CREATIVITY & INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Unit 3

1. Creative personality (Adapted from Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent
People by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation
and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. Of all human
activities, creativity comes closest to providing the fulfillment we all hope to get in
our lives. Call it full-blast living. Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. Most
of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the result of creativity. What
makes us different from apes—our language, values, artistic expression,
scientific understanding, and technology—is the result of individual ingenuity that was
recognized, rewarded, and transmitted through learning. When we're creative, we feel
we are living more fully than during the rest of life. The excitement of the artist at
the easel or the scientist in the lab comes close to the ideal fulfillment we all hope
to get from life, and so rarely do. Perhaps only sex, sports, music,
and religious ecstasy—even when these experiences remain fleeting and leave no
trace—provide a profound sense of being part of an entity greater than ourselves.
But creativity also leaves an outcome that adds to the richness and complexity of the
future.

What one word expresses their personalities different from others, it's complexity.
They show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated.
They contain contradictory extremes; instead of being an "individual," each of them
is a "multitude."

Here are the 10 antithetical traits often present in creative people:

 Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also often quiet
and at rest. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura
of freshness and enthusiasm. This suggests a superior physical endowment, a genetic
advantage. It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused
minds than to the superiority of their genes. This does not mean that creative
people are hyperactive, always "on." In fact, they rest often and sleep a lot. The
important thing is that they control their energy; it's not ruled by the calendar or an
external schedule. When necessary, they can focus it like a laser beam; when not,
creative types immediately recharge their batteries. They consider the rhythm of
activity followed by idleness or reflection very important for the success of their work.
This is not a bio-rhythm inherited with their genes; it was learned by trial and error as a
strategy for achieving their goals. Creative people are paradoxical. They seem to
have quite a strong dose of eros, or generalized libidinal energy, which some
express directly into sexuality. At the same time, a certain spartan celibacy is
also a part of their makeup; continence tends to accompany superior
achievement. Without eros, it would be difficult to take life on with vigo ur;
without restraint, the energy could easily dissipate.

1
 Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time. How smart they
actually are is open to question. It is probably true that what psychologists call the "g
factor," meaning a core of general intelligence, is high among people who make
important creative contributions. Another way of expressing this dialectic is the
contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness. As Howard Gardner remarked in his
study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both
emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with deepest insights. Mozart comes
immediately to mind. Furthermore, people who bring about an acceptable novelty in a
domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the convergent and the
divergent. Convergent thinking is measured by IQ tests, and it involves solving well-
defined, rational problems that have one correct answer. Divergent thinking leads to no
agreed-upon solution. It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of
ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality
in picking unusual associations of ideas. These are the dimensions of thinking that
most creativity tests measure and that most workshops try to enhance. Yet there
remains the nagging suspicion that at the highest levels of creative achievement the
generation of novelty is not the main issue. People often claimed to have had only
two or three good ideas in their entire career, but each idea was so generative
that it kept them busy for a lifetime of testing, filling out, elaborating, and
applying.

 Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and

irresponsibility. There is no question that a playfully light attitude is typical of creative
individuals. But this playfulness doesn't go very far without its antithesis, a quality of
doggedness, endurance, perseverance. Despite the carefree air that many creative
people affect, most of them work late into the night and persist when less driven
individuals would not.

 Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy. Great art and great
science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. The
rest of society often views these new ideas as fantasies without relevance to current
reality. And they are right. But the whole point of art and science is to go beyond what
we now consider real and create a new reality. At the same time, this "escape" is not
into a never-never land. What makes a novel idea creative is that once we see it,
sooner or later we recognize that, strange as it is, it is true.

 Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted. We're usually one or
the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and
observing the passing show. In fact, in psychological
research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most
stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be
reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to exhibit both
traits simultaneously.

 Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. It is remarkable to meet a
famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-
deprecation and shyness instead. Their respect for the area in which they work makes
them aware of the long line of previous contributions to it, putting their own in
2
 perspective. They're also aware of the role that luck played in their own achievements.
And they're usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past
accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them.
At the same time, they know that in comparison with others, they have
accomplished a great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of security,
even pride.

 Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping. When tests
of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that
creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and
creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.
Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender
but those of the other one, too.

 Creative people are both rebellious and conservative. No negative impulse can
work, can produce any happy creation. Only a positive one." But the willingness to take
risks, to break with the safety of tradition, is also necessary. The economist George
Stigler is very emphatic in this regard: "I'd say one of the most common failures of able
people is a lack of nerve. They'll play safe games. In innovation, you have to play a
less safe game, if it's going to be interesting. It's not predictable that it'll go well."

 Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be
extremely objective about it as well. Without the passion, we soon lose interest in a
difficult task. Yet without being objective about it, our work is not very good and lacks
credibility. Here is how the historian Natalie Davis puts it: "I think it is very important to
find a way to be detached from what you write, so that you can't be so identified with
your work that you can't accept criticism and response.”

 Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and
pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment. Most would agree with Rabinow's words:
"Inventors have a low threshold of pain. Things bother them." A badly designed
machine causes pain to an inventive engineer, just as the creative writer is hurt when
reading bad prose. Being alone at the forefront of a discipline also leaves you exposed
and vulnerable. Eminence invites criticism and often vicious attacks. When an artist
has invested years in making a sculpture, or a scientist in developing a theory, it is
devastating if nobody cares.

Ultimately all aspects of creativity are disorganized and difficult for outsiders to
comprehend. Creativity is associated with an openness to experience, inspiration,
hyperactivity, impulsivity, rebelliousness, critical thinking, precision and
conscientiousness all working together in tandem.

3
2. Blocks to Creativity
Creative blocks are such abstract notions that it is hard to pin down a specific definition
of what they are and why they occur. The general consensus seems to be that a
period of time when an artist cannot access their inspiration or cannot bring
themselves to create new work is a creative block.

Creative blocks, or barriers to inspiration, can be described as the inability to

access one’s internal creativity. Those in creative professions such as writers,
musicians, performers, artists are often more likely to be affected by creative blocks,
which can last for days, weeks, months, or even years. When creative blocks surface,
they can affect work, performance, and well-being.

What Causes Creative Blocks?

A creative block might be experienced by anyone, for a number of reasons. Many writers,
artists, and musicians reported periods of stalled creativity at some point in their careers. It
can be difficult to get past a creative block, but often simply becoming aware of when,
how, and why a creative block develops can help a person work to address the creative
block and prevent it from returning.

Creative blocks may also occur as a result of:

 The death of a loved one or the end of a relationship
 A lack of financial support
 The depletion of all creative energy after a fully immersed period of creating
 Self-doubt, both pertaining to ability and talent
 Repeated rejection of one's work
 Anxiety regarding the outcome of a project or task
 The need for perfection
 Onset of an illness or medical condition
 A sudden loss of meaning and purpose in one's work
 Negative self-talk or criticism

For a creative professional, a creative block is not just frustrating, it is potentially career-
damaging. When you rely on your creativity to pay the bills and build your reputation, you
cannot afford to be short of ideas or the energy to put them into action. But all creative
blocks are not created equal. Different types of block require different solutions, something
that is easily forgotten when you are feeling stuck. Here are seven of the most common
types, and how to unblock them.

 The mental block

This is where you get trapped by your own thinking. You are so locked into a
familiar way of looking at the world that you fail to see other options. You make
assumptions and approach a problem from a limiting premise. Or maybe your inner
critic rears its head and stops you thinking straight. Solution: You need to change
your mind. Question your assumptions, and adopt different perspectives. Go
somewhere new or read/watch/listen to something new. Talk to people you can rely on
to disagree with you, or offer an alternative point of view.

 The emotional barrier

4
 Creativity can be intense. Faced with the unknown, you may be scared of what
you will discover or reveal about yourself. Maybe your subject matter is painful,
embarrassing or plain weird. Whatever, all of these fears and qualms are just different
forms of resistance, leading to procrastination. Solution: You need to face the worst
and come through the other side. There are plenty of things that can help such
as routine, commitment, and meditation. But ultimately you are going to have to
endure the fear, pain, or other unpleasant emotions. It is like getting into a cold
swimming pool. You can dive in head first, or inch your way in. Either way, it is going to
be bone-chillingly cold. But once you have got over the initial shock, done a few
lengths, and got into the flow of it, you may be surprised to discover how invigorated
you feel.

 Work habits that don’t work

You work too early, too late, too long, or not long enough. You try too hard or
not hard enough. You don’t have enough downtime or enough stimulation. Or
maybe you haven’t set up systems to deal with mundane tasks – email, admin,
accounting, etc – so they keep interfering with your real work. Solution: Step back
and take a good look at how you’re working, and where the pain points are. If it’s
email, learn a new system for dealing with email. If you don’t have enough energy, are
you working at the right time of day? If you feel paralyzed by freedom, introduce more
structure and order into your day. If you feel constrained by routine, find room for
improvisation. There are no hard-and-fast rules — the only standard is whether
your work habits work for you. Look for the right balance of routines, systems,
and spontaneity for your creativity to thrive.

 Personal problems
Creativity demands focus and it’s hard to concentrate if you’re getting divorced/
dealing with toddlers/battling an addiction/falling out with your best friend/grieving
someone special/moving house/locked in a dispute with a neighbor. If you’re lucky,
you’ll only have to deal with this kind of thing one at a time but troubles often come in
twos or threes. Solution: There are basically two ways to approach a personal
problem that is interfering with your creative work. Either solve the problem or
find ways of coping until it passes. For the first option you may need some
specialist help, or support from friends or family. And it may be worth taking a short-
term break from work in order to resolve the issue and free yourself up for the future.

 Poverty
I’m not just talking about money, although a lack of cash is a perennial problem
for creatives. You could also be time-poor, knowledge-poor, have a threadbare
network, or be short of equipment or other things you need to get the job done.
Solution: Like the last type of block, this one has two possible solutions: either save up
the time/money/or other resources you need; or make a virtue of necessity and set
yourself the creative challenge of achieving as much as possible within the constraints
you have. If you’re doubtful about the latter option, consider the first and second Star
Wars trilogies, and ask yourself whether more resources always equal more creativity!

 Overwhelm
Sometimes a block comes from having too much, not too little. You’ve taken on
too many commitments, you have too many great ideas, or you’re overwhelmed
by the sheer volume of incoming demands and information. You feel paralyzed by
options and obligations, or simply knackered from working too hard for too long.
Solution: It’s time to cut down. If you take on too many commitments, start
5
 saying ‘no’. If you have too many ideas, execute a few and put the rest in a folder
labeled ‘backburner’. If you suffer from information overload, start blocking off
downtime or focused worktime in your schedule (here are some tools that may help).
Answer email at set times. Switch your phone off, or even leave it behind. The world
won’t end. I promise.

 Communication breakdown
If you work in a team, tensions are inevitable, and can make it hard to do your
best work especially if you have one of those proverbial ‘difficult people’ in your
working life. Sometimes you get blocked by phantoms, merely imagining your work
being booed by audiences and mauled by the critics. And sometimes this happens for
real and you have to deal with it. Solution: This is where creativity blends into
communication skills. You need to be adept at understanding and influencing
the right people, however difficult or mystifying they may be. I don’t care if you’re
shy or introverted. If you want to succeed, you need to do this. And sometimes it’s
about accepting that you can’t please all the people all of the time, and growing a
thicker skin for rejection and criticism.

3. Steps to Unblock Your Creative Potential

 Redesign routine and habits – Daily divergent thinking
The enemy of the creative life is the mindless and unchanging life – the
habituated life where we no longer make novel and fascinating decisions, where
we aren’t faced with healthy challenges to use our problem solving skills. It’s
important to have routine and habits to help conserve our willpower for more important
things, but we also want to be intentional and increase the amount of divergent
thinking we do. Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to
generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Play around with
simple ways to change your routine to stimulate divergent thinking. Listen to an
intriguing podcast, take a thought walk for reflection, or drive a different route to work.
How can you push yourself to do things differently than you’re used to?

 Use it or lose it – Start a creative project

Develop a creative project where you can express yourself artistically. You don’t
need to create a masterpiece. The point is to get more familiar with your creative
process, to experience the emotions behind creative expression and engage
with these feelings. Neuroscience has shown that our brain is malleable. By
incorporating creative habits into our life we can strengthen the neural pathways that
help us think creatively. In order to think creatively, you must develop new neural
pathways and break out of the cycle of experience-dependent categorization. If you
want to think differently or more artistically, it will help to have different and diverse
experiences.

 Growth mindset – Don’t stop creating

To become more creative, practise and build this muscle. Creativity is a bold and
courageous process. You’ll have ideas and creations that aren’t any good, but
that’s just part of a creative life. The important thing is to not suppress your
creativity because of this. If you don’t think you’re creative you will shut down and
stifle your own potentially genius ideas. Take on the creative process and keep
learning along the way.
 Let go of comparison – Just be you

6
 Many people block their creativity because of comparison. We see other people
creating extraordinary art and don’t think we can cut it, or we end up trying to fit in to a
mold that doesn’t match our style of creativity. Creative expression is vulnerable and
exposing for many people. If we’re spending our time and energy trying to be like other
people or fit in, it’s going to block our creativity and unique expression. It’s important to
put yourself out there, despite the fear of what other people might think.

 Get visual – Practice drawing ideas

A final idea to unleash creativity is to develop your capacity to think visually.
Some people think more in images and others think more in words. One way to
develop visualization skills is to doodle and express ideas through drawing. You don’t
need to be an artist to do this. If you can draw stick figures and basic shapes you can
get the gist of visually communicating and inventing. Break the entire “visual
thinking” process down into four discrete steps: looking, seeing, imagining, and
showing. Each step makes demands on a different part of our innate visual abilities,
and each step plays an important role in learning to take in the big picture. Become
the co-creator of your life. In case it’s not clear yet: YOU’RE A CREATOR! A
creative life is about taking your experiences and learning from them, using your
imagination to see new possibilities, and to start actually creating that mental image
into reality. Be up to something creative. Create the kind of day you want to have,
and create the health and vitality you want to experience. You’re creative if you
decide to step into the role of being the creator of your life.