Creativity is proclivity. How to make it more.
CREATIVITY, LIKE PLATO'S BEAUTY, IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER and what he or she understands the term to mean. Is one painter any more creative than another simply because he or she discovers something in the act of painting that is different from or better (at least in the minds of critics) than others? In my view, everyone is creative but not necessarily in the way most professional communicators mean. To be creative in public relations, marketing or advertising, you need to read about and study ideas and concepts for developing creative programs or messages. Maybe take a full-blown course on the subject. Most important, to be truly creative you have to practice, practice, practice, because the creativity I'm addressing here is generally learned from experience and having a deep understanding of the profession you’re in, what makes it tick, what makes it work. Typically, the requisite practice entails tapping your imagination by applying well-known tools and techniques backed up by a lot of knowledge about what worked well in the past that has implications and application for today. Here are a few obvious tools and techniques, all of which have detailed explanations on the Internet: 1) brainstorming; 2) six thinking hats; 3) blue ocean strategy; 4) mind maps; 5) fishbone diagrams; 6) reversal technique; 7) nominal groups; 8) brain writing; 9) day dreaming; 10) lateral thinking; 11) perceptual maps; and 12) visualization. To find links to these and scores of other creative techniques, visit: http://www.mycoted.com/Category:Creativity_Techniques. Two writers on creativity who are easy to read and who taught me a lot are Edward de Bono and Tony Buzan. Read at least one in the months ahead. In the meantime, replace "beauty" with "creativity" in the following statement from Plato's Synposium and think about the inherent wisdom. "Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty [CREATIVITY] with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty [CREATIVITY], but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may." This is the quote that was incorrectly transformed way back when into the more famous, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Read also marketing guru Ted Levitt's "Creativity is not enough." You can find it in his books or buy a copy for a few bucks from the Harvard Business Review. Go to http://hbr.org/2002/08/creativity-is-not-enough/ar/1 It's a classic that will disabuse you of many of your notions regarding creativity's value in a professional or business setting.
