Creativity in management
source
By John Cleese
Telling people how to be creative is easy, being creative is hard.
Creativity cannot be explained.
Creativity research dropped off dramatically after the 60s or 70s "researchers reached the limits".
"Sculptor quote: I started with marble and got rid of everything that didn't look like an elephant".
Creativity is not a talent, it's a way of operating.
Not an ability you have or don't. Unrelated to IQ (above a certain level).
Most created have acquired a facility to get into a particular mood (way of operating) that allows their natural creativity to prosper.
Childlike state of play.
Enjoyment for its own sake.
Two modes: Open / Closed
Creativity can't happen in the closed mode
Closed Mode
Lots to get done, must get through it.
Slightly anxious mode.
A little impatient, a little tension, very purposeful.
Can be stressful or manic.
But NOT creative
Open mode
Relaxed
more inclined to humor (more wide perspective)
playful
expansive
less purposeful
contemplated
curious
without pressure, we can play and that gives natural creativity
Penicillin
If Alexander Fleming, who invented penicillin, had been in closed mode, he'd have thrown it out, but that curiosity (open mode) drove him to ask why.
The culture that hadn't grown wasn't useful to his purposes, easy to disregard.
In closed mode it's irrelevant, in open mode it's a clue.
Working with Hitchcock:
When we came up against a block and our discussions became very heated and intense, Hitchcock would suddenly stop and tell a story that had nothing to do with the work at hand.
At first, I was almost outraged, and then I discovered that he did this intentionally. He mistrusted working under pressure. He would say, “We're pressing, we're pressing, we're working too hard. Relax, it will come.” And, says the writer, of course it finally always did.
Switching modes
Need to be in open mode when pondering a problem.
Then must switch to closed mode so we are decisive, without doubts.
"If you decide to leap a ravine, the moment before jumping is not a time to consider alternatives."
Then review the feedback in open mode, to see if it was successful.
==Need to be able to switch between the two modes
But you can get stuck in closed mode easily. "Tunnel vision".
Conditions to facilitate open mode
Need 5 things
- space
- time
- time
- confidence
- humor
Space
Need space without pressures (see also Slack). Need a quiet place to be undisturbed.
Time
You need to know that your space will last until a specific time and then it will stop (say 3:30). This is essential to seal yourself off for a specific amount of time.
Limited, secluded, that's how play works. Otherwise it's not play.
Creating an oasis of quiet by setting time/space boundaries.
Prioritizing
It's easier to do little things that are urgent (and that we know we can do) than it is to do important things that are not urgent (and that are not as clear how to start).
WAIT until your mind quiets down.
So you need more than 30 minutes. He suggests 90.
Then you have about 60 minutes in the open mode.
But you need a break after 90 minutes too, so don't do a 4-hour session.
Time (again)
How do you use the oasis?
Some people take the first solution to a problem, but if you sit with it for another hour, you'll come up with something more original.
Taking a quick decision makes us feel better, it gets rid of the unsolved problem anxiety.
==Decisiveness is the opposite of creativity. ==
(This lines up with a line from Practical Creativity that said that people who are considered to be more creative are rarely leaders).
!! Before you take a decision, ask when it needs to be made, then defer to then. This increases pondering time, which increases creativity.
This is hard, but not indecisive.
Confidence
Don't fear making mistakes.
Playing is experimenting. "What if..."
Can't be playful if you're afraid moving in one direction might be wrong.
"You can't be spontaneous within reason"
Nothing is wrong, there are no mistakes in the oasis. Anything may lead to the breakthrough.
Humor
Humor is the easiest way to cycle from closed to open mode.
We tend to dismiss humor because a topic is "too serious".
There's a difference between serious and solemn.
Laughter doesn't make things less series.
"I don't know what solemnity are for".
Solemnity serves pomposity.
Aside, this reminds me of how some (see Tone Policing will argue that if you can't argue calmly about something then that's a failure, both of your argument and you. "I'm objective, I'm level-headed". Separate the two. There is no relation.
Humor is essential to creativity and problem solving.
Giggle all you want!
Stay on topic
Keep bringing your mind back (like meditation) to the topic at hand. It will wander, but if you gently urge it back, there will be relevation.
It might be in the shower or somewhere else, but you've got to put in the pondering time.
Play with others
Throw ideas back and forth with other people
But beware! If there's someone who makes you feel defensive, you lose play and you lose creativity.
Stay positive, don't say no or wrong or squash.
Say "What if, can you go on? Say more? I don't quite follow"
Japanese are great at using groups, maybe their less structured meetings are 'better'.
They let the most junior speak first, so they can't contradict someone more important.
We connect two unrelated ideas in a way that sparks.
The new connections or juxtapositions are relevant only if they have new meeting. A computer can't do it. It can't tell which smell interesting.
Absurd
Loosen up your assumptions by experimenting with deliberately crazy connections.
"Intermediate impossibles"
This is contrary to ordinary logical thinking, where each step has to be right.
Use it as a stepping stone to another idea that is right.
Start generating random connections