Introduction to Creative DiversityHelp

In this course, were going to explore and explode some dangerous myths about creativity. Theyre dangerous because they keep us from listening to the ideas of others and from really appreciating what other people bring to the table. Were going to take these myths apart and show why they dont make sense. Then, were going to put them back together in a way that does make sense. Are you ready? Lets get started!

Creative Myths and Misconceptions

When I first came to Penn State, I was a pretty traditional engineer. I built robots - big walking machines the size of a bus. I didnt know that creativity was a field of study, and I had never thought much about whether I was creative or not. But I did like to think about thinking to think about ideas and how people have ideas and what they do with those ideas once they have them. I decided to find out more about creativity and to see how it might help me be a better engineer and a better teacher, a better mom, a better person! So, I read about creativity, I went to creativity conferences, and I talked to people who studied creativity. It was fascinating, but as I read and studied, I also became very confused. I was getting mixed messages, and many of those messages didnt make sense. For example: some people told me that I couldnt be an engineer AND be creative at the same time. In other words, engineers werent considered creative! That just didnt make sense to me. After all, werent my robots acts of creation? And what about other engineers throughout history, like the Wright brothers and their airplane? Or Grace Hopper, who programmed some of the very first computers? I realized then that there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about creativity. Id like to point out just a few of them here, starting with: Myth #1: Only some people are creative. One of the most dangerous myths about creativity is the notion that only some people are creative. Sometimes youll see people put in different piles according to what they do for a living for example: the so-called creative artists, musicians, and writers in one pile, and the so-called uncreative engineers, accountants, and math teachers in another pile. Why doesnt this make sense? Well, if creativity is bringing something into existence that wasnt there before, then the domain of the idea or the product doesnt matter. I can create something in art or engineering or planting a garden or organizing my closet! Myth #2: Only certain kinds of ideas are creative. Then theres the myth that only certain kinds of ideas are creative. This myth usually says that an idea has to be revolutionary or radical or out of the box to be creative in other words, that creativity requires you to break the rules in some way. Is that creative? Yes, of course! But what about another

kind of creativity anevolutionary , in the box creativity, the kind of creativity that shows up when we dig deeper into a problem, when we discover ways to explain the details of something, and that process leads to new insights? Isnt that creative as well? Absolutely! If we really think about the way change happens, we realize pretty quickly that all kinds of ideas are needed the more evolutionary ones and the more revolutionary ones. And heres the really fascinating part: they are interdependent! In other words, they feed into each other in an alternating pattern that keeps going and going and going Let me give you an example : Youve probably heard of Dmitri Mendeleyev: he was a Russian chemist who designed a basic form of the Periodic Table of the Elements. As the story goes, Mendeleyev sat down at his desk with a set of cards. Each card had detailed information on it about the different chemical elements known at the time. Using the data on those cards, he put them into a unique pattern that helped explain how they were related and even predicted where new elements would be! Was this creative? Absolutely in a more revolutionary way. But where did the detailed information on the cards come from? Without it, Mendeleyev couldnt have created his new table in fact, he wouldnt have known that he needed one! His creativity depended on the creativity of other scientists before him people like the Italian chemist, Cannizzaro, who had carefully and meticulously, worked out the details through endless experimentation. This evolutionary creativity was just as important as Mendeleyevs contribution and absolutely necessary for change to happen. Mendeleyevs revolutionary creativity set off a new round of evolutionary creativity that continues today. Scientists are still filling in the gaps in the periodic table that Mendeleyev and others like him created. Someday, we may discover that this periodic table has become obsolete, and a new revolutionary idea will be needed to set us on the right path again! Its an endless alternating pattern of revolution and evolution in creativity and every step is taking us forward! There are many more myths about creativity, like the notion that an idea has to be important or complicated to be really creative. Or the myth that children are creative, but somehow their creativity is stifled in school and lost as they go out into the working world. Well explore these and other myths throughout this course, but right now, I want to introduce you to anew view of creativity that will help us sort things out.

The Creative Diversity Model

Its called the Creative Diversity model , and its a model of creativity that is both broader and richer thanall the myths put together. Its based on the research of important scholars, like Michael Kirton, Robert Sternberg, and Teresa Amabile. Its a view of creativity that is more inclusive and more precise and itmakes sense!

Its first four principles go like this: Creative Diversity Principle #1: All people are creative. Everyone, of every age and profession, from birth until death everyone is creative. The source of creativity is inevery individual, whether they are working alone or in a small group or in a large organization. They may have a few ideas or a lot of them; those ideas may be revolutionary or evolutionary, simple or complex. The only people who are not creative are, well dead. Creative Diversity Principle #2: Creativity is diverse. In other words, we recognize that while all people are creative, they are NOT creative in the same way. There are many different versions or flavors of creativity. There isnt just one kind of idea or one approach to solving problems, but many a wide range of possibilities across the human race. So, how do we describe this creative diversity? Creative Diversity Principle #3: Creative diversity is described by four key variables: Given our assumption that creativity is different across individuals, we need a way to describe those differences. Michael Kirton, a British psychologist, has come up with an elegant way to do this. Were going to use four variables: The Four Variables of Creative Diversity: Creative level Creative level is related to your mental capacity . In other words, its related to the size and the shape of the mental bucket you have between your ears and what you have stored in that bucket at any particular time! You are filling up your mental bucket from the moment you are born until the moment you die. We measure creative level using things like intelligence ,aptitude , knowledge, skill , andexperience . So, you may have a special talent for music, or you may have a strong aptitude for math. You may be skilled in drawing, while your friend has experience in computer programming. All these differences will affect your creativity: we tend to be creative in proportion to our creative level. Creative style Creative style is your preferred way of managing and using all the creative level you have acquired. In other words, its your preference for how you go about solving problems and bringing about change. Like other cognitive preferences, you are born with your creative style; it doesnt change over time, although you can do things in ways that dont match up with your style. Some people have a more structured creative style, while others prefer a less structured approach to change. Its actually measured across a wide spectrum. People with a more structured creative style are more likely to offer evolutionary ideas, while people with a less structured creative style are more likely to offer revolutionary ideas. All of them are creative but in different ways !

Motive Motive is what channels our energy as we move through life. Our creativity is affected by what motivates us and whether that motivation is present. People are motivated by different things, like money, or helping others, or achieving recognition. Depending on what motivates you, youll put more or less energy into what you do, and that will affect your creative contributions. Opportunity Finally, opportunity is the availability of a problem to solve and how we perceive it. Sometimes we have access to an opportunity that others dont, or we recognize a situation as an opportunity when others think it isnt interesting. Those perceptions also affect our creativity and how we think about the environment around us. We have one more principle to go Creative Diversity Principle #4: There is no ideal kind of creativity. In other words, no particular creative level, or creative style, or motive, or view of opportunity is better than any other in general. The kind of creativity thats most appropriate or most effective depends on the situation that is, on the current problem you are trying to solve. Sometimes you need a radical idea but not always. Sometimes youneed an evolutionary idea but not always. Sometimes you need an idea that has elements of both revolutionary and evolutionary thinking! Sometimes you need a certain type of knowledge or skill or talent perhaps at a high level, perhaps at a low level. Motives change depending on the situation, and you may have different opinions about the importance of an opportunity. All of these options lead to change. All of them represent some form of creativity, and in some combination, they represent YOU. Some Action Steps: Over the next week, keep thinking about your own brand or flavor of creativity. Dont ask yourself whether you are creative you are! Instead, ask yourself: What is my creative level my knowledge, skill, and experience? What is my creative style how do I prefer to approach change? What motivates me to solve problems and bring about change? And which opportunities interest and inspire me most? As we move through this course, well keep revisiting these questions and these key variables of creativity. For now, think about how this new view of creativity changes how you think about yourself as a creative individual and how you think of those around you as creative people as well