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1-Page Summary of The Myths of Creativity
Overview
We all have the ability to be creative. It’s a skill that we can learn and use in our daily lives. Creativity is not limited to artists or other people who are considered “creative.” Everyone has this ability if they choose to use it.
The myth that only certain people are creative is wrong. Other myths include: creativity comes from the lone genius, innovation is a spark of genius, and brainstorming is the best way to create ideas. How many of these do you believe?
In these key points, you’ll learn why the apple didn’t inspire Newton; why creativity isn’t genetic; and who really invented the personal computer.
Big Idea #1: In order to reach our creative potential, we need to change our perception of creativity.
Isaac Newton was inspired to discover gravity after an apple fell on his head.
Although this story is a common myth, it’s wrong. Creativity doesn’t just fall to us from thin air. For example, Newton’s discovery of gravity isn’t exactly accurate. He observed the apple falling while he was with someone else and sparked a scientific discussion between them.
Newton and Hooke were both interested in the subject of gravity. They discussed it, but they didn’t know much about it at first. Therefore, Newton wasn’t the only one who made a discovery about gravity; he discovered it with Hooke. After years of research, Newton finally created his formula for gravity after many discussions with other scientists.
Insight is a central part of creativity. However, it takes many steps to get there. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi found that insight only comes after other steps have been taken in the creative process.
In order to get the best ideas, it’s important to prepare your mind for them by working on a variety of projects. This allows you to give each project enough time for development while still being able to work on other things.
Creativity is important, but not just for famous people.
Big Idea #2: Creativity is not an exclusive resource that only certain people can access.
We often think that some people are more creative than others. However, this is a myth because it’s not true.
In fact, scientists have shown that creativity is not decided by our genes. The study of Einstein’s brain did not reveal a special structure in his brain. In addition, his brain was actually found to be quite small.
Let’s look at the genetic influence on creativity with psychologist Marvin Reznikoff’s study of twins, who were given creative tasks to complete. Identical twins would be expected to be more similar in their creativity than fraternal twins, but they weren’t. The results didn’t change for identical and fraternal twin sets.
Although there has been research on the importance of creativity, many organizations still treat creative and non-creative employees differently. In addition, governmental authorities in the US differentiate between creative and non-creative professions, which causes differences in labor legislation. Creatives are treated differently from those who aren’t considered to be creatives. The problem is that treating them differently restricts innovation because it excludes people who aren’t creatives from being part of the innovation process.
It’s not clear how much of a role the design team plays in a company and how it affects the product. However, we do know that companies who have bucked this tradition and allow anyone to participate in the creative process reap the benefits.
For example, The Gore company (inventors of Gore-Tex) doesn’t assign tasks to its workers. Instead, everyone is free to work on new projects and anyone interested can join them. As a result, they have over a thousand products ranging from gaskets for cars to rubber seals for windows.
