Chapter 8 Creativity

WELCOME CREATIVE SKILLS - ADSM TO THE WORLD OF CREATIVE SKILLS - ADSM A REASONABLE PERSON ADAPTS HIMSELF/HERSELF TO THE WORLD; (IN-BOX) AN UNREASONABLE PERSON ADAPTS THE WORLD TO HIMSELF/HERSELF. (OUT-0F-THE-BOX) SO ALL THE PROGRESS DEPENDS ON THE UNREASONABLE PERSON This MBA programme aims at making you unreasonable

PERFORMANCE VERSES SYSTEMS High PERFORMANCE Unreasonable (Creative) Reasonable (Analytical) Low 0 % 100 % SYSTEMS

CREATIVE SKILLS I Positive Traits II Mental Blocks III Lateral Thinking IIII Problem Solving

PROBLEMS Things that are blocking our way Situations that call for extra efforts Sudden deviations / Unexpected happenings Things that are blocking our way Situations with no ready-made solutions Lack of resources Things not going as per your wish Confusing situations Situations where there are risks involved Situations where we don’t have control

P R O B L E M A PROBLEM IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT I HAVE AND WHAT I WANT Symptoms: BOTHERATION / UNEASINESS / WORRY / ANGER / FEAR / SADNESS / TENSION / IRRITATION

B R A I N S RIGHT Logic Imagination Analysis Music Language Rhythm LEFT Logic Analysis Language Number Reasoning Reading Writing RIGHT Imagination Music Rhythm Color Humor Daydreaming

CLOSE-ENDED – Definite number of NATURE OF PROBLEMS How much you have to pay income tax? Which is the capital of India? How much does the shirt cost? How did it happen? CLOSE-ENDED – Definite number of RIGHT answers

OPEN-ENDED – As many answers - No RIGHT or WRONG What are the different ways by which we can reduce income-tax? 2 How can terrorism be eliminated? 3 How to bring down the electricity bill? 4 How can we increase customer satisfaction? 5 How to make India an honest country? OPEN-ENDED – As many answers - No RIGHT or WRONG - More or less appropriate

Which is more in number – Open-ended or Close-ended ?

Among the problems, how many of them are of your own creation ?

ARE YOU LAZY?

LEFT ORIENTED RIGHT ORIENTED Love structure, systems, Get a kick in breaking rules orderliness, rules etc. Want data / proof Go by gut feelings Source is important Content (Not insisting on evidence) Like stability Love changes Focus on “what” (words) Focus on “how” (body language, tone etc.) Left Thumb up Right thumb up Right-eyed Left-eyed

LEFT ORIENTED RIGHT ORIENTED Good memory Absentminded Love competition Thrive on freedom Choose to be a physician Explorer Make good team members Soloists Prefer algebra Prefer geometry Digital Analogue (Right / Wrong) Yes, but Yes, and

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? * CONCEIVING OF NEW IDEAS * A TOOL FOR SURVIVOL * LOOKING WHERE ALL HAVE LOOKED AND SEEING WHAT NO ONE HAS SEEN * CONSCIOUS ESCAPE FROM ROUTINE * SHAKING HANDS WITH TOMORROW

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? * RELATING OF UNRELATED THINGS * DOING WHAT OTHERS HAVE NOT DONE * LISTENING FOR SMELLS * EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED * MAKING YOUR OWN PRODUCT OBSOLETE

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? * NOT ACCEPTING THE EXISTING AS BEST * CHALLENGING ACCEPTED THINGS * DYNAMIC TENSION BETWEEN OPPOSING FORCES * BRINGING OUT PRODUCTS THAT CONSUMERS DIDN’T KNOW THEY NEEDED

A Necessary Condition to the Development of Critical and Creative Thinking is: A Questioning Mind

Understanding the Mind of Isaac Newton At the age of 19 Newton drew up a list of questions under 45 headings. His title, Questions, signaled his goal: to constantly question the nature of matter, place, time, and motion. He worked hard to understand the thinking of others working on his list of problems. For example, he bought Descartes's Geometry and read it by himself. After two or three pages, when he could understand no further, “he began again and advanced farther and continued doing so till he made himself master of the whole.”

Understanding the Mind of Albert Einstein Einstein failed his entrance exam to Zurich Polytechnic. When he finally passed (by attending a cram school) he did not want to think about scientific problems for a year. His final exam was so non-distinguished that afterward he was refused a post as an assistant.

Thus critical thinking has a creative component: to produce a better product of thought And creative thinking has a critical component: to reshape thinking in keeping with criteria of excellence.

Critical thinking without a creative output is merely negative thinking. Creative thinking without a critical component is merely novel thinking. It is easy to be merely negative or novel in one’s thought.

Every genuine act of figuring out anything is a new making, a new series of creative acts, however mundane. To come to understand anything requires that the mind construct new connections in the mind.

No one can be given knowledge or understanding; they must all create or construct it for themselves. Didactic teaching does not work because it violates the essential conditions under which the mind learns by acts of construction in the mind. Didactic teaching refers to engaging students in the subject being taught. This can be done through various methods like diagrams, photos and pictures of what's being taught.

At even the most fundamental level of learning, at the earliest age of learning, the learner must actively construct (create) to learn. We must abandon the notion that knowledge can be “transmitted” without active creative construction on the part of the learner.

These are minimal criteria for the construction of knowledge. At even the most fundamental level of learning, at the earliest age of learning, the learner must actively assess its construction to take genuine ownership. Am I being clear? Am I being accurate? These are minimal criteria for the construction of knowledge.

The essential need for criticality and creativity applies to the work of the most humble student as well as that of the greatest genius If we study the development of the greatest minds Aristotle, Beethoven, Curie, Da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo, Newton, Einstein we will discover that each went through a period of growth in which they internalized high standards of criticality that played a significant role in the manner in which they went about their later creative production.

Creativity in Entrepreneurship

What is creativity? Creative behaviors possessing an element of newness, novelty, and difference. Creativity is an act, an idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one, and creative person is whose thoughts or actions bring these changes.

What is creativity? Wallas’ description of creative thinking, suggests a model in four stages: Preparation: problem definition Incubation: resting phase, subconscious mind Illumination: idea of a solution comes to mind Verification: solutions are tested

Creativity and Innovation Creativity leads to innovation “Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth. Innovation, indeed, creates a resource.” (Drucker) Entrepreneurship is all about innovation Innovation is economic or social, rather than a technical term

Entrepreneurship “Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning and acting that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership balanced.” Entrepreneurial qualities commitment and determination, leadership, opportunity obsession, tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty, creativity, self-reliance and ability to adapt, and the motivation to excel, ability to use failure experience as a way of learning

Entrepreneurship and Creativity Creative in figuring out a way to work in a joint venture Creativity comes in writing an amazing sales letter or visualizing the perfect logo For practicing innovation, they need to be aware of change, and creatively use it to their advantage The Unexpected, Incongruities, Process Need, Industry and Market Structures, Demographics, Changes in Perception, New Knowledge (Drucker)

Entrepreneurship and Creativity Tolerance for ambiguity is related to certain entrepreneurial styles “Creative destruction” procedures and destroys or reallocates amassed resources Creative in identifying the gap in the market and think up a product

Nurturing Creativity Several techniques to encourage creative thinking: Ask Questions, Lateral Thinking, Six Thinking Hats, Brainstorming etc Technology and business incubators “complete innovation system” Provide financial, marketing and design support Generation of new creative ideas and business plans joint and cross-disciplinary learning