Creativity

Those who live by their ‘creative wits’, artists, composers, inventors and writers often refer to a sense of accessing or ‘tuning in’ to information from outside of themselves. Mozart spoke of hearing his music, fully formed. All he had to do was write it down. Great authors describe entering a reverie state and watching (on the screen of their imagination) the plot unfold – often in surprising directions. Our experience is that ‘ideas are in the air’ and it has proven by historical examples where breakthrough’s, inventions were discovered concurrently in different parts of the world. We have had personal experiences of ‘getting an idea’, and then seeing it in the market place six months to a year later.

Along with this sensitivity some have developed the ability to visualise to a surprising degree. Take the case of the inventor Nikola Tesla (inventor of the AC generator) who was taught how to visualise by his mother. When he was developing the ac generator he would build the device in his imagination, connect the wires and then ‘leave it running’ for two months. In his biography it is said that he could then (mentally) return, disconnect the power, dismantle it and examine the bearings for wear and tear. He would then provide his engineering manager with dimensions down to a thousandth of an inch. Irrational? Impossible? Not at all. He ‘knew’ what the correct dimensions were. That’s intuition.

David Gurteen, in an article “Knowledge, Creativity & Innovation” Published in the Journal of Knowledge Management 1998 said:

“Creativity is often thought to be a serious analytical task. This is not true. The starting point of creativity is the generation of new ideas. It is thus important to look at the process by which new ideas are created. New thoughts and ideas come from a kind
of thought-play of the mind. Daydreaming of what could or might be. It is a game – a fun game. Playing with words, concepts and metaphors. Playing what-if games. What if this were true? What if things were different? What if this limitation did not hold?”

Many organisations recognise the ‘playful’ nature of creativity, and have designed their offices to better facilitate this, using colour, sound, and pinball machines etc so that staff can break away from the linear, logical constraints often imposed by the traditional office environment.

How do you develop your creativity?

Did you find this useful? Then share it!