Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

by Thomas Kelley

creative people simply do more experiments.

The inescapable link between failure and innovation is a lesson you can learn only through doing.

Fear of failure holds us back from learning all sorts of new skills, from taking on risks, and from tackling new challenges.

You know you are going to drop the ball, make mistakes, and go in a wrong direction or two. But you come to accept that it’s part of learning. And in doing so, you are able to remain confident that you are moving forward despite the setbacks.

“failure résumé” that highlights their biggest defeats and screw-ups.

As Brown writes: “When our self-worth isn’t on the line, we are far more willing to be courageous and risk sharing our raw talents and gifts.”

One way to embrace creativity, Brown says, is to let go of comparison.

As they become more confident, they eventually adopt a bring-your-whole-self-to-work attitude and allow themselves to be vulnerable in a creative context.

A sketch is often worth a thousand words.

Wherever you fall on the artistic skill curve, half the battle is to resist judging yourself.

“Courage is only the accumulation of small steps.”

CULTIVATE A CREATIVE SPARK

innovation—whether driven by an individual or a team—can happen anywhere. It’s fueled by a restless intellectual curiosity, deep optimism, the ability to accept repeated failure as the price of ultimate success, a relentless work ethic, and a mindset that encourages not just ideas, but action.

CHOOSE CREATIVITY: To be more creative, the first step is to decide you want to make it happen. 2. THINK LIKE A TRAVELER: Like a visitor to a foreign land, try turning fresh eyes on your surroundings, no matter how mundane or familiar. Don’t wait around for a spark to magically appear. Expose yourself to new ideas and experiences. 3. ENGAGE RELAXED ATTENTION: Flashes of insight often come when your mind is relaxed and not focused on completing a specific task, allowing the mind to make new connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.

ASK QUESTIONS, STARTING WITH “WHY?”: A series of “why?” questions can brush past surface details and get to the heart of the matter. For example, if you ask someone why they are still using a fading technology (think landline phones), the answers might have more to do with psychology than practicality. 7. REFRAME CHALLENGES: Sometimes, the first step toward a great solution is to reframe the question. Starting from a different point of view can help you get to the essence of a problem. 8. BUILD A CREATIVE SUPPORT NETWORK: Creativity can flow more easily and be more fun when you have others to collaborate with and bounce ideas off.

all of the creative people he has studied had one thing in common: at some point, they decided to be creative. They tend to: • Redefine problems in new ways in order to seek out solutions. • Take sensible risks and accept failure as part of the innovation process.

Confront the obstacles that arise when challenging the status quo. • Tolerate ambiguity when they are not certain that they are on the right path. • Continue to grow intellectually rather than let their skills or knowledge stagnate.

THINK LIKE A TRAVELER Ever travel to a foreign city? We’ve all heard that “travel broadens the mind.”

Try to engage a “beginner’s mind.”

Everywhere they turn, they tend to think, “Isn’t that interesting?” rather than “I already know about that.”

Rediscovering the familiar is a powerful example of how looking at something closely can affect what you see.

Look for new insights about familiar things. Think of it as a treasure hunt.

idea flow, too: the more fresh new ideas cross your field of vision each day, the greater your insights will be.

Linus Pauling famously said, “If you want a good idea, start with a lot of ideas.”

“What fun things can we do this year?” or “What healthy snacks would you recommend to a friend?”

PROMPT FOR IDEAS. Blank slates are intimidating. So get things rolling with a leading question or a drawing that people can build on.

REFRESH REGULARLY. Like the contents of a refrigerator, what’s up on the board usually goes bad in about a week. Then it’s time to erase and start over.

Ask yourself, what can you do to increase your “deal flow” of new ideas? When was the last time you took a class? Read some unusual magazines or blogs? Listened to new kinds of music? Traveled a different route to work?

Stephen Covey called this attitude an “abundance mentality,” and if you or your team has one, you’ll find it much easier to go from blank page to insight.

wandering mind can be a good thing.

our brains are often working on “task-unrelated” ideas and solutions when we daydream.

prolific mind wanderers score higher on tests of creativity.

“relaxed attention.” In that mental state, the problem or challenge occupies space in your brain, but not on the front burner.

Relaxed attention lies between meditation, where you completely clear your mind, and the laserlike focus you apply when tackling a tough math problem.

Our brains can make cognitive leaps when we are not completely obsessed with a challenge, which is why good ideas sometimes come to us while we are in th...

if you find yourself stuck on a problem, take twenty minutes or so off the grid; let your mind disengage temporarily. You may find a solution arriving like a flash of insight.

“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

A “thought walk” can take place any time of day or night.

The notion of empathy and human-centeredness is still not widely practiced in many corporations.

What do we mean by empathy in terms of creativity and innovation?

when you specifically set out to empathize with your end user, you get your own ego out of the way.

Empathy means challenging your preconceived ideas and setting aside your sense of what you think is true in order to learn what actually is true.

Empathy means challenging your preconceived ideas and setting aside your sense of what you think is true in order to learn what actually is true. that people aren’t conscious of. An interview won’t give you that. Sometimes you need to follow consumers into the kitchen.

LittleMissMatched sold them, with the slogan “nothing matches but anything goes.”

No matter how high you rise in your career, no matter how much expertise you gain, you still need to keep your knowledge and your insights refreshed.

Mark Twain said a century ago, “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.”

Amanda realized that she usually conducts a completely different conversation, one that builds patient histories and treatment plans rather than establishing empathy.

Do you ask deep, probing questions, or are you hearing what you expect? Are you making a connection or just making contact?

Seeking a younger “reverse mentor” can be a great way for an experienced executive with years on the job to continue to grow, flourish, and stay

The first step toward a great answer is to reframe the question.