The 6 Myths Of Creativity

Thought-provoking article on creativity from Fast Company, by Bill Breen. The myths:

1. Creativity Comes From Creative Types - when in reality, we all have the capacity for creativity.

2. Money Is a Creativity Motivator - not having to worry about money sets people's creativily free.

3. Time Pressure Fuels Creativity - pressure flushes creativily *out*. "Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up."

4. Fear Forces Breakthroughs - Rather, "creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety."

5. Competition Beats Collaboration - "The most creative teams are those that have the confidence to share and debate ideas."

6. A Streamlined Organization Is a Creative Organization - Instead, "anticipation of the downsizing was even worse than the downsizing itself -- people's fear of the unknown led them to basically disengage from the work."

To sum up, "when people are doing work that they love and they're allowed to deeply engage in it -- and when the work itself is valued and recognized -- then creativity will flourish. Even in tough times." See the entire article: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/89/creativity.html

Thanks for the link, SunirShah on Meatball.


Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what you hope will be there, but to get the truth, the realities that must be grappled with. You may not like what you find. In that case you are entitled to try to change it. But do not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts of the situation. - Bernard M. Baruch