Think of this: collaboration drives creativity because ideas always emerge from a series of sparks – never a single flash of insight. We believe in suggestions to explore future posts on creativity and the creative ideas of any team by effective collaboration. This can be accomplished through a series of sparks and not a single flash of insight.
We have posted almost 900 articles in the 9 years+ we have been blogging as part of our Digital Spark Marketing website. One category we include in these blogs is creative ideas.
Now … here are the 5 most read ones that we will share with you. They will help you derive your flashes of creative ideas.
People-watching is a favorite hobby of mine. One of my many objectives is spotting intelligent people. This has been a ‘hobby’ of mine for several decades now. Let me share the many common signs of intelligence I have observed.
A young Albert Einstein struggled to solve the perplexing problem of relativity. He took to one of his many famous thought experiments and imagined what he would see if he traveled alongside a beam of light.
By imagining the perspective of such an observer, he was able to improve his creative thinking skills.
I spent the majority of my adult life managing organizations and I always felt enormous pressure to innovate, but whenever I went looking for guidance, what I found was a confusing jumble.
Disruptive innovation, design thinking, open innovation, lean launchpads and on and on. Unlike marketing or finance, there wasn’t anyone clear framework.
Yet it is also more complex because there are so many problems and so few solutions. To solve a really tough problem, you have to look far and wide to find the right combination of ideas. That takes an enormous amount of dedication and skill.
However, there’s no evidence that these talents are innate. You can learn the skills you need to up your innovation game.
This led to him solving the theory of relativity. The power of critical thinking skills can be equally useful to us as it was to Einstein.
As children, we’re naturally curious—it’s how we grow and learn. However, by the time we start school that sense of wonder starts to escape us. Perhaps the first shocking thing we learned about being creative and curious people.
You may be wondering …
We are all born with boundless curiosity, but as we grow older, a battle springs up between what is known as the anxious mind and the curious spirit.
Our instinct to explore is tempered by our desire to conform. We stop asking questions because we learn that it makes us look stupid. We stop putting ourselves in positions where we are open to uncertainty — and therefore vulnerable.
See if you have some or all of these interesting traits.
Are you looking to be the best creative thinker you can be? Then you need to be like Leonardo da Vinci and focus on continuous learning.
Some great ideas here …
The Italian master had the skill and great ideas, but he also had something else: the ability to look at the world around him differently.
While his name might conjure up images of famous works of art such as the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, or The Vitruvian Man, he was much more than an artist.
In fact, he was an architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, an expert in anatomy, geologist, mapmaker, and botanist.
In short, he was a genius.
However, genius and creativity are closely linked. How does one make connections that have never been made before?
Your success with building a change and adaptability culture in your business depends on coming up with great ideas and making them happen.
No business attribute is more important today as that of adaptability, as many, many businesses are on the brink of irrelevance. To avoid irrelevance, businesses must change as fast as change itself.
You need to have and try many creative business ideas as often as possible. Don’t you?
Do you have what it takes to create an adaptability culture?
The bottom line
These are interesting facts many of which we already know, of course. They are not rocket science and shouldn’t be. This list of little things simply reminds us of what we have forgotten.
Then it is up to us to put these lessons (or reminders) into daily use through persistence and practice.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to continually improving your continuous learning?
Do you have a lesson about making your learning better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of a business. Find him on Twitter, and LinkedIn. Please bookmark his blog for some great articles as well as stories.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
