interested in splitting hairs over what “original” means–I’m interested in meaning making. And for me, that means untangling something that wasn’t clear before.
So here is my thought on creativity: It’s our nation’s most valuable resource. Of course, there are other values that are important. But they come after creativity. In most companies I’ve worked for, the valuable traits are obedience, speed, silence, agreement, and giving up your own time for your work. And they aren’t working very well as values.
I’m looking to creativity to provide value, meaning-making, innovation, and fresh views. Not just in the arts, but in manufacturing, medicine, education, politics, parenting, and leadership.
Personally, I think creativity needs to be taught in school and in the business world. Creativity needs to be encouraged, not buried in derision. Creative people may be different, but they are needed.
--Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach who teaches what she knows.
I nominated you for the versatile blogger award because you inspire me. Here is the post. http://lifeofdeb.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/versatile-blogger-award/
Awww, Deb, how nice is that! Thank you so much. Now I get to go and hunt through my stash for blogs I’d like to share with others. It would make a great Sunday post—or Monday, if I get too busy with the house guests! Thanks again, that means so much to me!
Hear, hear, Quinn. As a former secondary school teacher, I heartily agree that creativity deserves a much greater place in our schools–recognizing it, developing it, appreciating it, and understanding its place in the future of our lives and our world.
I’m so glad there are still teachers like you out there. We need you SO much.
I so agree with you Quinn. My favourite movie about creativity is Kinky Boots. It is based on a true story about a shoe factory in England. When people stop buying expensive shoes the son of the owner has to lay off many workers saying “what can I do?” One of the young woman responded by saying, “find a niche market”. In other words be creative, think differently. Consequently, they started making kinky boots for drag queens. We so need creativity in our society instead of sitting back and saying “What can I do?” There is always a way out of difficulty if we are creative in our thinking. Thank you for your very informative blog.
Now I have to find that movie. . .
Creativity is how I make my living. I get paid to help design and produce products that need to be, among other things, unique and original to succeed in competition with other products also trying to be unique and original.
I care about functionality and originality more than creativity per se. Originality has real outcomes for me — money and personal satisfaction are involved, but are not the main thing. Seeing my work in action is not the main thing either; the things I contribute to (devices that compute) are used for a while, hopefully valued and enjoyed, but then they’re discarded. The main thing is that I feel a responsibility to contribute to the collective work of what I can best described as “modern civilization”, although that sounds overly grandiose.
Where did that sense of responsibility come from? No clue. But it means that when I design a successful way to use the contact list in a phone, it’s not the phone that’s important to me; it’s communicating how and what I did very clearly so that knowledge can be used next time by somebody else (which could be the future me) designing a more successful solution.
By the way LateStartStudio, New Zealand is also well-known in my circles for WebStock, a conference in Wellington with a great and increasing reputation. The 2012 edition just recently concluded, and I can name a dozen people trying to figure a way to get there next year!
Bet you’ll go next year. And there was a really interesting nugget in what you said–linking creativity with communication. That’s really interesting.
I agree with you. Making meaning – that says it all for me.
I think creativity is the worlds most valuable resource coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit it could be our salvation. In New Zealand, we make much of our creativity. We’re just 4.3 million people far, far away, proudly strutting our stuff on the world stage. At one time we used to say we could fix anything with Number 8 fence wire, now it’s in technolgy, a well-known example being Weta Workshop (http://www.wetanz.com) and then there’s bungee jumping, the tranquiliser-dart gun, the waterjet, Richard Pearse who flew on March 31, 1903 (yes before the Wrights), I could go on but won’t. The point is, at one time we had to be creative to get by because we were so isolated, now, we have to be creative to participate in the small at-risk world community.
Creativity in education? One of the aspect of teaching I most enjoyed was that I could be endlessly creative in my daily practice. After a short time I specialised and worked with children who were at risk of failure due to learning and/or behaviour problems – children with challenging behaviour are incredibly creative, sometimes in order to just survive their chaotic lifes!
Those kids were lucky to have you, and I bet you felt happy to have them! I’m so glad you left this insightful note!
Part of how I see creativity — it is the spirit deep within that explores, combines, experiments, and mindfully acts. The action part is essential. Lots of creative energy disappears in thought and in delay tactics of “I could” or “I might”…
But the act of combining your ideas, nudges, hints, then acting upon your ideas and impulses, plus the all important paying attention as your mind and heart and spirit soar with your experience – what could that be but the creative experience?
What a lovely explanation. Just right!
Very well said post about our creativity, or lack thereof.
Thanks, Deb, it means a lot coming from you.
Let’s remove creativity from the high falutin’ and back to where she belongs: the every day. How you iron a shirt can be a creative act, if you so choose. Ditto peeling carrots, paying bills or loving on your kids.
Creativity can be in every aspect of your life, just like mindfulness.
I totally agree with you. Here in Finland these has been a lots of talk about innovations and innovatory this and that. How the ability to be innovative will be our leading asset in the future. How our industry needs innovative people. And yet, somehow, creativity is not mentioned in the same context. Arts&crafts in schools are seen as a recreational activity that balances out the academic subjects during the school week, but as a more light, relaxing activity that the proper subjects of math, languages, etc. Our national curriculum is been revised and these has been a big public debate on how the weekly hours should be divided between the subjects and it has been quite a fight to save arts&crafts from cuts. How can you learn to be innovative is you’re not allowed to nurture your creativity first? You can’t ‘think out side the box’ – which is, I think, a bad metaphor – if your are not using your creative ability. You need to be playful. You need to be adventurous. You need to be brave enough to do difficult and scary stuff. You need to mess about.
Most people want you inside the box, with the lid nailed shut. But I agree with every word you write–meaningful play is necessary to think well.