Defining Creativity
My Definition: An outward action or process in which one positively transcends what is already known, and is not limited to a type of person or discipline.
Ken Robinson
“Imagination is the source of our creativity… Imagination is the ability to bring to mind things that are not present to our senses… Imagination can be an entirely private process of internal consciousness… Being creative involves doing something… To call someone creative suggests they are actively producing something in a deliberate way… Creativity involves putting your imagination to work. In a sense, creativity is applied imagination. Innovation is the process of putting new ideas into practice. Innovation is applied creativity.” (Out of Our Minds, 141)
"Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value, which come about by the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things." (TED Talk)
Michael Michalko
"Everyone is born a creative, spontaneous thinker."
"Creativity is paradoxical. If you're not able to leave what you think you know behind, you can't approach problems with a fresh perspective." (Cracking Creativity)
Milton Glaser
“There’s no such thing as a creative “type”. As if creative people can just show up and make stuff up. As if it were that easy. I think people need to be reminded that creativity is a verb, a very time-consuming verb. It’s about taking an idea in your head, and transforming that idea into something real. And that’s always going to be a long and difficult process. If you’re doing it right, it’s going to feel like work.” (quoted in Jonah Lehrer’s “Imagine”)
Liz Ingraham
"Creativity, or creative thinking is flexible, fluent, confident, prolific, resourceful, self-directed and imaginative thinking and making, including the ability to get, develop, communicate and critique ideas. Creativity manifests as outcomes (things or processes) of use or value in the world. Creativity can be encouraged, developed and enhanced by conscious attitudes, strategies and behaviors." (Creativity 101)
Creativity IS:
-A process
-An integral component of human intelligence
-Accessible to all humans
-Exercisable within any discipline, as well as in social relations and daily life
-The consequence of intention, determination and persistence
-And creativity can practiced, encouraged and enhanced. (Or abandoned, discouraged and diminished).
Creativity is NOT:
-An innate talent or separate faculty
-Genetically determined
-An accident
-The province of just a few individuals
-The same as genius
-Confined to the arts
Creativity is a PROCESS which:
-Draws on both sides of the brain
-Uses intuition as well as logic, imagination as well as analysis
-Uses multiple intelligences
-Makes use of one’s experience
-Uses divergent as well as convergent thinking
-Produces outcomes (things or processes) which are useful or valuable
-Requires certain mental attitude or mindset
-Both produces new discoveries AND refines and builds upon other work