Why do people say no

From Marci Seagal
http://www.creativityland.ca/2012/why-do-people-say-no-collecting-thoughts/

I’m often brought into companies who want to overcome hurdles to innovation. They want to move forward and at the same time are reluctant to adopt new strategies and metrics, and to influence new behaviours and attitudes to create new futures. What’s that all about?

How the Unconscious Mind Boosts Creative Output

New research finds we’re better able to identify genuinely creative ideas when they’ve emerged from the unconscious mind.
http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/how-the-unconscious-mind-boosts-creative-output-38841/

Are we getting dumber?

"We are mentally lazy. Our education has conditioned our brains to circumvent deliberative and creative thinking wherever possible through rote memorization and robotic learning of formulas and principles. We have not been taught how to think for ourselves, we have been taught what to think based on what past thinkers thought. We are taught to think reproductively, not productively. We have been trained to seek out the neural path of least resistance, searching out responses that have worked in the past, rather than approach a problem on its own terms. This kind of thinking is dehumanizing and naturalizes intellectual laziness which promotes an impulse toward doing whatever is easiest or doing nothing at all."


From Michael Michalko http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creative-thinkering/201201/the-idiocracy-theory

12 things you were not taught about creative thinking at school

Shared by Robert Alan Black


http://www.creativitypost.com/create/twelve_things_you_were_not_taught_in_school_about_creative_thinking

How nonsense sharpens the intellect

The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote that anomalies produce a profound “sensation of the absurd,” and he wasn’t the only one who took them seriously.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health/06mind.html?src=tp

12 things you weren't taught in school about creative thinking

http://www.scoop.it/t/creativity-for-life/p/794438706/twelve-things-you-were-not-taught-in-school-about-creative-thinking-the-creativity-post

Be a little more creative about creativity

Creativity and creative thinking are studied across many disciplines from psychology to cognitive science, art, education, philosophy, technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, and economics. As a result, there are a multitude of definitions and it all depends how you use it.
http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2011/09/07/lets-be-a-little-more-creative-about-creativity/

What's an idea?

An idea is our imagination’s way of responding to a gap. A gap might be created by a question that doesn’t have an answer or a problem that doesn’t have a solution. We bridge the gap by forming a new association or connection. That’s an idea
From Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D. Gerard is the author of “Creative Leadership” and director of the International Center for Studies in Creativity in Buffalo, New York. He also chairs the world’s very oldest program in Creative Studies.
http://brightnow.eu/articles/show/whats-an-idea

On creativty, marijuana, and a ' Butterfly Effect in Thought'.

Jason Silva in the Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-silva/on-creativity-marijuana-a_b_900701.html

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive." [...] "...by some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating."- Pearl Buck, Winner of a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.

Innovation from Think with Google

In 2003, a total of five exabytes of data existed. Now we generate that every two days. We are, literally, more creative than ever.
Where to begin? Right here. We've curated big ideas from heads of industry, leading experts and our homegrown visionaries -- all to help guide your own thinking. In our inaugural US issue, we focus on Innovation. Where can you break molds and shape the future? We hope this gives you inspiration, insight, and some new ideas of your own.

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/quarterly/innovation/note.html

Eight tips to unstick your creative thinking

Dr Detlef Reis in the Bangkok Post.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/248033/eight-tips-to-unstick-your-creative-thinking

Cultivating Creativity

A bunch of articles from Psychology Today on creativity.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201106/cultivating-creativity

How great entrepreneurs think.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/how-great-entrepreneurs-think.html

Hmmmmmmmmm - interesting!!

Improve your creative thinking

This from Tony Buzan.

Creative Thinking - a bit naughty!!

Teamwork and Creativity

Take 7 people, from a large New Zealand multi-national, undertaking a leadership development programme in the middle of a New Zealand winter and give them the following task:

Construct a raft out of the materials you have been given. It must transport all of you several kilometres down a river. The river temperature is 7 degrees!

Now there's a motivation to think and be creative - especially when the water temperature is that cold! It was lucky the day was fine!

I had been working with the team for a number of weeks and this was the opportunity to put into practice some of the theory about how high performing teams operate. Tran Lawrence from Taranaki Outdoor Adventures http://www.toa.co.nz/ set the scene and challenged their thinking whilst the building took place. Members took different roles and used their strengths to achieve a very successful outcome.

So they got to paddle to the dam - and then we threw them over!!

If you have a team that you would like to throw over a dam then please get in contact - wayne@future-edge.co.nz. Tran and I would be happy to oblige!