Creativity is not a ‘ black art !’
I ’ m sure everyone reading this will agree that creativity is a good thing . Creativity ( having great ideas ) leads to innovation ( making those ideas real ), and innovation builds businesses , keeps those businesses fresh , and generally makes the world a better place . But how does creativity actually happen ? What do you do , in your brain , to generate ideas ?
By Dennis Sherwood
To many , these questions are puzzling . Surely creativity just ‘ happens ,’ somehow all by itself ? In which case , there is nothing , in particular , I might ‘ do ’ in my brain , so that second question has the obvious answer , ‘ let it be .’ And yes , some people are ‘ naturally ’ more creative than others , but that ’ s just the way things are … When looked at like that , creativity is almost a ‘ black art ,’ accessible to only the fortunate few . A view reinforced by those ice-breakers which ask you to write down as many uses for a brick , or whatever , as you can think of in two minutes – only to feel somewhat diminished to discover , during the ‘ share ’, that you wrote down three ideas while Alex wrote down twenty . Alex , though , is in marketing , where the ‘ creatives ’ are , so that explains things … Back to the brick . Yes , I can use it to build walls . As a door stop . mmm … Drying up a bit … Wait a minute … Got it ! Throw it through windows . Phew … That ’ s my three …
That ’ s an example of seeking to be creative by ‘ waiting for the lightning to strike ’. But there is a better way . A way that ’ s less obvious and that starts in a different and possibly surprising place . Not by trying to think of ideas ‘ out of the blue ,’ but by looking , very hard , at what you already know – which in this case is all about describing a brick . Describe a brick ? That seems like a really dull thing to do . Perhaps ; but let ’ s see where it leads . Here , for example , are just a few features of a brick …
•• It ’ s usually a block …
•• … about 20 cm x 10 cm x 7 cm …
•• … weighing about 3 kg …
•• … made of clay …
•• … coloured pink …
•• … with sharp corners …
••
… and a central depression – the ‘ frog ’ – in one of large faces …
•• … with the other faces being flat …
•• … and reasonably smooth .
•• Most bricks are relatively inexpensive .
Those are ten features that came to mind as I have been writing this . With a little more time , the list would be longer , and if several people work together , the resulting list is much richer , for different individuals bring different perspectives – a bricklayer , for example , will notice features that I , as an ‘ ordinary person ,’ might not spot . But even with my list of just ten features , that ’ s enough to spark some real creativity , as triggered by asking , of each of these items , “ How might [ this feature ] be used in a different context ?” Take , for example , the frog . What might we do with it , or use it for ? Well … The frog is a depression in the surface that can hold things . So , I can use the brick to keep my desk tidy by putting pencils in the frog . I can put some soil in the frog and grow some plants . I can put liquid in the frog too – so the brick could be an inkwell , a bird-bath or even a drinking cup … Many bricks are pink . What might I use ‘ pinkness ’ for ? What else is pink ?
28 Stainless Steel World April 2023 www . stainless-steel-world . net