Seminar on

Creativity – A Tool for

Success

by

Vinaya Kumar Rai T

1st MBA “B”

JKSHIM, Nitte

Under the guidance of

Mrs. Sona Rai

JKSHIM, Nitte

Submitted On: 23rd November 2010

Contents

 Introduction
 Definition and Meaning of Creativity
 Creativity V/s Innovation
 Convergent Thinking V/s Divergent Thinking
 Creative Abilities
 Four Ways to replenish your Creative Spirit
 Annexures
 Conclusion

Introduction
 I firmly believe that we are all creative all the time, and this is an effort to make you
feel more creative. We express creativity every day in the way we dress, speak, write, cook
etc. and virtually in every decision we make. In fact, we just can’t escape being creative!
With the universe in such a constant state of flux, we’re all in a constant state of
transformation.
As per a 1999 study, published in The Economist, nearly 50% of the US economic growth at
the end of the 1990’s came from business sectors that didn’t exist a decade before. America
Online, a global Internet service provider didn’t exist before 1983 and with its innovative
business ideas, in 2000 it had a market capitalisation greater than Ford Motor Company and
General Motors combined.

It’s rightly said that the companies that do not innovate are ‘destined to fail’. Thus, being
creative and innovative is a must for the present day manager if he/she wants to keep
climbing in the managerial hierarchy.

Definition and meaning of Creativity

Webster’s new world dictionary defines creativity as “the ability to create” and create
is defined as “to come into existence, to give rise to, to portray for the first time.”
Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas, concepts or new
association of creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. In other words creativity
involves divergent thinking i.e thinking with a wide perspective, aimed at discovering a new,
unusual answer to the problem, as opposed to the convergent thinking, i.e thinking with
narrow focus aimed at finding one answer.

Being creative thus means to engage in some activity that causes something new to come into
existence. In other way, creativity may be defined as the ability to test existing assumptions,
to see things from different perspectives, and to generate novel and useful ideas. If you can
do these things, even moderately well, then you have creativity or you are a creative person.

Creativity V/s Innovation

Creativity is typically used to refer to the act of producing new ideas, approaches or actions.
Innovation is the process of both generating and applying such creative ideas in some specific
context. In other words, creativity is the generation of new ideas whereas innovation is the
process of transformation of creative ideas into desired outputs.
Convergent (Rational) Thinking V/s Divergent(Creative) Thinking
We may distinguish between two basic types of thinking or problem solving activity.
One is called convergent; the other is called divergent thinking.
If we ask the question “what is the city 300 miles south-west of Ahmadabad?” or
“what is x equal to in the equation x2-36=0?” , One may easily give the answer as ‘Mumbai’
and ‘±6’ respectively. These are problems are such that there is only one right answer or at
the best a few right answers, and these right answers can easily discriminated from the many
wrong ones. These describe the convergent thinking.
But there is another type of problem–solving elicited by a class of problems for which
there is no known good or correct solution, and indeed, the mental operations by which one
can reach a good answer are sometimes not at all clear. They refer to the divergent thinking.
If we ask, “How many uses are there of a teaspoon?” or “What would have happened if
Vasco Da Gama had not discovered the sea route to India?” it requires wider thinking to
answer them.

The unique feature of Divergent thinking is that a variety of responses is produced.

The product is not completely determined by the given information. Further, in divergent
thinking operations we think in different directions, sometimes searching, sometimes seeking
variety. In convergent thinking information leads to one right answer or to recognise best or
conventional answer. But it is to be noted that, while divergent thinking is undoubtedly the
distinguishing characteristic of creative thinking, there is a place for convergent thinking too.
Indeed, quite often creative thinking consists of alternating phases of creative (Divergent) and
rational (convergent) thinking. (Annexure 1)

Creativity Abilities:
Creativity is not one ability at all, but a whole cluster of abilities. Let me describe the most
important ones.

1) Fluency
It measures the person’s ability to come up with a number of solutions to a given
problem. For example, if we ask a group of persons to list the number of uses of bricks, some
might come up with 5 uses, others with 15 or 20. Those who come up with a large number of
uses would be called ideationally fluent persons. Ideationally fluent persons tend to come up
with a greater variety of solutions as well as with a larger number of unusual solutions than
persons who are ideationally not fluent.
2) Flexibility
The ability to provide a large number variety of solutions, to respond to a variety of
viewpoints, and to use a variety of approaches in problem – solving is another important
ability. It is called flexibility. In the brick example, one person may list several uses of bricks,
but all these uses may be connected with its use as a construction material –build houses,
build bridges, build wells, build walls, etc. Another person may list a large variety of uses
such as brick as weapons, as stepping stones in mud, as doorsteps, as engraving material, as
supporters for shelves, parking vehicles, etc.
3) Originality
It is ability to come up with unusual but appropriate responses. For bricks, their use
as hiding places for jewellery, or their use as dumbbells, or their use as substitute for pillows,
by them under the mattress, may be considered unusual, and therefore, original responses.

4) Elaboration
Elaborations generate many responses (details) that implement or spell out idea. For
instance, William Shakespeare was famous not because his plots were original. In fact they
were lifted from earlier writers. His greatness lay in making plots glow with the magic of his
characters, ideas, imagery and dialogues. Elaborations involves the working out of the
implications of a bright idea by a combination of analytical, evaluative and associative
thinking (evaluative thinking is the process by which unfolding ideas are assessed in terms of
aesthetic, moral, technical or economic criteria)

Myths and Misconceptions about the creative process:

1) To be creative, you must be totally original
 Originality is not synonymous with creativity. One can measure creativity by various
criteria besides originality. You can be highly creative by being more fluent, flexible or
elaborative.
2) Only artists and scientists are creative
Most people have this misconception, consciously or unconsciously. For instance, a kid may
be very creative in persuading her parents to buy her new toy. Further politicians would agree
that developing a powerful campaign strategy is a very creative enterprise. Unfortunately,
even murder and thievery are creative nowadays.

3) You need high IQ to be creative

Most research shows that a high IQ is not required for creativity and may be
negatively correlated with creativity. In other words, high intelligence may interface with
creativity in some areas. For instance, IQ is not that important in creative gardening or
cooking.

4) Creativity means producing something tangible

This is partially only true. Apart from material or concrete creativity there are a few
intangible ways in which we can be creative. Some of them are,
a) Idea Creativity: This includes an idea for a new game, new way of cooking ,
dance step, new way to sell commodity etc.
b) Relationship Creativity: Creativity is involved in keeping relationships running
smoothly and harmoniously with the peers, classmates, couples etc.
c) Spontaneous Creativity: These are often used by the sales personnel, comedians,
athletes, and drivers etc. which are expressed spontaneously.
d) Inner Creativity: This refers to the creative ways to control and organise our inner
world. Creating inner world of peace and tranquillity is a valuable skill which certainly helps
us to manage our stress.

5) Creativity is easy:
 As the saying goes, “creativity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Creativity
involves struggling with all the obstacles that keep us from fulfilling our dreams. Creativity
may also be time consuming and tedious.

6) Creativity is only for the young

Creative output may decline with age, like physical stamina or memory, but there are
many examples of creativity abounding into ripe old age. For instance Shakespeare wrote
Hamlet at about age 37. Newton published his Principia mathematica at the age of 45 and
Copernicus was 70 when he published his Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres.

7) Creativity is good
This is very popular and sometimes tragic misconception. Good is a value judgement.
What is good for one person may not be good for another. Creation of A.K 47, atom bomb,
contraceptives, ultra sound scanning etc may prove good for somebody while not for others.

8) Creative geniuses are experts on all topics

Creative geniuses may not be geniuses on all topics. People’s ability will not be equal
across all the areas of their lives. For instance, when Freud and Einstein met to discuss the
question “Why war?” , Freud commented on the momentous meeting and lack of intellectual
connection by saying “he understands as much about Psychology as I do about Physics, so we
had a very pleasant talk”.
(Annexure 2)

Four Ways to Replenish your Creative Spirit

1. What were you just thinking?

Daydreams are fertile ground for the imagination to rise. As you sit absorbed in a
problem, notice when you get lost in a day dream. What were you just thinking of? Your
unconscious is a rich source of images, ideas and experiences that lead to new connections,
and fresh thinking.

Daydreaming is a way to incubate the components of a problem and uncover solutions. How
can you apply the images and thoughts of your daydream to the project you are working on?
Try a technique called `forced connections' If you were thinking about a bird, for example,
think about the qualities of a bird, what a bird symbolizes for you, and how that could help
you in your project.

2. Capture your ideas

* Keep a notebook handy to record your daydreams and ideas that come to mind while
watching TV, attending a lecture, meeting with clients and so on.
* Collect pictures and articles of people, places, things and ideas that please you. You will
develop an idea file that will help stimulate your thinking on future projects.
* Use your imagination to make connections between information you collect and a project
you are working on, to trigger new ideas.

3. Be playful
Delight yourself and you delight the world. You are richly rewarded when you apply your
passion to what pleases you. Da Vinci, Edison, Einstein and Picasso all loved to play and
they loved to explore. Their passions resulted in genius. Even God likes to play. Lila is
Sanskrit for God's play. What is God's play? Creating the Universe!

4. Surround yourself with inspiring people

Try hosting your own meeting or get together, inviting a mix of inspiring people from
different professions. A variation on the theme is to invite people to bring poetry or a musical
instrument.
(Annexure 3)
Annexure 1

consider the 4 questions given below:

1.spot the odd one out:
a)Lead b)Mercury c)Copper d)Iron e)Tin
2. Complete the following sentence humorously:
One moonlight night, while strolling in a garden….

3) Complete the series:

1, 6, 12, 19, 27, ?

4) Give striking alternative titles for the Second World War - ……

It can be noticed that possible solutions are much fewer in the two rational items 1 & 3 to
solve them mostly basic physics and logic are required; and that solutions once found fit the
problems tightly. In the creativity items, a number of other mental capabilities get exercised,
such as wide search as in item 2 and an enormous degree of compression of thought required
in item6 that must, however be expressed aesthetically.

Annexure 2

Here is a Fun Creative Problem-Solving Quiz

This short quiz from Accenture exclusively for professionals will help you
understand your thinking style better.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator put in the giraffe and close the door.
This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator ?

Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close
the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals attend except
one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator.

This tests your memory. OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions,
correctly you can surely answer this one.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you
manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting!
This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to Accenture, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions
wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. Accenture says this
conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year
old.

Annexure 3

Brilliant Questions and Creative answers:

(After a series of written test and preliminary interview, candidate Mr.X was selected for a
final interview consisting a panel of three members including the Chairman.)

Interviewer1.: “If I order my peon to bring a cup of coffee for you and if he places on the
table in front of you, then to which side the handle of the cup will be located?”
Mr.X: Outside !!!

Interviewer1: Excellent answer..!

The interviewer1. ordered a cup of coffee for the candidate and coffee arrived and was kept

in front of the candidate.

Interviewer 2.: “What is before you?”

Candidate: “Tea”.
Interviewer 2.: fantastic..! (The question was “what is before a U-alphabet and the answer
was T-alphabet)

The coffee cup was taken back.

Chairman.: “This is your last question of the interview. Please tell me the exact position of
the center of this table?”

Candidate: confidently put one of his fingers at some point at the table and said “This is the
central point of the table.”

Chairman.:”How did you get to know that this is the central point of this table?”
Candidate: Answered quickly, “Sir..you cannot ask me any more questions, as it was
supposed to be the last question that you promised to ask.”

The candidate was selected due to his wit, quick and creative thinking.
Conclusion

In the today’s competitive world, only ‘change’ is permanent. Being

management students, it is very essential for us to develop creative intelligence to equip
ourselves to compete in the corporate world. On the other hand creativity is critical for
organisational progress and survival. Businesses believe that they must be constantly
changing and innovating, reinventing themselves at internet speed to stay ahead of
technological changes, new competitors around the globe and the continuously shifting
demands of customers and potential employees. Developing creativity as core competence
becomes imperative if the organisations are to respond proactively to diverse pressure and
maintain their competitive advantage.
Bibliography
‘Fourth Eye – Excellence Through Creativity’ by Pradip N Khandwalla.
‘Creativity’ by George Gamez.
www.creativityatwork.com