Is creativity the No.1 skill for the 21st century?

This from Mark Batey in Psychology Today.

Against a backdrop of uncertainty, economic turmoil and unprecedented change a new picture is emerging of the skills and traits for success (and perhaps even simply survival) in the modern era. At the heart of this essential skillset for the future lies... creativity.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/working-creativity/201102/is-creativity-the-number-1-skill-the-21st-century

Innovating by the seat of our pants

The Internet isn’t really a technology. It’s a belief system, a philosophy about the effectiveness of decentralized, bottom-up innovation. And it’s a philosophy that has begun to change how we think about creativity itself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/joichi-ito-innovating-by-the-seat-of-our-pants.html?_r=2

More about habits

Robert Fritz writes "Human beings, by their nature, are habitual. And there is a good reason for this. Habits can make life easier and more convenient. And so the idea of habits, themselves, is this: habits can be a very good thing to have."
But what of bad habits? More here:
https://www.wisepond.com/blogs/2012/03/20/habit-habits?utm_source=sublist&utm_medium=emailmarketing&utm_content=rec1&utm_campaign=aboutyouari

Talent, Passion and the Creativity Maze

"We live in a world mad for talent. From Hollywood and sports to executive search firms and HR departments around the globe, everyone seeks that special mix of natural abilities and attitudes that will make performance pop. A few months ago, Douglas Conant wrote a terrific blog post on how to find talented candidates for a job. When evaluating a potential hire, Conant looks for a strong mix of three qualities — competence, character, and skill as a team player. He gives great advice on how to find such a person. But he's missing a crucial ingredient."

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2012/02/talent-passion-and-the-creativ.html#.T0xAJRYLEec.twitter

The Perfect Storm

Welcome to the 21st Century: The Perfect Storm for Creativity by Gerard Puccio, Ph.D.

"I have been in the field of creativity studies for more than a quarter of a century and have never seen a better time to be in the business of helping others develop their creativity, Creative Problem Solving, and creative leadership skills. Yet with opportunity comes risk. There has never been a more important time for creativity because we are in a state of perpetual change that has brought on crisis for many, and opportunity for those with creative foresight, skill and attitude. Creativity is in demand, because life in the 21st century demands it."
http://www.profnetconnect.com/gerardpuccio/blog/2010/12/19/welcome_to_the_21st_century:_the_perfect_storm_for_creativity

Offices stifle creativity

Cramped, claustrophobic working environments stifle employees' creativity and means they have fewer 'lightbulb' moments of inspiration, research shows.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9035811/Claustrophobic-offices-stifle-creativity.html

Introversion and creativity

The ability to reach inside your mind to produce and develop great thoughts is a quality that we all cherish. How can you best develop your own creativity? The answer may lie partly in the makeup of your personality and partly in your ability to marshal certain brain powers.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201201/the-introversion-creativity-link-how-build-your-brains-alpha-power

Brian Wilson and Creativity

via Tara Grey Coste and the American Creativity Association

Lives are messy. Maybe that's why we try to put them in little boxes with neatly printed labels. Albert Einstein becomes "brilliant physicist." Ezra Pound is "crazy poet." Actors, musicians, authors, scientists -- all boiled down to a handful of words.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/living/brian-wilson-creativity/index.html

Creative Reinvention in 50s and Beyond

Reinvention, encore careers, Don't Retire, Rewire, "Now I can wear purple" -- Boomers in the third age who want to change their lives are now in the spotlight. Many of us want to exercise our minds, bodies and creativity in new ways. But, what does it do for us to challenge ourselves to do new things? Is it just more fun?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karma-kitaj/creativity_b_1180007.html

7 ways meditation increases creativity

Our creative intelligence is not accessed by effort in the conventional sense that you learned at school or work. We cannot try or strive or strain for it, any more than we can strive to have fingers or feet. It’s more about dissolving the internal barriers that come between us and our innate creative potential, so we can align with it and allow it to flow more freely.


Meditation is a doorway between our inner and outer worlds. Between “reality” (the seemingly solid world that we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch) and an elusive “something else” we sense beneath, between and beyond what those five senses can grasp.


Meditation offers enormous benefits for everyone, and a set of particular benefits for those who are engaged in a creative activity like writing.


http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/02/meditation-increases-creativity/?mid=574

15 scientific facts about creativity

Although creativity keeps human society flourishing, science honestly offers few answers to how the intricate, infinitely complex concept actually works. No matter how much research pours into measuring and grasping the essential phenomenon, it seems as if more questions pop up than receive tangible answers. Theories and findings sometimes conflict with one another as well, meaning every "fact" presented here might very well end up discarded in due time. But that’s par for the course when exploring what seems almost entirely inexplicable.
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/15-scientific-facts-about-creativity

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

How to lead a creative life

This from Fast Company
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/161/how-to-live-a-creative-life

Are Creative People More Apt to Deceive?

A new research study suggests creative people are more likely to cheat than less creative people because their talent allows them to rationalize the action.http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/11/29/are-creative-people-more-apt-to-deceive/31985.html

Creative Dreaming

via Tara Grey Coste znd the American Creativity Association

For thousands of years, our ancestors believed dreams contain powerful messages. In very recent history, dreams have been dismissed as nonsensical bits of irrelevant information. The current scientific research is that dreams contain valuable information for problem solving and creativity.
http://republicanherald.com/news/slice-of-life-be-creative-with-your-dreaming-1.1235989

Hard work plus talent equals creativity

This from Keith Sawyer
The lesson is to choose an endeavor where you start out with some natural talent, and then to move forward and invest the necessary hours.
http://keithsawyer.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/hard-work-plus-talent-equals-creativity/

Rethinking Business Schools

I believe that the domains of art and creativity have something to offer American business schools and the larger economy which they serve. This from Tom Tresser.http://blog.artsusa.org/2011/11/15/time-for-new-thinking-being-in-our-business-schools/

A creativity bias?

CEOs, teachers, and leaders claim they want creative ideas to solve problems. But creative ideas are rejected all the time. A new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that people have a hidden bias against creativity. We claim to like creativity, but when we’re feeling uncertain and anxious—just the way you might feel when you’re trying to come up with a creative solution to a problem—we cannot recognize the creative ideas we so desire.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/is-there-a-hidden-bias-against-creativity.html

Hiring for Creativity

Every company wants innovation in one form or another, and innovation comes from creativity. But where does creativity come from? Finding the right kind of inspired individual to bring into your office is sometimes as much a talent as the artistic qualities you're looking for in the first place.
http://www.inc.com/guides/201107/expert-tips-on-hiring-for-creativity.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=button

The future of business is in the arts

Some years ago Business Week magazine (BW) the leading publication for business said: "The game is changing... It isn't just about math and science anymore (Although those are surely important disciplines) It's about creativity, imagination, and, above all, innovation."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-eger/the-future-of-business-is_b_1091774.html