Thursday, July 21, 2011

More thoughts on creativity

As I continue preparation for the Tulsa creativity summit, I'm thinking more about the "ingredients" for creativity than I am about the products of creativity.  Products might include, but are not limited to:
  • patent filings and awards
  • business start-ups
  • art galleries and shows
  • live music shows
  • museums
  • theater productions
I'm trying to assemble a list of what it takes to spur creativity, which is not nearly so obvious.  I've done a little reading lately on the topic and here are some musings, just for fun...
  1. Creativity, I believe, is a process through which people solve an identified problem...be it an abstract problem, an aesthetic problem, an industrial problem or mere boredom.  So then, an ingredient of creativity would be the existence of interesting or compelling problems.  Oklahoma (fortunately or not) has an abundance of those.
  2. Effective tools, skills or intuition for identifying the root causes of problems.
  3. A "go for it" attitude.  Creativity bears fruit in action.
  4. Failure tolerance.  Taking calculated risks...again and again and again...in order to really "go for it".  It's about getting the support you need to try one more time after things fall apart.
  5. Opportunities to act upon creative instincts.  In my case, it would Fab Lab Tulsa...which is so much more than a place to collaborate.  Fab Lab Tulsa is a place to turn ideas into reality.  If you're supposed to "go for it" then you've gotta have a place to do that.
That's all for now.  I'm a little tapped out after an amazing Book Smart event last night.  See the next post!

No comments:

Post a Comment