Leading for Innovation: Are we nurturing or squelching creative thought?

Susan Baum, Ph.D.International Center for Talent Development

21st Century Skills

What is a culture of innovation?What is the role of creativity?

• The Creativity Crisis

• For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it.

• Newsweek– July 10,2010

Culture of Convergent Thinking

• High stakes testing• Focus on one right answer vs. process• Need for control• Disregard for play or messing about• Need for practical applications

“It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry--for this delicate little plant aside from stimulation stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail.” (Einstein)

• 10 years old. skinny, sensitive, non-athletic, and clumsy in sports. He is a a troublemaker and poor in school. Math is a major problem.

• His parents complain that he gets in trouble at home as well. He is always trying to find ways to terrify his sisters.

• He told them a story of a wartime flier's body rotting in one of the family closets. Taking a a plastic skull, he put his father's World War II aviator cap and goggles on it and put it in the back of a closet.

• He then dared his sisters to go into the dark closet, and when they did he closed the door. With a rigged-up device he lit up the skull from within and caused them to scream with terror

Stephen Speilberg

• This teenager is quite wild. Last year she was shooting rifles with her friends when a young man stood in the way. She shot him. The young man was paralyzed. Her grandfather was charged with letting unsupervised and inexperienced teenagers control rifles. She continuously runs away but does return home. She is now 15 and is going to drop out of school. Her mother supports this.

LUCILLE BALL

• This young man really dislikes school and finds it too strict. . He continuously gets suspended for mischievous deeds. For instance, He and his friend changed the combinations of everyone’s bike locks and set off explosives in teacher's desks.

Steve Jobs

•This young student is doing poorly in school. Her father died when she was very young. Her mother who sang and had some brief movie roles is her hero. She loves watching her Mom perform but really dislikes school and is often absent. She cannot read or write and is planning to quit school when she turns 16.

Cher

Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put in the homeroom.

Creativity sparks innovation in all disciplines

The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future... All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care. Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.

DO YOU NEED TO BE GREAT TO CREATE?

:

Big C --- Little C continuum

PRACTICAL MANAGER TYPE

• “GIVE ME THE BASIC IDEA

• AND I CAN MAKE IT BETTER”

LEARNED EXPERT TYPE

GREAT SYNTHESIZER OF IDEAS:SEES PATTERNSMAKES CONNECTIONS

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER TYPE

• ENTREPRENEURS, INVENTORS, RISK TAKERS

• “WONT’ TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER”

Jonathan BaumYahoo! Sports Jonathan BaumJonathan Baum is assistant managing editor at Yahoo! Sports. He graduated from Alfred University with a degree in communications.

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PEOPLE PERSONS• CREATIVITY FROM THE HEART.• FEELINGS DRIVE THEIR CREATIVE EXPRESSION

CREATIVITY: A MULTI FACETED CONSTRUCT

• Person/ PERSONALITY TYPES• Process• Product • Press/environment

Blocks to Creativity

Factors affecting creative productivityTheresa Amabile, Ph.D.

• Expected evaluation• Surveillance• Reward• Competition• Restricted choice– “how to approach the

work”• Extrinsic motivation

Creative Environment

• When you treat people with respect, acknowledgment, and genuine positive reinforcement, you significantly increase the odds of creativity -- and by extension, innovation -- flourishing in your organization.

• When people are inspired by their own interests and enjoyment there is a better chance that they will explore unlikely paths, take risks, and in the end produce something unique and useful.

(Amabile, 1986).

• It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by coercion and a sense of duty (Einstein).

Perceptual Blocks

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it in 4 lines?

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it in 3 lines?

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines.Could you do it with 1 line?

Connect the dots using the fewest possible straight lines

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes? Like this for instance.

Here is another way. Can you think of others?

Did you consider this one?

How many ways can you divide this square into 4 equal shapes?An infinite number of ways?

Play: Take your childhood along with you

Richard FeynmanAll genius – all buffoon

“I do physics for the fun of It”

Alexander Fleming: Quiet but Quirkydelighted in

creating images out of the bacteria he was growing on agar plates by arranging the initial colonies so that they would grow to form a recognizable colored picture.

Problem finding and discovery in science

• RECOGNIZING PATTERNS• MAKING CONNECTIONS• TAKING RISKS• CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS• TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHANCE• SEEING IN NEW WAYS

BARRON& EISNER

DISCOVERY LEARNING

• MESSING ABOUT• ASKING QUESTIONS• FORMING HYPOTHESES• TESTING HYPOTHESES• DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Playing around with 7-up and raisins

• Take a glass of 7-up, and half a dozen raisins. Play.

• What do you observe? Ask 5 questions that start with I wonder about… or I wonder what would happen if…

My Plan

• Question: What do I want to know?

• My hypothesis…

• How will I conduct my experiment (materials and steps)

• Observations and conclusions

Creative drama

Let’s try a little improv!!!

DIVERGENT THINKING

• Fluency = lots of ideas

• Flexibility = different

• Originality = unique idea to solve the problem.

• Elaboration = Adding details

Make this into something that no one else would think of? Give it a title

http://www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/photo/2010/07/10/creativity-test/_jcr_content/body/photogallery/image1.img.jpg/1278620722846.jpg

ht

Make this into something that no one else would think of? Give it a title

http://www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/photo/2010/07/10/creativity-test/_jcr_content/body/photogallery/image1.img.jpg/1278620722846.jpg

Make this into something that no one else would think of? Give it a title

http://www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/photo/2010/07/10/creativity-test/_jcr_content/body/photogallery/image1.img.jpg/1278620722846.jpg

Make this into something that no one else would think of? Give it a title

http://www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/photo/2010/07/10/creativity-test/_jcr_content/body/photogallery/image1.img.jpg/1278620722846.jpg

SCAMPER

Substitute Who else? What else? Other ingredients? Other materials? Other process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice?

Combine How about a blend? An alloy? An assortment? An ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine Ideas?

Adapt What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest?Does the past offer a parallel? What could I copy? Whom could I emulate?

Modify Magnify? What to add? Minify? What to subtract? New twist? Change Meaning, color motion, sound…?

Put to other uses Do its form, weight, or structure suggest another use? New ways to use? Other uses if modified? Change context?

Eliminate Suppose we leave this out? Fewer parts? Condensed? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Understate? How can we make less more?

Reverse Rearrange? Turn it upside down? How about opposites? Reverse Roles? Turn tables? Interchange components? Other sequence? Change pace? Change Schedule? Transpose cause & effect

In the curriculum

• Math: how many ways can you do this problem? Arithmetic is finding the answer. Math is questioning the answer.

• 37 + 14= 51 (Pick a number between 1-7)• How many ways can we spell laugh? Justify by

applying a rule of phonics or exception• Ask open ended questions.• Invent new ways of doing things, new worlds,

visioning.

A real product with a real audience…

Encourage Creative Productivity

CompetitionsCelebrating the Achievements of ChildrenTM

http://www.amazing-kids.org/contests.html Check out the winning stories fromthe Amazing Kids! "Story Starter" Short Story writing contest! Read the winning essays from our "Appreciation" 2002 essay contest in Amazing Kids! eZine #5! Check out the winners of the "My Amazing Future" 2002 contest! Winners of the first-ever AK POETRY CONTEST . See who won! (Follow the link at the bottom of the AK eZine #4 page.) Check out the Amazing Kids! Poster Design contest 2001 winners! "My Amazing Future" 2001 essay contest winners Check out the winners of our Animation Contest 2000! These 6 lucky winners worked with Frank Gladstone, a professional animator from DreamWorks as their mentor! Check out the winners of our Amazing Babies essay contest! Check out the winners of our 1st comics drawing contest! The grand prize winner, 17 year old Laura Tisdel worked for a year with her mentor, professional cartoonist Guy Gilchrist. Check out her Amazing Kids! Comic Adventures! Check out the winners of our 1st writing contest!

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Automatic dog washerAutomatic milk dispenser

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/

Encouragers• Know the difference between creative leading and

leading for creativity• Provide opportunities for play and problem finding.• Have a creativity corner.• Teach divergent thinking skills and integrate them

into the curriculum.• Model creativity and spontaneity.• Environment of risk taking• Action research approach• Authentic problems• Encourage Quirkiness—Don’t cure it.

Think different

Think Different.