Creativity and Innovation

Creativity Adams: “The combination of seemingly

disparate parts into a functioning, useful whole.”

– A practical solution to a problem. Picasso: “Every act of creation is an act of

destruction.” Einstein: “Imagination is more important

than knowledge.” Richard Florida: “Human creativity is the

ultimate economic resource.”

1. Traditional teaching methods are worse than useless – they stomp out creativity by trying to eliminating mistakes.

– We are never as creative as when we were three.

2. Becoming creative is getting in touch with our inner child.

– And getting rid of inhibitions

3. We become creative by making mistakes.

Creativity

Creativity

Creativity can be learned. We’ll learn about the creative process.

– And some creativity-enhancing techniques Get the Whack Pack app Get the Oblique Strategies app

Three Creativity Perspectives The creative person The creative product The creative process

– We’ll focus on the process

Three Creativity Elements

1. Expertise: In-depth knowledge about a field

2. Creative skills: Problem-finding and problem-solving skills, creative process skills

3. Intrinsic task motivation – Intrinsic rewards: Love of the work, the

process involved, not extrinsic reward such as money, awards *

* Teresa Amabile, Creativity in Context, Westview Press, 1996

Methods For Killing Creativity Restricted Choice

– Making choices for creative people or severely limiting their options lowers creative output.

Extrinsic Orientation– External rewards such as prizes and money

hurt creativity.– Creative people love the intrinsic rewards of

doing the job.

Innovation

Innovation is the result – the working solution – of the creative process.

Innovation is the most dominant trend in business … the key to success

– Non-profits, too. Innovation = problem finding and problem

solving.