One magazine I enjoy reading is Fast Company. And I recently came across an interview there with Teresa Amabile It’s from a few years ago, but it really got me thinking.
Amabile heads the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. For eight years, she and her colleagues combed through a study they conducted on creativity in the mid-1990s – in which they looked at creativity “in the wild.”
“We wanted to crawl inside people’s heads,” explained Amabile, “and understand the features of their work environment as well as the experiences and thought processes that lead to creative breakthroughs.”
In the end they came up with “The 6 Myths of Creativity.” Take a look at the entire interview. It’s a fascinating study, and I found myself agreeing with its conclusions.
The article also prompted me to share some of my own observations about creativity. This felt especially timely in light of our tough economic situation, when innovation is so important.
In fact, I found that I have so much to say on the subject that I can’t do it all in one blog post. So the following is Part 1 in what I want to communicate on building creativity. Let me know if it helps you.
Creatively Challenged
I discovered my own need for creativity in a college class. At the beginning of the semester, everyone took a quiz to measure creative potential. My result? I registered very low on the creativity scale.
I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t a creative person? Did this mean I would end up one of those boring pastors? I really hoped not.
Many years later, the Harvard study seems to show that the rationale behind any kind of creativity assessment is flawed, because the first myth on their list is, “Creativity comes from creative types.”
Amabile explains that creative “types” don’t have a monopoly on creative thinking. To the contrary, she says, “almost all of the research in this field shows that anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, including knowledge and technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells.”
Fortunately for my college self, even though I didn’t have access to the Harvard research, I was still too young and ignorant to be totally discouraged by the test. I decided right then that even if I wasn’t born creative, I would become creative.
Creative Thinking Does Not Begin in a Vacuum.
Creative people don’t necessarily sit down with a blank piece of paper and invent something completely new. In fact, they usually start by turning to the creative work of others to help them solve their particular problem.
Right after I saw the score on that assessment test, I set my mind to studying creativity. I started collecting creative material: quotes, articles, notes from speeches, books, whatever I could get my hands on. Everything was categorized and filed. At first this did a lot to teach me how creative minds thought.
Soon I discovered that it inspired creative thinking within me.
After that, whenever I planned a message, book, or article, I would pull out my file on that topic and read through the material.
One quote would get me thinking about a concept that would become a point in my lesson. I’d read an article, and because I disagreed with one point, I would come up with three points that I did believe were true.
(Note that I work hard not to use the ideas of others and claim them as my own. If I know a source for a quote or idea, I always give credit. And for my books especially, my writer and I spend hours tracking down sources and obtaining permissions to quote others. If you’re unclear on what exactly plagiarism is, see this helpful article from Purdue University.)
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Read what’s out there. Ask yourself why you like what the author said. Or why you disagree. Come up with what you would say to disprove their point. Or to further prove it.
Learning from others and applying it to your own situation is a big inspiration – and the first major step – toward thinking creatively.
In Part 2 later this week, I’ll share the ways I’ve found to schedule creativity, along with how collaboration can make a good idea great.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Matt Taylor // Mar 17, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Adding valuable comments to blogs then would be an exercise in creativity. You should try to think of something to add.
Thank for building me up with this post. It answers some of the questions I have been asking recently.
2 Adam Faughn // Mar 17, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Thanks for this post.
As one who is only creative part of the time (or, rarely!), posts like these give great encouragement.
3 Lisa Harman // Mar 17, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Good point. We should not limit ourselves or place limits on others because of our understanding of creativity. We were all made in the image of the great Creator. As such, we must all have some capacity for creativity. The question is whether or not it will be cultivated. Looking forward to the next post.
Author of In the World: Encouragement for Christians in
the Workplace
4 Tracy Skellern-Smith // Mar 17, 2009 at 2:04 pm
So true that creativity doesn’t begin in a vacuum.
I recently watched a documentary on the human memory. Interestingly, scientists discovered that the part of the brain that is activated for “creativity, imagination and problem solving” is the same part of the brain that is responsible for “memory”. They interviewed a guy who had very limited memory function, who then couldn’t imagine the future.
I found this fascinating that our ability to be creative and to problem solve was directly related to the information we feed our brain.
Great post. Always enjoy them.
5 Moira Jacobson // Mar 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm
This topic is extremely timely in that my team was just discussing “creative people” earlier this week. I, personally, have been struggling with not being especially creative and questioning if it is possible to stimulate creativity within myself. Since Breen states that Amabile’s research shows that “anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work”, I am greatly encouraged.
Thank you!
6 Deborah Talmadge // Mar 17, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Thank you for the inspiration. I can always use the encouragement.
7 Manuel Villafana // Mar 17, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Thanks for your post and comments about creativity.
It’s very usefull in my job.
8 paul // Mar 17, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Great word John! I identify with your “college self” and look forward to learning more from you about stimulating creativity!
I recently read “A Whack on the Side of the Head” and found it quite helpful in this process!
BTW, I’m praying that you don’t have the opportunity to learn about creativity in an orange suit!
9 Ashley Jensen // Mar 17, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Thanks for this post John. My title is ‘Creative Pastor’ at Oasis Church where I am on staff (no pressure right
) ) so I am always trying to come up with something fresh and relevant to appeal to the community we are trying to reach.
I would be considered a ‘creative’ type but I’ve found I do start with looking at other people’s work first to help spur more ideas. Another thing that has helped is exposing myself to creative environments, like Cirque De Soleil or going to different conferences or visiting places that wouldn’t necessarily be my cup of tea.
Anyways I look forward to part 2 and thanks again!
10 Teresa // Mar 19, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Interesting that you’re mentioning creativity. I have become aware that I am most creative when not working a full-time office job. My ideas start flowing, my networking skills strengthen…it’s amazing and equally baffling!
I recently made the decision to make my passion for travel photography serious and joined a large group of pro and amateur photographers in Chicago. As a logistics and process thinker, I have NEVER considered myself creative. For the first several months in this group, I was caught off-guard by the number of comments/critiques of my photos included the phrase, “You have a great creative eye”!
I am beginning to accept and understand this term in a different manner than previously assumed. I guess I followed the Harvard study’s myth. So glad you shared this information. It has reinforced what I’m presently experiencing!
11 John Ratcliff // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:29 am
How much money for you to be my personal mentor John? I have a pretty big mailing list.
12 Seeking creativity in its natural habitat | John Maxwell on Leadership // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:38 pm
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13 Abimbola // Apr 2, 2009 at 10:27 am
insightful…bottom line is that creativity is in everyone, it only needs to be stirred up.
14 Nida Lopez // Jul 25, 2009 at 2:01 am
If I saw my ‘college self’ walking down the street I wouldn’t recognize her. I feel I have definitely grown as a person and they way in which I think. I have always been told that I am a creative person, but I definitely know I have mentally matured more progressively in recent years than in the past. To me my creativity comes from observing ‘the norms’ and thinking of ways to break the mold or create a new one. It also comes from my travels/appreciation for people and not being too proud to be inspired by others. I was once told in a job “look, you’re not going to come in here and re-invent the wheel ok?” But I think, if no-one would have reinvented the wheel, we would never have tires.