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Thinking Creativity

Debunking the Creativity Myth

I’ve never worked with a client who wasn’t creative. I’ve worked some who thought they weren’t creative, but I believe that was because they equated creativity with artistic ability, a mistake many people make. But, creativity is found everywhere, in the engineer who designs a more efficient process, the comedian who writes a joke, and in the mechanic who tinkers with a machine.

Each of us have the potential for creativity, because each of us is wired with the type of intelligence I call “Connective” -- the intelligence of creativity and innovation. I call it connective because this intelligence works by connecting seemingly disparate ideas or concepts together to create something new: the solution to a problem, a new product, a new business or, yes, art.

Connective intelligence, or creativity, is not the providence of select groups of people, although we have many societal myths that create that perception. In some situations, those myths are codified in the culture of an organization. For example, in my days at a global advertising agency, the concept of creativity could only be used in relation to the products of the hallowed Creative Department. Even though the majority of my time was spent creating -- events, ideas, written documents, customer relationship strategies -- as an account person (otherwise known as a “suit”), the work I did was not considered “creative.”

When I began studying brain research and researching how people think and create, I came to understand the true process and breadth of creativity. In doing so, I also learned a lot about how to both develop and tap the intelligence of creativity and innovation.

Tapping your Connective Intelligence does require a different approach than other intelligences, especially the rational, linear, logical intelligence that business has traditionally valued. One way to encourage your Connective Intelligence is to break your routine, to give yourself the opportunity to see new ideas and information. In breaking routine, you change your perceptions, and sometimes, recharge your enthusiasm. You also build new neural connections in your brain.

Breaking routine can be as simple as:

  • Driving or walking a new route

  • Listening to a different radio program

  • Visiting a museum

  • Leafing through an unfamiliar magazine

  • Browsing through a catalog

  • Taking a walk around the office

  • Visiting a new site on the web


Shannon Bradford is a writer and coach, helping people learn how to master their brains to succeed in their careers and businesses. She is the author of Brain Power (Wiley, 2002).

© 2004 Shannon Bradford

 

 


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