Qualities of Creative Individuals – care to do a self-assessment?

Here’s an oldie and goodie. This list of characteristics is excerpted from “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”  by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, who is a noted researcher on happiness and creativity. Creativity assessment:  You can use his descriptors as a checklist to see which apply to you. Creative individuals have a great [...]

Original Thinkers: What qualities? Dr. Mark Batey, Manchester Business School

Why do people write books? What’s next?

Excuse me for grappling with this dilemma.  Just re-saw this clip for Google chrome.  If this is how people are communicating, then why are people still writing books or ebooks? Especially when people expect to get information online for free? Last January, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) reported eBook net sales rose from 2010′s [...]

A 2-minute online interactive creativity exercise

Here’s a creativity exercise for you that’s fun and has a purpose. It may also give your creativity a boost. Fun: Click Draw a Stickman link for two minutes of interactive fun. Purpose: In what ways did the Draw a Stickman experience remind you of your creativity? and inspire your creativity? Creativity Boost:  In what [...]

Organizational Culture: An Overlooked Internal Risk – BusinessWeek

Organizational Culture: An Overlooked Internal Risk – BusinessWeek. Companies that encourage and support open communications outperform their peers, according to research from the Corporate Executive Board Nearly half of executive teams lack the information they need to manage effectively because employees withhold vital comments out of fear that doing otherwise will show poorly on them. [...]

500 years of transition – in less than 3 minutes

Philip Scott Johnson‘s “500 Years Of Female Portraits In Western Art” traces how representations of women have changed throughout art’s history. Watch as Johnson delicately weaves together famous portraits to show what traits and characterisitcs of the female figure have been deemed ‘ideal’ from epoch to epoch. See this list for all the paintings used [...]

The New Creativity

 Singer-songwriter P.J. Harvey is a patron saint of the new creativity. Not the old one where people said they needed to be in the depth of despair, high on drugs or drunk to oblivion to get new ideas. “When I’m contented, I’m more open to receiving a lot of inspiration,” she testified. “I’m most creative [...]

Script to sell your boss new ideas

Jordan used the quick checklist for creative ideas.  The new idea arrived.  Another call came through. “Marci, thanks, I got it.  Now how do I sell it to my boss?  Can you remind me?” “Jordan, your learning and retention style amazes and delights me.   I’m happy to zap over this checklist for you, here t’is.” [...]

Future of Innovation 2011 — Special Report — Does Innovation Guarantee National Success? – CNBC

This morning’s breakfast reading, wondering what it all means for the future of creativity. (Innovation needs creativity = new ideas and new decisions.) Morning questions:  What does National success mean? Does happiness or satisfaction factor in to these rankings?  What about creativity, the ability and invitation to contribute new ideas and make new decisions, do [...]

Key to Creativity: Reduced latent inhibition

Creative inspiration is more likely to occur when people allow themselves to become vulnerable to the new ideas says Psychologist Dean Simonton, interviewed on CBC’s Ideas Program, the Idea of Genius. Creative ideas emerge when people can reduce their latent inhibition, the survival mechanism that judges ideas right away for appropriateness or fit. Why is [...]