The term creative is “fuzzy” – in others words – means many different things to many different people.
This makes it necessary to clarify both the meaning and context of the word within the framework of this blog.
There are numerous definitions of the term, but English creative education expert and Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation – Sir Ken Robinson – defines it so: “The process of having original ideas that have value”.
This is a practical definition for two reasons:
1 – It establishes that Creativity is the result of a process.
2 – It establishes that the Creative process is directed at generating valuable, original ideas.
Derivative of this definition is that the quality, originality and value of an idea are “umfeld” – environment – determined: where it may have value in one context, it may be worthless in others.
Moreover, where it may be unoriginal in one context, it may be original – thus – valuable in others; this explains why the “copy/paste method”, that is: copying an idea from one context to another, is a basic, yet useful creative tool.
In his book “The Medici Effect” environmental scientist, Harvard MBA and writer Frans Johansson extensively explores this concept, explaining how copying or “borrowing” concepts from one culture, field or area of expertise to another may inspire the generation of large quantities of new, valuable ideas.
Changing the context or application of an idea is a creative process considered as valid as generating “new” ideas, because context-idea recombination is a “lateral thinking” process, directed at creating value from something that is initially worthless.
Another example is ”Cliche Recombination”, which is a frequently used creative technique in advertising.
It derives its value from taking a universally known stereotype, truism, fact or “played out” idea and putting it into a new light.
A recombined cliche is universally recognized by its target audience and derives its impact from a surprising new context or meaning.
Further on in this blog I will be discussing a series of models and tools related with creativity and strategy: strategy tools, prospective research & scenario mapping, problem definition, creative process and tools for creative thinking, amongst others.
This makes it necessary to clarify both the meaning and context of the word within the framework of this blog.
There are numerous definitions of the term, but English creative education expert and Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation – Sir Ken Robinson – defines it so: “The process of having original ideas that have value”.
This is a practical definition for two reasons:
1 – It establishes that Creativity is the result of a process.
2 – It establishes that the Creative process is directed at generating valuable, original ideas.
Derivative of this definition is that the quality, originality and value of an idea are “umfeld” – environment – determined: where it may have value in one context, it may be worthless in others.
Moreover, where it may be unoriginal in one context, it may be original – thus – valuable in others; this explains why the “copy/paste method”, that is: copying an idea from one context to another, is a basic, yet useful creative tool.
In his book “The Medici Effect” environmental scientist, Harvard MBA and writer Frans Johansson extensively explores this concept, explaining how copying or “borrowing” concepts from one culture, field or area of expertise to another may inspire the generation of large quantities of new, valuable ideas.
Changing the context or application of an idea is a creative process considered as valid as generating “new” ideas, because context-idea recombination is a “lateral thinking” process, directed at creating value from something that is initially worthless.
Another example is ”Cliche Recombination”, which is a frequently used creative technique in advertising.
It derives its value from taking a universally known stereotype, truism, fact or “played out” idea and putting it into a new light.
A recombined cliche is universally recognized by its target audience and derives its impact from a surprising new context or meaning.
Further on in this blog I will be discussing a series of models and tools related with creativity and strategy: strategy tools, prospective research & scenario mapping, problem definition, creative process and tools for creative thinking, amongst others.
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