My lecture notes at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management for the course on "Creativity and Innovation"

1. Creativity#1: What is Creativity
Tathagat Varma
Knowledgepreneur
http://thoughtleadership.in

2. How many artists in the room?

3. “The higher the
grade, the fewer
children raised
their hands…
Every school I
visited was
participating in
the suppression of
creative genius”.

4. Pablo Picasso
Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to
remain an artist once
we grow up.

5. Tom & David Kelley
Most people are born creative. As children, we
revel in imaginary play, ask outlandish questions,
draw blobs and call them dinosaurs. But over time,
because of socialization and formal education, a
lot of us start to stifle those impulses. We learn to
be warier of judgment, more cautious, more
analytical. The world seems to divide into
“creatives” and “noncreatives,” and too many
people consciously or unconsciously resign
themselves to the latter category.

7. Before we start…
What was the most creative
thing you did in the last one day?
week? …ever?
Why do you think it was
“creative”?
How do you define “creative”?

8. What is Creativity?
the state or quality of being creative.
the ability to transcend traditional ideas,
rules, patterns, relationships, or the like,
and to create meaningful new ideas, forms,
methods, interpretations, etc.
originality, progressiveness, or imagination
the process by which one utilizes creative
ability
Dictionary.com

9. So, what is Creative?
having the quality or power of creating.
resulting from originality of thought,
expression, etc.; imaginative:
creative writing.
originative; productive
Facetious. using or creating exaggerated
or skewed data, information, etc.: creative
bookkeeping.
Dictionary.com

10. Osho
Creativity has nothing to do with any activity in particular – with painting, poetry,
dancing, singing.
Anything can be creative – you bring that quality to the activity. Activity itself is neither
creative nor uncreative. You can paint in an uncreative way. You can sing in an
uncreative way. You can clean the floor in a creative way. You can cook in a creative
way.
Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity you are doing. It is an attitude, an
inner approach – how you look at things.
So the first thing to be remembered: don't confine creativity to anything in particular.
Creativity means loving whatsoever you do – enjoying, celebrating it, as a gift of
existence! Maybe nobody comes to know about it. Who is going to praise Paras for
cleaning this floor? History will not take any account of it; newspapers will not publish
her name and pictures – but that is irrelevant. She enjoyed it. The value is intrinsic.

11. Osho…
"So if you are looking for fame and then you think you are
creative – if you become famous like Picasso, then you are
creative - then you will miss. Then you are, in fact, not creative at
all: you are a politician, ambitious. If fame happens, good. If it
doesn't happen, good. It should not be the consideration. The
consideration should be that you are enjoying whatsoever you
are doing. It is your love-affair.
The questioner asks: 'I believed I was uncreative.' If you believe
in that way, you will become uncreative – because belief is not
just belief. It opens doors; it closes doors. If you have a wrong
belief, then that will hang around you as a closed door. If you
believe that you are uncreative, you will become uncreative –
because that belief will obstruct, continuously negate, all
possibilities of flowing. It will not allow your energy to flow
because you will continuously say: 'I am uncreative

12. Steve Jobs
Creativity is just connecting things.
When you ask creative people how they
did something, they feel a little guilty
because they didn't really do it, they
just saw something. It seemed obvious
to them after a while. That's because
they were able to connect experiences
they've had and synthesize new things.

13. Edward de Bono
Creativity involves
breaking out of
established patterns in
order to look at things in
a different way.

14. Ken Robinson
Creativity is putting your
imagination to work, and
it's produced the most
extraordinary results in
human culture.

15. Edwin Land
An essential aspect
of creativity is not
being afraid to fail.

16. Wikipedia
Creativity is a
phenomenon whereby
something new and
somehow valuable is
formed.

17. So, let’s go again…we are all
creative!!!

18. Creative or not?

19. Creative or not?

20. Creative or not?

21. Creative or not?

22. Creative or not?

23. Creative or not?

24. Creative or not?

25. Creative or not?

26. Creative or not?

27. Creative or not?

28. Creative or not?

29. Creativity or not?

30. Creative or not?

31. So, when is something
“creative”?
http://vandewerk.nl/boost-creative-thinking/#more-2336

32. What Creativity is NOT?
Creativity is NOT offensive
Creativity is NOT abrasive
Creativity is NOT complicated
Creativity is NOT easy
Creativity is NOT meaningless
http://www.thecreativealliance.com/creativity/5-things-creativity-not/#

33. Recap
Creativity is about how we think, how we solve a
problem in a novel and meaningful way
Anyone can be creative. In fact, we are all creative – we
just need to bring it out of us!
Next topic: Creativity Development in Humans

34. References
http://brainpickings.org/2013/09/06/what-is-creativity/
http://osho.com/highlights-of-oshos-world/what-is-creativity
http://www.ted.com/topics/creativity
http://hbr.org/topic/creativity
http://www.coursera.org/learn/creativity-innovation
http://www.coursera.org/learn/ignite-creativity
http://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/creativity
http://www.coursera.org/learn/creative-problem-solving
http://www.quora.com/The-Arts-What-standards-are-used-to-
determine-if-something-is-creative-or-not-and-what-triggers-inspiration

35. Books
Orbiting the Giant Hairball – A Corporate Fool’s
Guide to Surviving with Grace, Gordon MacKenzie
A Whack on the Side of the Head – How You Can be
More Creative, Roger Von Oech
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery