Creativity

A challenge from a good friend and co-worker has resulted in the topic for my blog over the next few months. Since not taking classes this semester, my free time is not so limited. With time on my hands and a “Why don’t you?” from my good friend Maria, the blog topic Creativity was born. She and I have been talking about team teaching a course on creativity for some time. Creativity is integral to both our lives (and to all others in my opinion.) For a graphic designer the ability to create on demand to solve a client’s design problem is a necessary component of our jobs. As an instructor, creativity is essential to developing interesting, learning experiences and course materials. Creativity in business operations has been a valuable commodity for years. As a team facilitator and trainer for a Fortune 100 company years ago, we were reading and training from the likes of, A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative and A Kick in the Seat of the Pants both by Roger von Oech. The intent? To teach, learn and develop creativity in a business environment and capitalize on our company’s creative genius.

So, exactly what is creativity? The next few blogs will be written on creativity…what is it, how do we get it, why do we want it, if we had it once how do we get it back? Does everyone get some? Why is it easier for one (to get it) than others? Is it quantifiable? Can it be taught? Can it be learned? And the list goes on.

Let’s begin by doing a brief survey…bloggers, tweeters, fb’s respond! What does the word creativity mean to you? Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective? What is it and do you have it?

Here is what it means to me…
The ability to think without borders
The courage to act on or to develop, design, and innovate based on this thinking and new ideas
The strength to accept resulting criticism and learn from it
The resilience to go back and start over…again, and again and again

And do I think I have it?  Sometimes. And why the cows? I ran across an interesting website while doing some research for this blog...click on creativity title...take a look.