Last week’s Newsweek had a really great section on creativity, starting with a nice definition of creativity itself: ‘the production of something original and useful’. The main article ‘The Creativity Crisis’ focuses on the decline of creativity in America due to changes in education. The article then goes on to talk about how the brain works when solving a problem, and whether the ability to be creative is something a person has to be born with or whether it can be learnt (the good news is, apparently, it can).
As a person who’s brain invariably turns to mush when faced with a room full of eager faces and a flip chart, I was also pleased to read the second article ‘Forget Brainstorming’. It had some interesting thoughts on techniques to boost creativity. ‘Exploring new cultures’ is given as one way to get ideas flowing. The theory being suggests that cross-cultural experiences force people to be more flexible and adapt – skills which are linked to the way the brain works when creating new ideas. Incredibly in one lab experiment participants’ creativity scores were boosted for an entire week after watching a 45 minute slide show about China. The Partners running club will also be pleased to see that apparently 30 minutes of exercise can boost creativity for two hours afterwards.
I’d really recommend taking time to read the articles in full. Then grab your trainers, dust off the slide projector, and get creative.
