Exploring the Creative Mindset

Chapter 3 Exploring the Creative Mindset

In This Chapter ▶ Accepting your creative nature ▶ Becoming conscious of your consciousness ▶ Looking at states of creativity ▶ Understanding creative differences

re you creative? This isn’t a trick question. If you think you’re not, this Ais unfortunate, because creativity is a universal resource, like language. You learned to speak at an early age because you had a natural facility, and you began to absorb words, then join them up, and pretty soon you could string sentences together.

And while you were learning to speak, you were exploring the world in other ways: drawing, finding out how things worked, and how you could get what you wanted. All these are creative activities.

If you don’t think you’re creative, it’s because somewhere along the way you became disengaged from the creative experience and acquired a belief system that defined creativity as something for other people. You can develop a creative mindset. An excellent starting point is to recognise the creativity in your own environment then to expand your vision to wider horizons.

Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes, and its manifestations take many different forms. Regardless of what you may be inclined to think, plenty of evidence suggests that all people are, in fact, creative in their chosen occupa- tions and their daily lives.

(c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 50 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity Being Creative – All the Time If you already understand that creativity is part and parcel of everyone’s daily life, you’re better equipped to spot creative thinking in action. In gen- eral, it helps to nurture a positive and receptive attitude to evidence of creative thinking.

Creativity is an inbuilt response to many kinds of challenges. When a situation demands it, most people are more than capable of pulling a creative rabbit out of the hat. But even if you can’t be continually creative at first, you can ensure that you make yourself aware of it and observe the creativity around you.

Develop a habit of noticing the little things that stimulate your imagination. Every time you think ‘That’s clever!’ or ‘How did they do that?’ follow up by exploring your observations a bit more thoroughly. Many artists cultivate this technique as a way of keeping their vision sharp. It’s part of a wider pattern of vigilance and being curious about everything.

Realising that you can’t not be creative If cold hard logic ruled the world, creative expression would have very lim- ited opportunity for appearance. Buildings would be functional, work would be endlessly dull, and leisure time would be very, very quiet. Fortunately, creativity has a tendency to burst through even the strongest barriers, and it crops up in the most unexpected places.

You have creativity in your blood, even if you haven’t consciously explored it yet. Creative thinking manifests itself every time you encounter an unfamil- iar problem. You automatically enter an interrogative mode: ‘What’s this all about?’ You search your mental filing system for similar situations, and you begin to formulate hypotheses and test them: ‘It looks like one of those I dealt with before. Let’s try this. Did that work? What next?’

Next time you encounter a problem, try to step back and watch your mind at work. Note the kind of questions you ask. Consider the processes you engage as you move to the solution. Notice how you feel when you realise you’ve cracked it.

As you explore creative thinking in an everyday context, whether it’s solving a cryptic crossword or assembling some flat-pack furniture, notice the emotions that accompany the stages of the activity, from problem to solution.

Evolutionary eating Creative thinking even affects the food you eat. used to adorn public buildings. Noted archi- Many commonplace products have taken time tect Sir Christopher Wren nearly placed to evolve to their current status: them on St Paul’s Cathedral when he rebuilt it after the Great Fire of London in 1666. ✓ When people first imported potatoes from the Americas, they ate only the leaves – ✓ Soya has acquired many different applica- they thought the tubers from the soil were tions from its original function as a simple poisonous, and so discarded them. source of protein to its current use in dozens of forms, from sauce to milk to meat ✓ Pineapples were once so rare and exotic substitute. Each new direction was the that only the wealthiest could afford them, result of thinking creatively. and people used them as decoration instead of food. Their unique shape was

Exhibiting everyday creativity Every day, you and those around you perform dozens of actions, large and small, which demonstrate creative thinking. You may find a better way to juggle your shopping bags and open the front door at the same time. You may discover a shortcut in a task you thought would take a long time. Or you may find a previously undiscovered route to a familiar destination. All these little improvements in daily life reflect your creative mind at work. And if this is happening at the most basic level, imagine what you may discover when your mind is actively engaged in seeking creative solutions.

It’s salutary to consider everyday processes like these that must have taken a long time to achieve their current state. Likewise, many now-familiar products haven’t always existed in their present form, such as the humble ballpoint pen which gradually evolved from the quill pen over several generations.

In daily life, notice the next time you find a new function for an old product, or a colleague does. Consider anything from using a bottle as a vase to creating funky handbags from old clothing. Then think up another new function.

Knowing creativity when you see it Sometimes creativity is out in the open for all to see, and everyone recog- nises it. You may see a great film, read a stunning book or hear an exciting new song. These examples are all conspicuous creativity. But you can find less obvious evidence of creativity if you make the effort to look for it.

Sometimes creativity is hidden from view and has to be unearthed. For example, most graffiti is an eyesore, poorly executed tags scribbled in public places for nuisance value. However, on occasion some diamonds in the rough stand out by virtue of superior thought and execution. Indeed, the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was discovered through his graffiti, and in the UK most people now know the work of Banksy, who uses graffiti to make incisive political statements.

Next time you encounter something unusual, whether it’s a wall painting, a customised car, or the individual style worn by a teenager, don’t just dismiss it, but look beyond the surface at what’s being communicated. You may just surprise yourself.

Having the creative touch In the world of art and antiques, all kinds of experts earn their livelihood through their deep knowledge of their subject. Most of the time they’re very good at what they do, identifying and dating even the most obscure artefacts in their specialist fields.

However, the issue that separates the best from the rest is the ability to spot fraud. Galleries and collectors alike fear that on careful examination, a price- less piece may turn out to be a fake. In fact, this has happened many times. Specialists have even exposed as fraudulent copies works that have hung in national galleries for years.

A small group of experts can tell, at just a glance, whether something is real or a fraud. In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell calls this form of rapid cog- nition thin-slicing. It seems that deep knowledge of a subject allows some individuals to tune in to the essence of a challenge with only the briefest exposure. Gladwell reports this phenomenon in a number of fields including medicine, when doctors are able to make accurate diagnoses with minimal information.

Another manifestation of the creative touch is the talent some artists have for making good marks, where every line they draw or paint seems uniquely beautiful. The disciplines of drawing and painting are difficult to master and maintain at a high level, and most artists produce their fair share of second- rate output. Artists offer a wry compliment in the presence of genius, and grudgingly admit about the handful of truly special individuals in every generation that they ‘couldn’t make a bad mark’.

Picasso was one of this rare breed whose every artistic endeavour was superb. If you visit the Picasso Museum in Barcelona you can see the rapid sketches of doves Picasso made at the age of five, which caused his father – himself a skilled professional artist – to put down his brushes in deference to genius.

(c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 3: Exploring the Creative Mindset 53 Knowing the Moment versus Knowing the Outcome Creative thinking often has an unpredictable outcome. Indeed, sometimes the aim of thinking creatively is to end up in a new, unknown place.

One well-known example of the unpredictability of the creative urge is the song ‘Yesterday’, one of the most-recorded and best-selling songs of all time. Apparently the melody came to Paul McCartney in a dream, and when he awoke, he thought it was quite good. However, the only lyric that came courtesy of the dream was the line ‘scrambled eggs’, which didn’t seem very promising. But the melody wouldn’t go away, and eventually he found the words that brought the song to life.

Many creative individuals have described this kind of gestation period, which apparently can take hours or years.

A change is as good as a rest Creativity, unlike rational thinking, tends not to flow evenly. This is both one of the frustrations and one of the joys of the experience. Creative expression often seems to operate on a different clock, with its own timetable. It doesn’t necessarily recognise deadlines. In fact, a burst of creativity – sometimes described as an epiphany – often follows a period of frustration or being stuck.

Nowadays, creativity experts recommend that if you’re faced with a creative block, change your pace and location. Essentially, do whatever allows your mind to disengage from the task in hand and create some space. The solution may be as simple as getting some fresh air and going for a walk.

If the rough form of a creative thought is present but the complete article hasn’t revealed itself, adopting a similar strategy to the one for when you are stuck can be effective.

Changing what you’re doing, whether it’s mentally shifting your mindset or physically moving to a fresh location, can trigger the next step in the creativity process.

If you experience that distinctive moment when creativity strikes, it’s important to respond immediately. Even if you’re unable to complete the creative act in full, ensure that you can capture the thought before it dissipates or dis- appears altogether. Carry a notepad or journal, and in your place of work or study have a pad handy. You never know. . . .

(c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 54 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity And a rest is as good as a change A recurrent theme in creative thinking is the beneficial effect of relaxation or even sleep. Sometimes, when you’re stuck with half an idea, a few minutes of contemplation, meditation or power napping can provide the cognitive space for the rest of the idea to manifest itself.

If you’re wrestling with a creative issue – perhaps a problem you just can’t solve – take some time out to relax, close your eyes and meditate, or doze for a few minutes.

Exploring Different States of Consciousness When you’re awake, you’re awake. But what kind of awake? Many states of consciousness exist, and in the course of a single day you may move through a lot of them.

Where creative thinking is concerned, one of the most useful states is what neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioners describe as a resourceful state, which is a state in which you’re able to access and use positive, helpful emotions and strategies.

The following sections describe some of the states conducive to creative thinking, both when you are fully conscious and in other frames of mind.

Memories, dreams and reflections The mechanism of memory has fascinated scientists for years. It was one of the first subjects studied in the 1880s when psychology was a new discipline. Now memory is one of the preoccupations of the current generation of neuro- scientists, who have MRI scanners to provide live access to brain activity.

Remembrance of things past Memories can be very real, and they can also be misleading. Your brain is capable of playing tricks with your experience, convincing you that you did something you didn’t, or you didn’t do something you did.

If you’ve ever had a reunion with friends or family, it’s possible that you talked about remembering something from your childhood, only for others to correct you with, for example: ‘We never went to Madame Tussauds on that trip!’ or ‘Uncle Harry was dead then!’ or ‘It was you who pushed your sister in the pond!’ You may have been shocked, because you had a vivid – almost photographic – recollection of events.

This false memory is a surprisingly common phenomenon and can occur in relation to both trivial and serious events.

Fitting memory to reality Police find the identification of suspects by members of the public an extremely unreliable process, and even professionals are prone to misidenti- fication on a huge scale. Having formed a mental image, it can be difficult to displace it when confronted with reality.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink, experienced this phenomenon at first hand: a group of New York cops who suspected him of being a rapist they were seeking suddenly surrounded him. The cops showed Gladwell a photo- graph of the wanted man. It then took Gladwell an agonisingly long time to point out that he was a different height, build and skin colour from the felon, and their only common feature (the reason the police had targeted Gladwell) was their Afro hair-styles.

Dreaming of something or nothing Do you remember your dreams? It seems everyone dreams (the evidence is in the rapid eye movements that are tracked in sleep studies). However, not everyone recalls their dreams, and some people can retrieve only fragments.

Some dreams appear to be nonsense (due, it’s thought, to the random firing of neurons); others make sense and can provide useful insights or inspiration.

Your dream pattern isn’t fixed. It’s easy to improve recall of your dreams by keeping a dream diary in which you record your dreams upon awakening. As you develop your dream diary, you’ll notice that some of your material relates to current preoccupations (because the unconscious mind processes what the conscious mind feeds it). This can be very useful in contributing to creative thinking. Even seemingly intractable problems can sometimes be resolved through the imagery provided by your dreams.

Reflecting on reflections Reflections are part of the mental reconstruction process. Memories are never just what actually happened. The mind works on narratives and metaphors – the building blocks of memory. So the past becomes a series of stories, and those stories are full of adjustments, embellishments and inter- pretations. All of these colour the original experience.

With someone you’ve known for many years, compare notes on an event you shared a long time ago. Try to recall specifics: what the weather was like, what you were both wearing, what you ate or drank, who else was present, and so on. Monitor how much you diverge on the little details. Who do you think is correct?

Daydreams, sleep and meditation On a typical day, you travel through several different levels of consciousness, usually without noticing. Some of these are what everyone would agree as being awake, but you drift to different levels more frequently than you might imagine. Many of these levels of consciousness are trance or light trance states.

Daydreaming creatively When you’re meant to be working, being caught daydreaming is usually frowned upon. However, for some personality profiles, and in certain circumstances, daydreaming can be a sign of a creative mind at work. Daydreaming is a kind of limbo state, and its cognitive effects aren’t unlike the alpha rhythms generated by dozing. The difference is that the reverie of daydreaming is conscious, and it’s usually easy to snap out of it. Many individuals of a creative disposition find that daydreaming is their default response when faced with a problem.

If you’re daydreaming, it could mean you’re on the verge of a great discovery.

Sleeping on it Just as there are many levels of consciousness, many levels of sleep also exist (which I explore in Chapter 10). The restorative power of sleep appears to be especially important in the creative process.

It’s always good practice to ensure that you sleep well when engaged in a period of creative thinking, because the kinds of stress induced by poor sleep or lack of sleep are incompatible with creativity.

Meditating In recent years, meditation has become much accepted in the West, and its value – from health and wellbeing to improved concentration – has been rec- ognised in many situations. In the context of creative thinking particularly, meditation has proved a valuable aid, because creative thinking flourishes in an environment of relaxation, wellbeing, good humour and access to other states of consciousness, all of which are characteristics of the meditative

process. Many varieties of meditation exist, but they all share the attainment of an experience of deep inner relaxation, which is very conducive to thinking creatively. As a prelude to a creative session, a bout of meditation, however brief, can be a powerful stimulus.

If you’ve tried meditation, you know how enjoyable the feeling of inner calm can be. And if you haven’t, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Just follow these steps:

1. Seat yourself in a comfortable position, and touch your thumb and middle finger together on each hand. If you’re able to sit cross-legged, by all means do so – but it’s not essential. If you’re in a chair, have both feet on the floor and your arms resting on your thighs. 2. Close your eyes and focus on relaxing your body from head to toe. Notice your head, how it sits comfortably on your neck. If you like, move your head around gently so you can feel your neck muscles relax. Continue down your body, noticing the relaxation of your chest, your arms and hands, then your trunk, legs and feet. Don’t rush this process; take your time. As you become more experienced, you’ll discover that relaxing your body is all part of the whole experience and is valuable in its own right. 3. Keep your focus on your breathing, your stillness and your relaxation, and let all your thoughts go. As thoughts come (they will!), disregard them and just concentrate on your breathing. Don’t adjust it; simply notice the rate of your breaths, and how deep each breath is. Continue sitting in this state for as long as you feel comfortable. Allow about a quarter of an hour. After a while, your breathing will gradually become more shallow. 4. When you feel you’ve reached the end of your relaxation cycle (you’ll know when), don’t rush back to consciousness. Gently resurface and, when you’re ready, open your eyes and gradually adjust your posture.

The first few times you meditate, keep in mind that it’s a completely new experience for you, so don’t try too hard. Just notice the feelings that occur. As you become more familiar with the process, you can begin to refine your technique in a number of ways, but this simple experience will introduce you to some of the immediate benefits of contemplative relaxation, and prepare you for some good creative thinking.

Dreaming of results You can find many stories of individuals having chemical structure, an understanding of which great creative thoughts while dozing or asleep. was essential for industry). He was stuck Everyone knows the story of Newton being because, lacking modern-day instrumenta- woken by an apple falling on his head, and tion, he had to infer the structure from chemi- how that experience led to his theory of grav- cal reactions, and nothing seemed to fit. While ity. (Even though there’s no evidence it actually dozing, he had a vivid image of the mythical happened like that, the falling apple is a nice ouroborus, a legendary snake that eats its own little story.) tail. He realised that this was a metaphor for the structure of benzene, which is a hexagonal ring The kind of sleep most often associated with in which the links consist of alternating single creative thinking is called hypnogogic imagery, and double bonds, resembling the movements and it happens in the lightest stage of sleep, of the snake in Kekulé’s dream. such as when dozing in the sun. Einstein was not only a famous dreamer, he One famous example of hypnogogic imagery is was also an advocate of accessing the subcon- that of chemist August Kekulé (allegedly while scious mind in the search for enlightenment. on the upper deck of a bus to Clapham during Many of today’s quantum physicists owe their his time in London). Kekulé was working on inspiration to this pattern of work. the structure of the benzene ring (an important

Being wide awake and curious Being on full alert, with all your senses turned up to full volume, is a very distinctive feeling. Although you may not be able to sustain that state for long periods, that kind of intensity is a feeling worth having, and it’s one of the access points for high-level creative thinking.

Waking up to the wide-awake state When a venerable Oxford don was asked how he always managed to choose the most exceptional students, he replied that he simply looked for the ones who were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He evidently understood the connec- tion between smart thinking and alertness.

When you have a creative-thinking challenge, try turning everything up to 11. Taking each sense in turn:

✓ Eyes: Try to really see, rather than passively look ✓ Ears: Listen attentively to all the sounds around you ✓ Nose: Sniff the air and notice all the smells around you ✓ Mouth: Roll your tongue around and wake up your taste buds ✓ Touch: Feel everything your body is touching

Notice how you feel afterwards.

Feeling curious about being curious Being curious helps you think creatively. Questioning how things are is an excellent starting point for the kind of analysis that precedes creative thought. This means not taking things at face value. The corporate giant Procter & Gamble teaches its interns: ‘If you assume, it makes an ass out of you and me.’

Suspend your usual critical faculties, and spend some time in a child-like state of innocence, asking basic questions even about things you think you understand. Ask ‘Why?’ a lot. The adult version of this approach is known as the Socratic method, but it’s much more fun just being a kid again for a while.

Noticing what you notice You can only take in a fraction of the information that bombards you con- stantly. So whatever you see, hear or feel, there’s always much more than you can absorb. You always have room to up your game and boost your informational intake by actively noticing what’s going on around you. Doing so impacts directly on your ability to think creatively.

An excellent technique for increasing your power to notice is being present. This approach involves focusing on remembering yourself (that is, being self- aware), what’s happening in the here and now, and excluding self-talk (by which I mean the little voice that provides the continuous commentary going on inside your head) and other distractions. See Chapter 13 for an exercise on self-remembering.

Altered states – sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll Creative individuals have always experimented with altered states of consciousness, and have explored every conceivable method for changing their minds, sometimes literally.

Ian Dury’s song ‘Sex & drugs & rock & roll’ encapsulates the three principal methods used in the search for creative inspiration throughout history.

More sex, please, we’re creative ‘Love is the Drug’ sang Roxy Music, and so it has proved for many creative souls. Historically, many artists have thrown themselves into passion- ate affairs in the belief that love enhanced their creativity. Picasso was a renowned lover, and intense new relationships marked each phase of his long career. (Regardless of the artistic style he embarked on, at the start of each new romance he painted an intimate portrait in conventional style as a marker.)

From Sanskrit wall paintings through ancient Greek vases to many of today’s pop stars, erotic imagery has always had a central role in the creative process.

Whether as the act itself or depictions of it, sex appears essential to many forms of creative expression.

It’s the drugs, man Creativity has a long association with drugs of all descriptions. In the endless quest to stimulate the parts ordinary consciousness can’t reach, creative individuals have employed mind-numbing, mind-expanding and mind-warping substances.

The problem is that while drugs may be fascinating for those taking them, with very few exceptions the outpourings of users are anything but creative. Fortunately, many individuals have realised in time that the human mind is perfectly capable of producing exceptional output without external assistance.

It’s only rock and roll but I like it Rock and roll emerged in the 1950s as a powerful aphrodisiac for performers and fans alike. This aspect of creative expression definitely speaks for itself.

Exploring the subconscious The subconscious grabbed the popular imagination at around the turn of the twentieth century. Some artists became very interested in the new theories of the subconscious advanced by psychoanalysts like Freud, Adler and Jung. Those who were creatively inclined must have felt it was like opening a door to another world.

Surrealism – any form of art dealing with dreams and the workings of the subconscious mind – quickly became a substantial international movement with dreamscape artists from Magritte to de Chirico teasing the public imagination. The most famous surrealist was Salvador Dali, a shameless self-publicist, and many of his and his companions’ images are part of the universal visual vocabulary – who can forget bowler-hatted men with apples for faces, deserted eerie spaces or soft pocket-watches? Advertisers and designers picked up on ideas about dream life and the subconscious with enthusiasm.

Now you see it . . . The fascination with the unconscious mind encoding was thought to register in the subcon- resulted in a phase of interest in subliminal scious, although the theory remained unproven. advertising in the 1950s and 1960s, which gen- In another attempt to use subliminal messages, erated some unusual ads until the practice was some cinemas participated in an experiment eventually banned. whereby they increased the temperature of One example was a magazine ad for a brand of their auditoriums while advertising a cooling ice gin in which the ice in the glass spelled out the cream. Again, the results were inconclusive. word ‘sex’ if you looked carefully. This kind of

Doing it for Dada If you wonder why a pickled shark can be described as art, the blame probably lies with Dada. Dadaism was a radical artistic movement that began in the early part of the twentieth century in response to the horrors of the First World War. As an art form, it grew out of some of the experiments with Surrealism.

Where classic Surrealist art was primarily concerned with dreams and the unconscious mind, however, Dadaism introduced a distinct political edge.

The Dadaists were discontented with what they saw as the complacency and conservatism of the artistic mainstream, and they were sensitised to the massive upheavals all around them. Capitalism and bourgeois values were under attack across Europe, and revolution was in the air. The shock of the First World War caused Dadaists to explore the destructive urge, and some Dadaists even declared themselves to be anti-art.

In this charged atmosphere, artists experimented with new forms of expression designed to challenge the status quo: Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring, based on discordant musical structures; Marcel Duchamp hung a urinal in an art gallery and declared it art; and George Grosz produced viciously satirical cartoons attacking politicians.

Creatively, this brief but intense explosion sowed the seeds for changing per- ceptions about art and culture, and the repercussions continue to this day.

Going punk In the footsteps of Dada, punk kick-started a similar revolution in the 1970s, with a similar anarchic energy that quickly spread across music, fashion and art. Punk has lasted longer than Dadaism, and you can see its influence in design, film and many other creative manifestations.

(c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 62 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity Understanding Different People and Different Kinds of Creativity We’re all the same and we’re all different, the cliché goes. The precise ways in which people share certain aspects of personality while differing in others has always fascinated scientists. The current study of personality gained a great deal of momentum from the work of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung.

Jung’s theories and the foundations of modern personality assessment Jung was 20 years younger than Freud and suffered to some degree from being in his shadow. However, while Freud’s legacy appeals primarily to a diminishing group of psychoanalytic loyalists today, Jung’s influence has grown steadily.

As science has become progressively more engaged with what may be described as the human side of human beings, the study of Jung’s humanistic psychology has moved centre stage.

Jung had a far-reaching vision of humanity. Unlike most of his professional contemporaries, he was interested in wellness rather than illness (which was one of the causes of his eventual dispute and separation from Freud and his colleagues). Long before most thinkers, Jung proposed that a universal unconscious connected humankind – a vast cognitive network that allowed individuals to tap into a collective mind. Jung was one of the first to explore synchronicity (when apparently unrelated events occur at the same time), which is a recurrent topic in creative thinking.

Jung believed that archetypes (specific psychological personalities) were the key to understanding the human psyche, and that humankind was somehow wired to comprehend and incorporate aspects of these archetypes into individual personalities. (I describe several archetypes in Chapter 6’s section on classic stories and the book The Hero’s Journey).

Here are some archetypes. Looking around at people you know, observe which archetypes best describe their personalities: jester, artist, wise old man, earth mother, goddess, trickster, child, hero.

One of the foundational building blocks of Jung’s vision was the concept of introverted and extraverted personality types:

✓ Introvert: An introvert is primarily driven by interior motivations. If introversion is your style, it means you’re likely to be happy with your own company, work best without interruption, separate work from play, and avoid unnecessary distractions. ✓ Extravert: An extravert is driven by external forces and events and tends to search for a stimulus. If you’re an extravert, you probably like working with the radio on, enjoy interruptions from colleagues and friends, and like to have several things on the go while you’re working or relaxing.

There’s no right or wrong here. Your personality type is simply how you’re wired up.

Jung saw these types as each end of a continuum. At one end, introverts live inside their heads, with a rich interior life. Extraverts, on the other extreme, seek stimulus from the outside world and have a need to express themselves in relation to others.

This basic polarity gave rise to many of the personality assessments in use to this day. Several of them also incorporate other Jungian concepts, such as the spectrum from feeling to thinking and from judging to perceiving.

Using the MBTI – Myers–Briggs Type Indicator The MBTI is still the most widely used personality assessment tool (practitioners don’t like the word test) in the business. MBTI is an acronym for Myers– Briggs Type Indicator. The tool is named after the two women who devised the system. Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Cook Briggs gathered masses of personality data on index cards long before the advent of computers. And despite this rather basic method of information gathering, their model has proved robust.

The system uses four pairs of preferences based on Jung’s work. These are:

✓ Introversion – Extraversion ✓ Sensory – iNtuitive (intuitive is always represented by the letter N, so as not to duplicate the I from Introversion) ✓ Thinking – Feeling ✓ Perceiving – Judging

These pairs produce a matrix of 64 combinations of personality profiles, identified by their dominant initial letters. So an individual can be described as, say, ENTJ (your humble author’s profile); this personality type is sum- marised as representing life’s natural leaders.

Extraverts outnumber introverts by around three to one in Western society. To give a flavour of the temperaments behind the acronyms, Table 3-1 shows the one-line descriptions of the most and least common personality types.

Table 3-1 Most and Least Common Myers–Briggs Types Most Common Types Least Common Types ESTP: The ultimate realist INFJ: An inspiration to others ESFP: You only go around once in life INTJ: Everything has room for improvement ESTJ: Life’s administrators INFP: Performing noble service for society ESFJ: Hosts and hostesses of the world INTP: A love of problem-solving

The MBTI is used at all levels of business and is also applied as a method of assessing teams. It’s also used in family dynamics, and a children’s version exists.

The creativity index for the MBTI, called the MBTI-CI, identifies an SFP cluster (nicknamed the artist profile) as being the most likely to reflect more creative types.

DISC jockeying DISC profiling has emerged as a popular challenger to the MBTI in recent years. Designed and developed by psychologists, the DISC model is both statistically valid (it measures what it purports to measure) and reliable (it’s a repeatable measure). DISC is used both by individuals seeking insights into their own behaviour and motivations, and by groups wanting to understand the dynamics of, for example, families and work teams.

DISC is based on four main behavioural types (see also Figure 3-1):

✓ Dominance, which relates to assertiveness and the desire for power and control. Ds typically like to be in charge and make decisions quickly. Others can sometimes find Ds a little remote and obstinate, especially when thwarted. ✓ Influence, which relates to communication and social situations. Originally called the ‘Inducement’ group, Is tend to be at ease in social situations and are good facilitators, persuaders and motivators. They’re often popular, but can seem somewhat ‘slippery’.

✓ Steadiness, which relates to persistence, patience and thoughtfulness. Originally called the ‘Submission’ group, they are at their best in situations requiring quiet efficiency. Not likely to be the life and soul of the party, they are nevertheless fiercely loyal. ✓ Compliance, which relates to organisation and structure. These individuals tend to be found in highly structured situations with clear rules and boundaries. They’re likely to have a conservative outlook, and resist ambiguity. Some versions of DISC also describe people with this behaviour type as ‘cautious’ and ‘conscientious’.

Figure 3-1: The DISC profile.

Most individuals embody a combination of more than one type.

The DISC assessment yields a highly detailed series of profiles and takes into account differences between ‘natural’ and ‘work’ frames of mind, acknowl- edging that people adapt their behaviour to different circumstances. As with the MBTI, several versions are available.

Spoilt for choice Personality assessment has become a large industry in its own right, and many methodologies are available to suit every, er, personality. Some are very simple, if not simplistic, and provide a quick snapshot – usually in one of four, six or eight personality dimensions. Other methodologies, like Spiral Dynamics, are based on much more elaborate conceptual frameworks and require deep study and commitment for users to gain the full benefits. Unsurprisingly, these are used much more rarely.

For fans of profiling, it’s possible to use any of these personality-assessment systems in conjunction with the others.

Liam Hudson, creative maverick Hudson was a scientist who definitely walked the then wildly unfashionable view that art and the talk in his chosen subject of creativity. science should be considered as interdepen- Much of his work was truly original, setting dent (echoes of Leonardo da Vinci there) rather the foundations for the study and practice of than as separate disciplines to be kept in sepa- creativity. rate academic boxes. In many ways, Hudson was ahead of his time. His pioneering work on creative thinking has He had a great sense of mischief and enjoyed assured him a place as a leading thinker in his upsetting the academic establishment with his own right. controversial views. For example, he proposed

Convergent and divergent thinking Like lateral thinking, the concept of convergent and divergent thinking has entered the public consciousness, and most people know that convergent thinkers are rational, left-brain types not given to idea-generation, whereas divergent thinkers are open-minded, right-brain types who can, well, think of lots of uses for a brick. As with many cognitive models, there’s more to it than that.

One thing experts seem to agree on is that more than one ‘creative mood’ exists. Just as there are individual differences in other aspects of tempera- ment, it’s the same when you seek to be creative.

Where the creative process is concerned, people tend to revert to type. So some get into the creative swing gently, and gradually build up speed. This approach resembles a long-distance runner, taking it steady and reserv- ing energy for a final finish. Others start with a burst of speed, much like a sprinter, and generate masses of ideas at a rapid pace.

Gender Are men or women the most creative? This question is trickier than it may appear at first sight.

Most of the research (and there’s a lot of it) draws a safe tentative conclu- sion that both women and men are creative (hardly a surprise, because the evidence is all around), but that they tend to excel in different areas. For example, while there are many female writers, there are (historically) more male artists.

However, given the cultural changes today, the situation is fluid and the best advice is to watch this space.

Age A great deal of evidence suggests that people become less creative as they grow up. Young children are naturally creative and perform well on all kinds of tasks designed to measure their creative output. But tracking young people’s creativity through school, college, and into adulthood reveals a steady decline.

Sir Ken Robinson, the respected educationalist, and other experts attribute this to the moulding of a conservative education system designed, as they put it, to produce academics.

But it’s not all bad news. There’s growing evidence that during adult life and into middle and later age, the brain rewires itself and gets smarter at insight and intuition, both of which are conducive to creative thinking.

Creativity across cultures Creativity is a universal human characteristic, and it can be seen everywhere, at any time in history. However, creativity isn’t evenly spread. Historically, it seems that creativity ebbs and flows over time. The ancient Etruscan, Byzantine, Greek and Roman cultures all showed patterns of creativity in the arts, sciences and architecture – growing, flourishing, then declining and ulti- mately failing.

Some historians have pointed to an architectural sequence of:

✓ Classical, in which the style, like the prevailing culture, is in its purest form ✓ Baroque, in which the style reflects increasing success and abundance ✓ Rococo, in which the style becomes overblown and decorative, showing signs of decay ✓ Dissolution, whether from outside interference or internal collapse

The implication here is that the style of architecture accurately reflects the creative state of the civilisation. If that’s true, start to worry if you see evidence of Rococo architecture being built around you!

The 2,000-year-old computer In a remarkable feat of archaeological detec- The team deduced that the inventor of tive work, an international team of archae- this extraordinary device was probably ologists, historians, computer engineers, Archimedes, the leading mathematician of his astronomers and mathematicians recently time. In any event, the item was almost certainly reconstructed an artefact discovered on a dive constructed during Archimedes’ lifetime (circa. in the Mediterranean. 287–212 BC). As the team pieced the rusty object together, Basically, this was a particularly sophisticated they gradually realised that they were looking astrolabe, a device used to calculate astro- at a sophisticated computer designed to track nomical, astrological, navigational and other and predict comprehensive details of planetary time–space movements. It was unlikely to be cycles, including eclipses and phases of the the only one of its kind. After the cultures of the moon. The artefact also included much about Mediterranean fell, it appears the knowledge earthly activity that would be of use to sailors. moved eastwards, and today Islamic muse- About the size of a laptop computer, this object ums, like the one in Qatar, house fine examples used a complex series of cogs and trip mecha- of this superb craftsmanship, though none (as nisms to display its information, and the maths yet) are as sophisticated as the 2,000-year old behind the system involved a profound knowl- computer. edge of prime numbers.

Discovering pockets of creativity One classic example of a pocket of creativity is Renaissance Florence, where circumstances conspired to generate a hotbed of creativity. Thousands of artists were at work in that era. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci rubbed shoulders (probably reluctantly, because they despised each other).

This period of exceptional creativity came about for many reasons. Artists were beginning to emerge from an artisan role, in which they were mainly anonymous members of a guild, to have individual status. The emergence of wealthy patrons, in the form of merchants and the Church, fostered this situation. And international exploration enriched the culture and the thirst for knowledge.

Does this seem a bit like the recent history of the music industry, with anonymous performers mutating into stars, and international influences growing the market exponentially? It should, because this kind of pattern occurs in all sorts of cultures, especially in cities.

Breeding creativity When considering where creativity is most fertile, it’s better to think in terms of cities rather than individual countries. Recent research has shown that people are up to three times more creative in cities than in other environments.

Using a series of measures, psychologists have concluded that the diversity of cities – the melting pot effect – and the constant informal interaction are major factors stimulating individuals to fresh thinking and absorption of new ideas and concepts.

Locations like Silicon Valley in California, Grenoble in France and Cambridge in England – and other clusters of similarly inclined people – are also considered as natural breeding grounds for creative thinking. It seems that the extended suburban sprawls of Silicon Valley feature many coffee bars and eating places where like-minded nerds, geeks and technophiles hang out. But research has shown that homogeneous groups such as these – clusters of people who are on the same wavelength – are still not as creatively enriching as the city environment.

Beyond the five senses How many senses do you think you have? The usual five? Or perhaps more? Perhaps you feel that you experience some of those senses in combination? Conventionally, you expect to have sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. But do those basic five explain all the sensory information you experience?

✓ Have you had that moment when you’re aware someone is watching you or standing behind you? (It’s called proprioception.) ✓ Have you entered a room and noticed an ‘atmosphere’? ✓ Have you ‘just known’ a loved one is in trouble? ✓ Have you correctly predicted that the phone is about to ring? ✓ Have you tasted a particular colour, or smelled a particular sound?

Each of these remote experiences is beyond the normal sensory apparatus, but if you recognise any of them you’ll know they feel very real. It seems that many people experience events like these frequently. Biologists are becoming interested in these experiences and how they work.

Happenstance and coincidence Consider the experience conjured up by the two magic words serendipity (which is the experience of a ‘happy accident’) and synchronicity (where seemingly unrelated events happen together). You may find that when you’re working on something, a magazine article or voice on the radio will produce a word or image that corresponds precisely to your topic. Or the phone rings just when you’re thinking of a loved one, and you hear a familiar voice. . . .

There’s increasing interest in additional senses, and biologists like Rupert Sheldrake have made extensive study of extrasensory experiences (much to the annoyance of orthodox scientists, some of whom have branded him a heretic and even called for his books to be burned). A brilliant and original thinker, Sheldrake specialises in working at the margins of knowledge, and is fascinated by subjects like proprioception. His work is a brilliant example of creative thinking, because he dares to challenge assumptions in his field of biology and ask questions that few others dare to. The hysterical reaction of some dogmatic scientists to this spirit of inquiry is reminiscent of the treat- ment received by Galileo (see Chapter 15).

Smelling the colour of the coffee Another sensory dimension is synaesthesia, a condition in which the experience of the senses is somehow mixed. Some people are born with the facility to experience mixed senses. They see sounds (a musician acquaintance uses this to remember compositions – A is green, B flat is blue, and so on). Others feel colours – so sandpaper is yellow for them. Apparently, synaesthesia can be a mixed blessing: some find it a useful way of enriching their sensory experience, while others resent the interference with their normal sensory repertoire.

Close your eyes and invent your own synaesthetic vocabulary. Start with textures and discover what colours you choose for them. If you’re musical, give notes colours or textures. Continue through all your senses.