CHAPTER 2– CREATIVITY and INNOVATION

The word itself gets used all the time in the news, in press releases made by governments and
universities and in company boardrooms around the world – innovation, innovation, innovation!
Not surprisingly, it can bring to mind a variety of meanings depending on the context. Although
often associated with discoveries carried out by white-haired scientist-types in high tech
industry labs or universities, innovation shouldn't imply only carrying out research and
development. Nor is it usually the responsibility of only a small group within of a successful
company. Rather, innovation has a much broader definition and considerably wider functions,
and should touch all of us every day. It's important to understand that definition and how the
concept is different from the concepts of discovery, invention and creativity.

Innovation is the process of bringing the best ideas into reality, which triggers a creative idea,
which generates a series of innovative events. Innovation is the creation of new value.
Innovation is the process that transforms new ideas into new value- turning an idea into value.
You cannot innovate without creativity. Innovation is the process that combines ideas and
knowledge into new value. Without innovation an enterprise and What it provides quickly
become obsolete. The dictionary defines innovation as the introduction of something new or
different. Innovation is the implementation of creative inspiration.

Discovery, Invention, Innovation and Creativity

By now you'll have been through an in-class exercise about these topics, in which we'll have
considered the following figure. This is referred to as an Innovation Value Chain because it
represents the very general sequence of activities that create value in our society and
economy. Simply put: discoveries result in new ideas in the form of knowledge and concepts,
inventions result in new technologies and business models, and innovation exploits inventions
to allow for the creation of value through commodities, goods, services and experiences.

Innovation
Using this conceptualization, we are able to land on the following definition of innovation:
• Innovation: A process of intentional change made to create value by meeting
opportunity and seeking advantage.
This short definition has several key elements that are worth considering:
• Process: Innovation is a process (implying, among other things, that it can be learned
and managed)
• Intentional: That process is carried out on purpose
• Change: It results in some kind of change
• Value: The whole point of the change is to create value in our economy, society and/or
individual lives
• Opportunity: Entrepreneurial individuals enable tomorrow's value creation by exploring
for it today: having ideas, turning ideas into marketable insights and seeking ways to
meet opportunities
• Advantage: At the same time, they also create value by exploiting the opportunities
they have at hand

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Innovation involves creating value by bringing together resources that are hard to come by. It
applies to small businesses, existing businesses and a range of other types of entrepreneurial
ventures such as non-profit ventures. It also applies to you as an individual.

Technological vs. venture model innovation

In a later topic we are going to look at ways of distinguishing between different types of
innovations. Understanding what type of innovation, you are dealing with is of critical strategic
importance when it comes to you deciding how you will react to an innovation, whether
someone else has introduced it or whether you plan to introduce it to the marketplace.

For now, let's just distinguish between two main types:

1. A technological innovation is a change made in response to a new or modified technology.

Classic examples of technological innovation are the internet, the digital camera and cell
phones, to name but just a few. Whether you or someone else in your industry is responsible
for a technological innovation, it can be a game-changer. And under the right circumstances it
can provide remarkable opportunities for growth.
For those who wish to dig deeper (than required in this course), responding to this kind of
innovation is dealt with in well-known works like Crossing the Chasm (Moore, 2002) and The
Innovator's Dilemma (Christensen, 1997).

2. A venture model innovation is a change made in response to a new or modified venture

model, or some component of a venture model (such as the value chain, the approach to
distribution, the choice of mainstream customer and other such concepts that we will look at
later). Well-known examples of venture model innovation include Southwest Airlines,
the Nintendo Wii and technologies like Apples' iTunes and iPhone.
While technological advances were required to enable the success of these examples, it was
the unique changes to the venture models that made them successful.
For those who wish to dig deeper (than required in this course), this type of innovation is
also known as strategic or value innovation. It is described in detail in Kim and
Mauborgne (1997) and Kim and Mauborgne (2005).

Creativity
Creativity: A process of assembling ideas by recombining elements already known but
wrongly assumed to be unrelated to each other.
This definition has several key elements that are worth considering:
• Process: Creativity is also a process (implying, among other things, that it is more like
a skill than an attitude, and that you can get better at it with practice)
• Ideas: Creativity results in ideas that have potential value
• Recombining: The creative process is one of putting things together in unexpected
ways

Creativity is marked by the ability to create, bring into existence, to invent into a new form, to
produce through imaginative skill, to make to bring into existence something new. Creativity is
not ability to create out of nothing but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing,
or reapplying existing ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant, while others are
just simple, good practical ideas that no one seems to have thought, of yet.

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Creativity is also an attitude, the ability to accept change and newness, a willingness to play
with ideas and possibilities, a flexibility of outlook, the habit of enjoying the good, while looking
for ways to improve it. Creativity is also a process. Creative person works hard and continually
to improve ideas and solutions, by making gradual alterations and refinements to their works.
Contrary to the mythology surrounding creativity, very few of creative excellence are produced
with a single stroke of brilliance or in a frenzy of rapid activity. Much closer to the real truth are
the stories of companies which had to take the invention away from the inventor in order to
market it because the inventor would have kept on tweaking it and fiddling with it, always trying
to make it a little better.

The entrepreneur is primarily concerned with developing new products, processor markets, the
ability to bring something new, product, processes or markets, the ability to bring something
new into the market. The entrepreneur indulges in original thinking more than any other person
thinks and he is able to produce solutions that fly in the face of established knowledge.
Entrepreneurs are inclined to be more adaptable and are prepared to consider a range of
alternative approaches. They challenge the status quo, which can sometimes bring them into
conflict with their colleagues.

Creativity and Innovation are at the heart of the spirit of enterprise. It means striving to perform
activities differently or to perform different activities to enable the entrepreneur deliver a unique
mix of value. Thus, the value of creativity and innovation is to provide a gateway for statue
entrepreneurship—actively searching for opportunities to do new things, to do existing things
in extraordinary ways.

Creativity and Innovation therefore, trigger and propel first-rate entrepreneurship in steering
organization activities in whatever new directions are dictated by market conditions and
customer preferences, thereby delighting the customers to the benefit of the stakeholders.
Innovation also means anticipating the needs of the market, offering additional quality or
services, organization efficiently, mastering details, and keeping cost under control. No doubt,
the current economic environment is a volatile and violent one. The new environment demands
renewed dynamism of approach.

Creativity and innovation are the new name of the game. Only the discerning organizations can
manage the change inherent in the new environment. It is the duty of the entrepreneur to keep
his/her organization lean, young, flexible, and eager for new things to continuously delight the
customers, which is the purpose of every business. Successful entrepreneurs require an edge
derived from some combination of a creative idea and a superior capacity for execution. The
entrepreneur’s creativity may involve an innovation product or a process that changes the
existing order. Or entrepreneur may have a unique insight about the course or consequence of
an external change.

Entrepreneurship is the vehicle that drives creativity and innovation. Innovation creates new
demand and entrepreneurship brings the innovation to the market. Innovation is the successful
development of competitive edge and as such, is the key to entrepreneurship. Creativity is the
starting point for innovation. Creativity is however necessary but not sufficient condition for
innovation. Innovation is the implantation of creative inspiration.

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The National Innovation Initiative (NII) defines innovation as “the intersection of invention and
insight, leading to the creative of social and economic value” Innovation is “value” – the creation
of value adding value to customer’s satisfaction- “delighting the customers”.

Innovation is the basis of all competition advantages, the means of anticipating and meeting
customer’s needs and the method of utilization of technology.
Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by
journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid open
boundaries.

Innovation arises from organizing circles of exchange, where information is not just
accumulated or stored, but created.
Knowledge is generated a new from connections that were not there before Innovation requires
a fresh way of looking at things, an understanding of people, and an entrepreneurial willingness
to take risks and to work hard. An idea doesn’t become an innovation until it is widely adopted
and incorporated into people’s daily lives. Most people resist change, so a key part of innovating
is convincing other people that your idea is a good one – by enlisting their help, and, in doing
so, by helping them see the usefulness of the idea.

Enterprises throughout the world are experiencing what can be legitimately described as a
revolution: rising energy and material costs, fierce international competition, new technologies,
increasing use of automation and computers. All these are major challenges, which demand a
positive response from the entrepreneur and management if the enterprise is to survive and
prosper. At a time when finance is expensive, the firm’s liquidity is bordering on crisis, the need
for creativity, and innovation is more pressing than ever and as competitors fall by the way
side, the rewards for successful products and process are greater. The instigation of new
development is the responsibility of the enterprises themselves, which, through experience, are
aware of the difficulties created when undertaking innovative investments in a period of great
uncertainty.

Innovation calls for special entrepreneurial and management skills, the cooperation of a
committed workforce, finance and a climate which will create the optimum overall conditions to
encourage success. Joseph Schumpeter (1934) believes that the concept of innovation,
described as the use of an invention to create a new commercial product or service, is the key
force in creating new demand and thus new wealth. Innovation creates new demand and
entrepreneurs bring the innovations to the market. This destroys the existing markets and
creates new ones, which will in turn be destroyed by even newer products or services.

The Elements of Innovation

Innovation is the successful development of competitive advantage and as such, it is the key
to entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurs are the “dreamers”, who take hands on responsibility
for creating innovation. It is the presence of innovation that distinguishes the entrepreneur from
others. Innovation, must therefore, increase competitiveness through efforts aimed at the
rejuvenation, renewal, and redefinition of organizations, their markets or industries, if business
are to be deemed entrepreneurial.

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Fiona Fitzpatrick identified the following elements of innovation:
1. Challenge: What we are trying to change or accomplish the “pull”
2. Customer focus: Creating value for your customers – the “Push”
3. Creativity: Generating and sharing the idea(s)- the “brain”
4. Communication: The flow of information and ideas –the “life blood”
5. Collaboration: People coming together to work together on the idea(s) – the “heart.”
6. Completion: Implementing the new idea-the “muscle”.
7. Contemplation; Learning and sharing lessons lead to higher competency-the “ladder”
8. Culture: The playing field of innovation includes:
9. Leadership :(sees the possibilities and positions the team for action-the role model)
10. People: (diverse groups of radically empowered people innovate –the source of innovation)
11. Basic values: (trust and respect define and distinguish an innovative organization-the
backbone).
12. Context: Innovation is shaped by interactions with the world.

Forms of Innovation
In a start-up, the entrepreneur is regarded as the key actor in developing a business idea,
marshalling resources, and creating an enterprise to bring a new product or service to the
market. In a competitive business environment, the entrepreneur and the enterprise should
continue to seek lout now opportunities and make the necessary arrangement to convert them
into new goods and services. Innovation should, therefore, impregnate the entire enterprise for
the creation and invention of competitive edge and relevancy in the market place.

Innovation can take several forms:

a. Innovation in processes, including changes and improvement to methods. These contribute
to increases in productivity. Which lowers cost and helps to increase demand.
b. Innovation in products or services. While progressive Innovation is predominant, radical
innovation opens up new markets. These lead to increases in effective demand which
encourages increases in investment and employment.
c. Innovation in management and work organization, and the exploitation of human resources,
together with the capacity to anticipate techniques.

Innovation is the process through which the entrepreneur converts market opportunities into
workable, profitable, and marketable ideas. Innovation is an application of something creative
that has a significant impact on an organization, industry or society. Entrepreneurship is the
continuing generation of Innovation in response to perceived opportunities in the business
environment.

In this approach, entrepreneurship is therefore concerned with newness: new ideas, products,
services or combinations of resources aimed at meeting the needs of consumers more
efficiently. Entrepreneurship has been described in terms of the ability to create something from
practically nothing. It is initiating and building an enterprise rather than watching one. It is the
knack for sensing opportunities where others see chaos, contradiction and confusion. It is the
ability to build a “founding team” to complement your own skills and talents. It is known –how
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to find, marshal and control resources. Finally, it is a willingness to take calculated risk.

Organizational Constraints against Innovation A qualitative analysis of the cases brought out
the following organizational constraints against innovation:
1. Absence of failure-analysis systems (100%)
2. Lack of patenting initiatives (97%)
3. Lack of recognition for innovations in non-core areas (94%)
4. Poor handling of change management (90%)
5. Informal team formation (81%)
6. Low emphasis on dissemination and commercialization (77%)
7. Inadequacy of rewards and recognition (65%)
8. Procedural delays (58%)
9. Poor documentation and maintenance of records (58%)
10. Easy access to foreign technologies (55%)
11. Unclear norms on linking innovations with career growth (48%)
12. Lack of recognition for contributions by support functions (45%)
13. Ambivalent support from the immediate supervisor (39%)
14. Inadequate systems for the promotion and management of ideas (35%)
15. Lack of facility for pilot testing (29%).

The study clearly shows that Indian organizations are yet to institute many systems and
procedures required for supporting innovations. Although many of these organizations have
formal R&D departments/divisions, it appears that R&D without the necessary organizational
support is merely a ritual rather than the part of a proactive innovation strategy. R&D facilities
and organizational support for innovation are not to be treated as independent arrangements
but have to emerge from an overall innovation strategy as complementary systems supporting
each other. Absence of such an integrative perspective and strategy seems to be the
overarching constraint against innovations in Indian public sector organizations.

What's entrepreneurship?
Given the concepts we considered above, what is entrepreneurship?

There are many definitions ranging from off-the-cuff statements made by once-successful
businesspeople, to rigorous definitions developed by academics. To keep things simple we
are going to borrow a simple statement made by Peter Drucker in which he says that …
Innovation is the "specific function of the entrepreneur."

Perspectives on entrepreneurship
There are several commonly accepted perspectives of entrepreneurship.

One useful perspective views entrepreneurship as a combination of the right toolset and
mindset. In other words, with the right tools in hand, the right approach to using them and
enough practice, one can successfully innovate to create value.

It is also useful to view entrepreneurship from the perspective of the new venture life cycle.
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A simplified model of the new venture life cycle is shown below to demonstrate this
perspective. This is also handy because it provides an opportunity to show you the design of
some of the course that follow The Entrepreneurial Experience.

What's a venture?

New venture: An organizational vehicle through which the entrepreneurial team creates
value. For the sake of completeness, it is worth defining a new venture:
In other words, formal value creation is done by teams through new ventures.

For the purposes of this course, new ventures can be:

new or existing;
• small, medium or large;
• profit or not-for-profit; and
• corporations or other types of organizations (such as product development groups,
professional associations, political parties, clubs, and communities of practice).

And finally, we will consider the following types of ventures defined by their orientation to
growth (borrowed from Morris et al., 2001):
marginal ventures;
• lifestyle ('mom and pop') ventures;
• successful small ventures; and
• high growth ventures.

While marginal and lifestyle ventures make up the majority, the high growth ventures
produce the majority of new jobs, inventions and wealth creation (Morris et al., 2001).

The Importance of Creativity and Innovation in Business

Over the last decades, innovation and creativity have become critical skills for achieving success
in developed economies. The need for creative problem solving has arisen as more and more
management problems require creative insights in order to find suitable solutions.

Creativity goes hand in hand with innovation. And there is no innovation without creativity.
While creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, innovation is the implementation
of that creativity - that's the introduction of a new idea, solution, process, or product. Creativity
is the driving force behind innovation and the incorporation of looking at things from a different
perspective and freedom of restrictions by rules and written or unwritten norms.

Why is creativity important in business?

Creativity and innovation within a well-run company have always been recognized as a sure
path to success. Stimulating creativity and exploring completely new and unknown before
territories lead as result to increasing the productivity of the organization. Encouraging the
employees to think outside of the box and giving them time and resources to explore new areas
for innovative ideas is the key to cost-effective business solutions.
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Creativity improves the process of solving problems. It doesn't matter if we're talking about
developing a new strategy or an innovative way to stay ahead of the competition. Creative
problem solving gives that competitive edge that any business is striving to achieve.

Creative ideas and innovative approaches can come from almost anywhere- from your partners,
customers, target groups, employees. They can bring you fresh perspectives and ideas, so show
them that you’re listening and open to their feedback. That's why it is important an open
exchange of ideas to be supported and encouraged by the company.

THE PRINCIPLES OF CREATIVITY

People become more creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction,
and challenge of the situation and not by external pressures; the passion and interest – a
person’s internal desire to do something unique to show-case himself or herself; the person’s
sense of challenge, or a drive to crack a problem that no one else has been able to solve.

Three components of Creativity:

• Expertise encompasses everything that a person knows and can do in the broad domain
of his or her work- knowledge and technical ability. All the relevant understanding an
individual brings to bear on a creative effort.

• Creative Thinking: Relates to how people approach problems and depends on personality
and thinking/working style. Creative thinking refers to how you approach problems and
solutions- the capacity to put existing ideas together in new combinations. The skill itself
depends quite a bit on personality as well as on how a person thinks and works. Expertise
and creative thinking are the entrepreneur’s raw materials or natural resources.

• Motivation: Motivation is generally accepted as key to creative production, and the most
important motivators are intrinsic passion and interest in the work itself. Motivation is
the drive and desire to do something, an inner passion and interest. When people are
intrinsically motivated, they engage in their work for the challenge and enjoyment of it.
The work itself is motivating.

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Creative Thinking
While both Amabile and Gardner assert that thinking is a key aspect of the creative process,
they address this topic at a high level. Amabile suggests that key aspects of creative thinking
are:
• Comfort in disagreeing with others and trying solutions that depart from the status quo.
• Combining knowledge from previously disparate fields.
• Ability to persevere through difficult problems and dry spells.
• Ability to step away from an effort and return later with a fresh perspective
(incubation”).

Ultimately, Sternberg promotes a “triarchic theory”, asserting that there are three main aspects
of intelligence that are key for creativity – synthetic, analytical and practical:
1) Synthetic (creative): the ability to generate ideas that are novel, high quality and task
appropriate. One aspect of this is the ability to redefine problems effectively and to think
insightfully.
Sternberg also notes that the basis for insightful thinking involves knowledge acquisition in
three forms:
a) selective encoding: distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information.
b) selective combination: combining bits of relevant information in novel ways.
c) selective comparison: relating new information to old information in novel ways.
2) Analytical: Critical/analytical thinking is involved in creativity as the ability to judge the
value of one’s own ideas, to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and suggest ways to
improve them.
3) Practical: Ability to apply intellectual skills in everyday contexts and to “sell” creative ideas.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS

Entrepreneurship is like doing any other business, but there are some characteristics, which
distinguish it from traditional business techniques.
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An entrepreneur’s mind revolves around new ideas and opportunities for innovation. There is
a continuous and conscious effort required to look for niches and undertake the risks in
entering them. Entrepreneurship involves the continuous examination of existing business
workflows and devising ways in order to carry them out in a more efficient and effective way,
in terms of both time and cost. In simple words, entrepreneurship works toward the
optimization of business.

• Economic Importance
Entrepreneurship works toward optimizing resources and taking full use of them to
create efficient processes. It increases an enterprise’s wealth and adds value by
increasing the economic activity that comes with optimizing the whole process.
• More Profit
The process of entrepreneurship rewards the individual by increasing the profit
potential of the enterprise. This is the result of undertaking new ideas and providing an
innovative product or service.

• Risk-Taking
The whole essence of entrepreneurship revolves around the courage and ability to take
new risks. Patience is needed to observe the fruitful outcome of an idea, and it takes
time and effort to go from conceptualization to implementation of ideas. This time and
effort is the risk that the entrepreneur is willing to take.
• Job Opportunities
Entrepreneurship creates new niches and enterprises, which requires a work force.
This provides exciting job opportunities for young adults. Hence, with the innovation
and profit, entrepreneurship has immense potential for creating jobs.
• The Entrepreneurial Process
The entrepreneurial process starts with conception and refinement of an idea, followed
by implementation and management. The flow chart of the entrepreneurial process is
shown below:

WHY CREATIVITY IS SO CRUCIAL FOR ENTREPRENEURS?

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A thorough observation of the entrepreneurial process shows that creative thinking is the
must have “skill” of an entrepreneur for the creation of new ideas. Creativity allows a person
to devise interesting processes, which gives so many advantages to entrepreneurs.

But what exactly makes creativity so crucial and important in an entrepreneur’s work life?
• Creativity leads to success by:
Creating new ideas for competitive advantage. The whole process of entrepreneurship
is rooted in creation and exploration of new ideas. When an entrepreneur is able to
generate a new idea that is feasible as well as efficient, it gives him an edge over the
competition. The ability to explore different niches is just like a learned skill or a
resource that is possessed by an individual.
• Thinking of novel ways to develop your product and improve the
business. Creativity helps develop new ways of improving an existing product or
service and optimizing a business. There is always a room for improvement in the
deliverables of an enterprise; it is the creative entrepreneur who can assess how to do
it.
• Thinking the unthinkable. Creativity requires imagination to produce the most
obscure ideas. Imagination is needed to cross the boundary of “usual” and “normal” or
to think outside the box. This allows entrepreneurs to think beyond the traditional
solutions, come up with something new, interesting, versatile, and yet have success
potential.

Finding similar patterns in different areas. Sometimes, due to following a routine or a habit,
the thinking process also goes along the line of those established processes. Creativity enables
people to connect dissimilar and unrelated subjects and make successful entrepreneurial ideas.
Merging different fields creates interesting intersections that creates new niches. Most people
are afraid of bringing different disciplines together, but most interesting ideas come from
colliding different fields.

Developing new niches through creativity and entrepreneurship. In entrepreneurship, it is

important that new aspects of traditional business are explored. This can be in the form of
changing the method of manufacturing the product or delivering the service or how are they
supplied to the user. All these areas can create a niche that has great potential in business.

Creative thinking is not the only skill needed for entrepreneurship.

The discussion so far has led us to think that entrepreneurship is deeply rooted in certain basic
skills: creating new ideas and having the ability to take risk in executing them. However, one
should realize that this is not the only skill that is required for the successful execution of an
idea. Creating an idea might be easy; successfully executing it might be a difficult task.

What makes a person a successful entrepreneur? Why do some people recognize the
opportunities that exist around them and others do not? Are they genetically different? Or do
they have a different perspective to handle things? There might not be conclusive answers to
those questions, but researchers have pointed out some areas for which an entrepreneur
should have some expertise.
These are:
• Personal traits. Personal attributes help entrepreneurs in a variety of ways. Optimism;
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 vision, self-control; and having initiative, persistence, tolerance and resilience are all the
features that make an entrepreneur stand out and have the ability to maneuver projects.
• Interpersonal skills. An entrepreneur has to interact with people at many levels. This
requires them to have excellent interpersonal skills. Communication, leadership,
motivation, personal relations, negotiation skills, and ethics are attributes that are a must
have in a very dynamic business environment.
• Critical thinking. An entrepreneur must be his own critic. There should be a keen
observation of various aspects of an idea so it can be perfected before implementation.
A lot of future effort can be saved if an idea is critically analyzed, and no one else can do
it better than the entrepreneur himself.
• Practical skills. These skills are required at the stage of idea implementation and
management of the enterprise. An entrepreneur must be able to plan and organize goals
and tasks. There should be effective decision-making and critical monitoring at various
stages of the process.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The process of creating interesting ventures is inherently dynamic and versatile. There are
many aspects to the approach and the stages of the creative process. Some insight into the
process is given below:

Step 1: Preparation
The first stage, of course, is the preparation of some basic ideas to hold onto. There has to be
some inspiration that “forces” or “prepares” the entrepreneur to move forward. The creative
process starts with identifying a problem and then researching for related information. This is
done in an effort to start looking for a viable solution. An entrepreneur looks in every direction
to solve the problem, be it inside the industry or outside.

Step 2: Thinking outside the box – going beyond the comfort zone
Can we achieve anything if we are not willing to go beyond our comfort zone? One has to leave
the comfortable arena, go beyond and take a risk. Rewards come with efforts.
“Thinking outside the box” is an expression that has been used in marketing, business and
psychology since the 1970s. It owes its origin to a “nine dot” game that was once used as a
test of creativity. The puzzle was designed such that the person had to go beyond the dots to
find the solution. However, psychologists say that this “external” factor is not really external,
it is simply the existing solution to the problem. “External” is only how our brain tends to
perceive it.

Step 3: Creativity isn’t magic

Despite the immensely amazing things creativity can achieve, it is definitely not magical.
Creativity is simply approaching things with a different perspective. The simplest approach to
creative thinking can be copying different elements, transforming them, combining them
and eureka! There is a new idea. This essentially makes use of existing elements. As Kirby
Ferguson says, “It happens by applying ordinary tools of thought to existing materials. And the
soil from which we grow our creations is something we scorn and misunderstand even though
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it gives us so much — and that’s… copying.”

Step 4: Incubation
During the incubation stage, ideas that have the potential to solve a problem tend to flourish.
This stage is characterized by the unconscious thought process of refining an idea. Apparently,
there are many activities at work during this stage, but the overall goal is to find a solution.
Evaluating existing projects can help to generate viable ideas.

Step 5: Illumination
Incubation leads to clarity of ideas. This is the “solution finding” stage. Now the creativity
process leads to the knowledge of some practical ideas that can be put to work. It is like a
“light bulb” moment, hence it’s called illumination.

Step 6: Verification
This stage determines whether the “found” solution even has the potential to work or not. The
idea can either be accepted as such, modified with minor or major changes, or rejected
altogether, requiring that the whole process be done again.

Step 7: Critical thinking

Generating innovative ideas is a comparatively easy task. The major success of an
entrepreneurial endeavor lies in critically examining the viability of an idea. Critical thinking
enables an entrepreneur to self-judge in order to evaluate the idea. It is defined as a self-
directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective process of evaluating an idea.

Critical thinking offers many competitive advantages to the entrepreneur, such as:
• It helps formulate the best possible idea.
• It allows for exploring new horizons and seeing the big picture.
• It enables the entrepreneur to evaluate and ask questions that have not been considered
previously.
• It helps in taking decisive actions; the result of creativity.

Therefore, the process of creative thinking that starts with brainstorming “ends” at the critical
analysis of the idea’s viability. The resulting potentially viable ideas can lead to the creation of
actual entrepreneurial enterprises or improvement of the existing ones.

PERSONALITY TRAITS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE

Creative people tend to demonstrate or possess the following traits:
• Awareness of creativity – Creative individuals are most often thinking about
possibilities and noticing creativity in their surroundings. Their inclination toward this
type of thinking allows more opportunities for creative ideas to incubate, develop, and
reach expression.
• Imagination – Imagination is central to both the creative personality and the creative
process. Creativity often involves fantasizing, daydreaming, and other imaginative
forays. Imagery also plays a key role in creative thinking and conceptualizing; in fact,
creativity may engage more deliberate forms of mental imagery – that is, creative
individuals have been reported to have more control over their mental images
• Daydreaming – Creative individuals are often thought to be zoning out or
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 daydreaming. And, indeed, daydreaming seems to play a key role in the creative
process. While engaged in this seemingly inattentive state, thoughts are surfacing and
connecting in ways that may lead to “creative ahas.”
• Persistence – Creative thoughts will stay just that – unless acted upon. Creative
activity requires persistence. For creativity, to be realized, one must take the next step
– and perhaps a leap of faith – and begin that painting, short story, or new garden
design – whatever creative pursuit fuels your passion.
• High energy – High energy often comes with creative pursuits. High energy dances
with the passion that often comes with the creative process and fuels the persistence
just discussed.
• Independence – Creativity requires doing things differently and a willingness to both
go against the crowd and to stand apart from more common ideas – while standing for
one’s own inspirations.
• Risk taking – An independent person is inherently one who takes risk – large or
small. Creativity brings with it at least a modicum of risk taking, including – intellectual,
social, psychological, emotional, and, yes, at times even physical risks. Think of the
Wright brothers, Cesar Chavez, Marie Curie, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Open-mindedness – The ability of creative persons to be independent and to risk
new ideas is at least in part due to open-mindedness. Creative individuals tend to be
open-minded, willing to consider possibilities, and able to tolerate ambiguity while
contemplating an idea.
• Curiosity – Open-mindedness naturally leads to curiosity and questioning, and the
creative impulse inclines one toward exploration and investigation. “How does this
work?” “Why is it like that?” “How can we make it better?”

• Sense of humor/playfulness – Humor is associated with an ability to approach

problems – and life in general – in a fresh, childlike manner. Humor in the form of puns,
satire, and farce engages the imagination by approaching topics with an unusual twist.
• Attraction to complexity – Creativity is not a simple concept or process. Often
creative enterprises bridge disciplines, styles, materials, techniques, cultures,
geography, and time periods. Creative people tend to be drawn to complexity and may
at times strive to make that which is simple more complex – to add interest and intrigue.
• Artistic interests and aesthetic perspectives – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – a
prominent psychologist who studied creative people and processes – found that people
who are engaged in a creative careers and creative pursuits have personality and value
differences when compared to others. For example, the more original the work of an art
student, the more extreme are her standards of a personal aesthetic. Similarly, many
creative scientists value a sense of aesthetics over commercial reward or recognition.
• Sensitivity and intensity – I have long studied the work of Kazimierz Dabrowski, a
Polish psychologist and psychiatrist, who worked with and studied the development of
gifted, talented, and creative youth. He discovered that these young people were far
more sensitive and intense than their more typically developing age peers. Dabrowski
referred to this sensitivity and intensity as overexcitabilities. These overexcitabilities
come in five forms: psychomotor, sensual, imaginational, intellectual and emotional.
This capacity to be intensely stimulated and to stay stimulated provides fuel for creative
pursuits.
• Perception – Creative individuals seem to have heightened perception – enhanced
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 experiencing and awareness of the five senses – perhaps seeing, smelling, tasting,
touching and hearing with greater sensitivity and intensity. Further, heightened
perception often brings with it a certain keen awareness of qualities and experiences
that others may not share. Often, this is referred to as insight or intuition.
• Need for privacy and alone time –Creativity requires alone time; time to think,
ponder, imagine, explore, tinker, and let ideas incubate. We must strive to guard our
private time, if we wish to create. Adults and children alike tend to be overscheduled in
this day and age. But creativity requires unstructured time – time to daydream and
wonder.

Benefits of Creativity in The Workplace

Creativity is no longer a side dish for businesses; indeed, there are an increasing amount of
studies that have found whatever the vocation of the company, introducing creativity into the
workplace has a number of benefits. Our main ethos here at PopUp Painting is making
creativity accessible to everyone, no matter their experience or ability.

Reasons why every workplace should try to introduce some form of creative outlet for their
employees.

1. Creativity relieves stress

More and more people are trying to incorporate creativity into their life because of its calming
effect. This finding has introduced new forms of counselling such as Art or Dance Therapy
which have proved to be very effective. When the workload gets heavy in the office it may be

difficult to set aside time for a calming creative outlet, but having a supply of books, board
games or crafts where employees have lunch will help them switch off from the stress of work
and come back from their break ready to take on anything. A recent study by Taylor Francis
Online gave forty participants art supplies and asked them to create anything they wanted for
45 minutes. After this short creative session, 75% of this group found a decreased level of
Cortisol (a hormone that the body releases in response to stress).

2. Creativity supports innovation and improves productivity

Industry and Businesses recognize the value of innovation, which is facilitated by enabling
people to play and to improvise. Working with different team members and doing very
different activities helps foster creativity which is the mother to innovation. Routine can really
damage productivity, mixing up the daily habits by bringing in creativity into the office can
really spark ‘excitement’ in the brain. As soon as the brain is made to work in a different way,
more thought patterns are introduced, thus improving productivity.

3. Creativity encourages problem solving

The left side of the brain controls everything to do with logic, whereas the right-side controls
creativity. If an individual is never exposed to creativity this means half the brain isn’t being
utilized properly. This in turn suggests they are missing out on the creative thought processes
such as intuition which is very beneficial for problem solving. Fast Company has actually
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conducted a poll where they found CEOs said creativity was the most important leadership
quality, followed by integrity and global thinking.

4. Better team work and bonding

Many offices give their employees a creative team building activity because this appears to be
the most beneficial way to help members of their team work together. Most forms of creativity
are not competitive, which diminishes the idea of rivalry in the workplace and encourages a
team to work together.

5. Increased staff morale

It’s not rocket science to say that being creative simply makes people happy, and if your
employees are happy, they will work better and feel more invested in the company. As stated
in Havard Business Review ‘There is nothing more satisfying that watching your people fulfill
the human need to create and having their creative contributions benefit the organization and
the markets it serves.’

6. Creativity helps to find the success in failure

This is one of our favorite benefits of creativity. We all know that in business not everything
goes to plan. But why write this off as purely a failure when these are the moments when we
really start to learn what works in our company? As Picasso said ‘I am always doing that which
I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.’

Founder of PopUp Painting, Phyllissa Shelton, with a career as a leading change architect in
healthcare, says: Everyone has entrepreneurial talents and can innovate given the right
environment and creative space. It is not the seeds of creativity that are needed to be planted
but the soil of organizations that need to be fertile and tended regularly to enable individuals
and teams to have time to stand back, try new things, think differently and foster creativity.

BARRIERS TO CREATIVITY
The pace at which things move these days means that, to ensure that their organizations
stay ahead of the pack, leaders need to embrace and encourage creativity.
Sadly, in some organizations there are real barriers to creativity. So, what are some of those
barriers to which you need to be alert?

Barrier 1: We Are Not in A Creative Sector

You may not be an organization that is in the creative sector but that does not mean that you
should not be looking at different ways of doing things.
While your organization might not be in what’s termed creative, you have to continually
adapt to change. Remember that people draw conclusions about organizations based on their
experiences with others.

Barrier 2: I Don’t Have Time

As a leader there are two very distinct but interrelated roles to consider: taking care of the
present and building long term sustained success in the future. It is easy to fill your schedule
with the here and now and fool yourself into believing you have no time. Step back
periodically and look at where you are investing your time. Use an app like Clockify

Barrier 3: Being Passive

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By that I mean waiting for someone else to come up with the answer and then trying to lift it
and shoe horn it into your organization. I use to see this in a lot of public sector organizations
where there was sometimes a tendency to assume that something that worked in one location
would automatically work in another. It might and there may be differences on demographics
and other factors.

Barrier 4: Over Control

Much is said and written about employee engagement. The fact is employees will only engage if
they feel that if they come up with an idea it will be given appropriate consideration. If you
want to control everything you will never get creativity. Don’t underestimate this. It’s claimed
that as many as 50% are disengaged at work.

Barrier 5: No Incentive
Take a look at the reward structures in your organization. Do they reward people who come
up with good solutions or do they just treat people as if they are all the same? Of course, it’s
easy to think that incentives need to be financial. Many organizations are using Awards
Ceremonies as a way of recognizing people without breaking the bank.

Barrier 6: Fear of Failure

Every organization needs to take some degree of risk. Those risks might result in successes
sometimes and failure at other times. If you fear failure, your organization, team or function
will always be sub-optimal in terms of results. We often learn more when we fail than when
we succeed. In my experience the growth is exponential when things don’t go to plan.

Barrier 7: Complacency
The minute you think you have it cracked you are in dangerous waters. Just look at
organizations that were around in the past who are not any longer. Don’t ever think that you
have it all cracked.

What is Six Thinking Hats?

The Six Thinking Hats method was invented by Edward de Bono in order to overcome the
dominance of judgmental thinking when dealing with a problem. Furthermore, it is attempted
to encourage full-spectrum thinking.

The six hats represent six modes of thinking:

• White Hat thinking:
This thinking mode deals with facts, figures, information needs and gaps. In general,
it means looking at the data base you have and dropping arguments and proposals
for a minute.
• Red Hat thinking:
Red Hat thinking covers intuition, feelings, and emotions. Now the thinker can put
forward an intuition without any need to justify it. Usually in discussions, feelings can
only be introduced if they are supported by logic. The red hat gives full permission to
express feelings on the subject without any logical explanation.
• Black Hat thinking:
The black hat is the hat of judgment and caution. It covers negative thinking. It is
used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience,
the system in use, or the policy that is being followed. This hat must always be
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 logical.
• Yellow Hat thinking:
The yellow hat is the logical positive hat. It is used to point out why something will
work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking forward to the results of
some proposed action, but can also be used to find something of value in what has
already happened.
• Green Hat thinking:
The green hat represents creative thinking. It is used to come up with alternatives,
interesting proposals, provocations and changes. This hat is used when it comes to
generating new ideas and solutions.
• Blue Hat thinking:
The blue hat represents organizational thinking. It is the overview or process control
hat. This thinking mode does not look at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about
the subject. A typical blue hat statement might be: "Putting on my blue hat, I feel we
should do some more green hat thinking at this point." Hence, the blue hat is
concerned with meta-cognition.

The thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being
used. When you are a group discussing a problem, the whole group pretends to put on one of
the hats and thinks according to the thinking mode represented by that hat. Everybody
wears the same hat at the same time.

What is a Metaphorical Thinking?

A metaphor is a soft thinking technique connecting two different universes of meaning
(examples: food chain, flow of time, etc.). The key to metaphorical thinking is similarity.
Metaphorical thinking often comes easy to people since the human mind tends to look for
similarities. Logical thinking often stifles the creative process, metaphorical thinking is a good
method to escape this. Metaphors are especially valuable in helping you to think differently

about something and to gain new insights into your problem. So, take your problem and
compare it to something else (e.g., finding new ideas for German Club activities is like finding
a parking space). Use the similarity between the two things compared as a stimulus for
suggesting new ideas.

Innovation is important in entrepreneurship. In the highly competitive world that we live in,
innovative ideas are what will separate you from the rest. Your goal is not to build just an
average startup, right? In order to create an outstanding product, strong brand and to build
your customer network, you need to innovate. Innovation doesn’t always mean to create
something new: innovators often take something that already exists, improve it, change it,
make it better and make it the best for their customers. Innovative ideas are what will make a
startup competitive. Being innovative doesn’t happen overnight: it requires time and effort to
create something truly innovative that will make difference. Innovation and creativity walk hand
in hand when we talk about entrepreneurship. Here you can find seven great ways to look at
innovation in order to understand its importance in entrepreneurship, education, ideas
execution, knowledge and more.

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Innovation is a law to apply new ideas that make some value for the business, government,
and society. Innovate good and smart ways to do something.
It can be a role:
• New technology
• New Product Line or Segment
• A new method of production
• Thinking and performing out of the box
• An improvement in an existing product

A process of intentional change made to create value by meeting opportunity and seeking
advantage.
• Process: Innovation is a process (implying, among other things, that it can be learned
and managed).
• Intentional: That process is carried out on purpose.
• Change: It results in some kind of change.
• Value: The whole point of the change is to create value in our economy, society and/or
individual lives.
• Opportunity: Entrepreneurial individuals enable tomorrow's value creation by exploring
for it today: having ideas, turning ideas into marketable insights and seeking ways to meet
opportunities.
• Advantage: At the same time, they also create value by exploiting the opportunities they
have at hand.

What are the different types of innovation?

With so many types of innovation and even more definitions, it can be confusing to discuss
innovation in your organization. It seems like new innovation types arrive to the scene all of
the time, leaving people who’ve been in the field for a long time scratching their heads as they
reach for Google to quickly get up to speed. Whether you’re new to innovation or have years
under your belt, this simple guide that explains the different types might help.

Open Innovation

Open innovation refers to the idea that, in a world of mass-distributed knowledge, firms can
and should partner with others to advance their goals. It is innovation by sharing both the risks
and rewards of new research. The paradigm is that companies cannot afford to rely strictly on
their own internal methods of innovation, but can buy or license processes or inventions from
other companies. This helps to further their goals while also providing the opportunity to license
or use joint ventures to share their under-utilized technology or processes with other
companies.

Closed Innovation

Before being “open” as in open innovation, research is conducted internally within a company
to privately create and manage inventions and new advancements before sharing them with
the world. The idea behind closed innovation is that successful innovation requires protection,
control and ownership of intellectual property while still under development. This is usually
through the use of special product development teams within a company.
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Social Innovation

Social innovation refers to both the new strategies, concepts and ideas innovated to meet the
social needs of society (including, but not limited to, working conditions, education, health, and
community development) as well as the social processes of innovation, including open
innovation techniques. It can also refer to innovations that have a social purpose, such as
distance learning and online volunteering.

Process Innovation

Process innovation is the development and application of a new or significantly improved

technology, production method, or method of delivery. This includes significant changes in
technique, equipment, or software that helps an organization remain competitive in the
marketplace.

Product Innovation

Product innovation refers to the creation of a new or significantly improved good or service. It
includes the development of new products, as well as changes in the design of established
products. It can also refer to the use of new materials or components in the manufacture of
current products, or the improvement of an existing product’s overall performance using new
technology or materials.

Radical Innovation

Radical innovation refers to research and development aimed at creating new products,
technology, or techniques. The process is called “radical innovation” because the invention of
new products, methods, or technologies can “radically” disrupt or change the structure of the
marketplace.

Incremental Innovation

Incremental innovation is research and development with the purpose of implementing a series
of smaller changes over time. Often times, this helps a company stay competitive or increase
their position in the market. It’s the most common form of innovation. Products or techniques
can be upgraded by improving performance, upgrading materials, or lowering manufacturing
costs.

Business Innovation

Business innovation refers to the development and refinement of an organization’s process for
generating new ideas, workflow procedures, methodologies, services, and products. The goal is
to create practices that accomplish core business initiatives.

Technical Innovation

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Technical innovation uses technology in new ways to enhance business workflows and
methodologies as well as improve efficiency in an organization. Some examples include
automating business processes, developing new technologies for the marketplace, or
implementing technological practices to increase worker efficiency and decrease costs.

Corporate Innovation

Corporate innovation, sometimes known as organizational innovation, refers to how the

employees of a company, the public or another defined group, organize research and
development together. Innovation most often occurs from the collaboration and combined
efforts of a group, not an individual working alone.

Marketing Innovation

Marketing innovation refers to research, development and implementation of new practices and
technology that increases the effectiveness and efficiency of a company’s marketing strategy.
This type of potentially breakthrough innovation can provide a competitive advantage in the
marketplace by increasing brand awareness and market share.

Value Innovation

Value innovation refers to the process by which a company develops and introduces new
technologies or product improvements that are designed to lower costs as well as differentiate
the product in the marketplace. Improvements made through value innovation to create both
an improved product or service and, at the same time, result in cost savings through the
elimination of unnecessary steps in the production cycle.

Successful and sustainable innovation requires thinking on a grand scale and imagining a full
range of possibilities. It involves envisioning a future that doesn’t exist yet. Regardless of the
type of innovation you’re involved in, you’ll need a tool to help you get organized and rapidly
implement ideas.

THE INNOVATION PROCESS

1. Analytical planning – Carefully identifying the product or service features, design as well as
the resources that will be needed.
2. Resource organization – Obtaining the required resources, materials, technology, human or
capital resources.
3. Implementation – Applying the resources in order to accomplish the plans
4. Commercial application – The provision of value to customers, reward employees, and
satisfy the stake holders.

MYTHS OF INNOVATION
1. Innovation is planned and predictable.
2. Technical specifications should be thoroughly prepared in advance.
3. Creativity relies on dreams and blue-sky ideas.
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4. Big projects will develop better innovations than smaller ones.
5. Technology is the driving force of innovation and success.

Innovation and entrepreneur

Innovative entrepreneur specific functions This is the medium through which the entrepreneur
creates new resource generating resources or ends the existing resources with potential
feasibility to create wealth. Both innovative and conceptual and inventive inventions will go
out and look, ask, and listen. Successful inventors use both of their brain’s right and left
sides.
They look at the figures. They look at people. They work on analytically working out what
innovative works to satisfy the opportunity. Then they go out and look at possible product
users to value their expectations and read

Entrepreneur = Creativity + Innovation

The ability to develop new ideas in creativity and discover new ways of looking for problems
and opportunities for the creative and innovative entrepreneur.
Innovation is the ability to apply creative solutions to those problems and opportunities to
improve the lives of people or to enrich society by creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship.

An entrepreneur is the result of a process that applies both marketplace opportunities to

creativity and innovation in the market. Entrepreneurs get married to their creative ideas and
business motives and frameworks.

How to overcome barriers to Creativity and Innovation

Barrier 1: Your habits

Imagine you see something unusual: a new idea, an unusual solution. Instead of cheering, you
first feel a sense of rejection. “That looks weird,” you think. Maybe you also tend to say,
“wierdo.” Why is that? Quite simple: Our brain automatically prefers known solutions to
unknown ones. This works faster than constantly searching for new solutions.

Barrier 2: The Feasibility Barrier

“Impossible!” Once you have an idea that somehow sounds strange or seems out of reach,

your head spits out a thousand objections as to why it can’t work. This barrier to creativity and
innovation is constantly in the way of idea generation and idea development. “Much too
expensive.” “We don’t have the right staff.” “This is practically impossible.” The objections are
often not unjustified: The path from the first idea to successful innovation is really expensive,
the necessary competencies do not exist in the company and the idea cannot be implemented
within existing structures. But what now? If you want to successfully implement business
innovation, you must overcome this barrier.

Barrier 3: The Knowledge barrier

A few years ago, we interviewed engineers from a mechanical engineering company. They had
to develop ideas for a significantly cheaper version of a system. But no matter which ideas came
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up, the engineers kept saying: “Technically not feasible.” For three years they tried, then they
gave up. The management of the company finally assigned the task to an external company.
Three months later, the device was ready to be launched on the market.
How did this happen? The management had underestimated the extent of the knowledge
barrier. The engineers involved thought that they knew everything that was necessary to
develop the device. Unfortunately, they missed one thing: They didn’t know what they didn’t
know. And because they didn’t notice it, they didn’t know what they needed to know to drive
innovation forward. The knowledge barrier is one of the main barriers to creativity and
innovation. It exists because your creative potential is largely influenced by your personal
experience and knowledge, your character traits and your creative abilities.

Barrier 4: The Regulatory Barrier

This barrier to creativity and innovation becomes active at an early stage. Before you even start
thinking in a new direction, it suggests, “You can’t do that.” The main reason for this is our
upbringing: “You mustn’t do that.” That’s not what we do.” In professional life, we are perfect
rule chameleons: we quickly adapt to the rules of our environment. Unfortunately, too perfect:
By constantly wanting to do everything right, we unconsciously develop barriers to creativity
and innovation.

By constantly making predictions about what might not be allowed, we shut ourselves off from
the possibilities that a deliberate breach of the rules would entail.
The regulatory barrier is also active in invisible laws, such as market laws. “The market works
this way and that.” This statement can be made until someone redefines the rules of the market.

Barrier 5: The Contradiction Barrier

This barrier to creativity and innovation is the downside of what is often admired as “clear
leadership”. In the beginning, managers are admired for their determined line and their
commitment. Things change at some point. But they stubbornly hold on to what has been tried
and tested. Why is that?
As soon as a discrepancy is imminent, the contradiction barrier in your head signals: “Stop!”
Because we tend to always present a logical and comprehensible picture to the outside world.
Everything that seems contradictory is tremendous to us: Yesterday we were against it – today
we are in favor of it, we feel uncomfortable with that.

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