The Creative Snowflake: six elements of innovation

Creativity doesn't just happen.

Those momentary flashes of insight are just a small part of the creative process.  Disciplined thinking and practice contribute more to new ideas - and new solutions - than initial thunderbolts of genius.

Six factors seem to be essential to being creative.  Here they are, in summary.

Inner motivation.  Innovators do it for its own sake.  Grades and paychecks have no influence; the key catalysts are enjoyment, satisfaction and the challenge of the work itself.  Evaluation, supervision, competition and rules all inhibit innovative thinking.

Appetite for problems. Creatives are more interested in exploring a problem than in finding a solution.  It's important to look at the problem in as many ways as possible. How do you find good ideas?  'By having lots of them and then throwing away the bad ones. ' (Linus Pauling)

Mental mobility.  Remember Janus, the Roman god, who had two faces, looking in opposite directions?  Creative thinkers are Janus-faced.  They love opposites and contraries, paradoxes and contradictions. And if they can't find them, they'll make them up.  Give an innovator a problem and they will give you a metaphor back.  

A personal aesthetic.  Creative types want it simple.  They look for meaning in the midst of chaos, order amid the random.  They are continually doodling and making little models with Blu-Tac.  Someone once asked Einstein why he didn't use shaving soap.  'Two soaps?' he replied. 'Too complicated.'

Willingness to take risks.  Creators are thrill-seekers.  They probably need more stimulation than the rest of us, because they get bored easily.  And they may threaten the social order.  'What rules can we break here?' is a typical creative question.  Creativity and criminality are not that far apart.  So the risks need to be managed.

Objectivity. Creativity without objectivity is in danger of becoming psychosis.  Innovators seek ratification for their ideas; they know that creating something means doing more than being creative.  'Build feasibility' is the watchword.

If you want to be more creative, ask which of these traits you'd like to develop further. Then look for opportunities to develop them.  And if you want or need to manage creative people, you need to give them the space to exercise these skills - safely.