Eureka myth

  • Great ideas don’t just appear out of nowhere.
  • Stories of Archimedes and Newton show proof to contrary

Originality myth 

  • We assume that ideas originate from one individual and that person is entirely responsible for bringing it to life.
  • Ideas have a much more complicated path
  • It’s often the influence of others ideas that creates a new idea 
    1. Ideas build of off of one another
  • Telescope was invented by 6 people
  • Guttenberg leveraged ideas from wine press
  • Van Gogh copied 30 of his paintings from others
  • We all utilize existing ideas and connect them
  • Innovation comes from combining previously distinct and uncombined ideas

Expert myth 

  • There might be no Correlation between the depth of a person’s knowledge and the quality of the work they produce
  • Expertise can actually hinder creative ability
  • Experts begin to believe in limitations of what is and what is not possible
  • Dean Simonton study
    1. Most productive individuals aren’t the experts in the field
    2. As we learn more about a field, our ideation rate shrinks. We tend to generate less ideas
  • We must adopt the mindset of a young learner. Become an outsider by entering a brand new field.

Incentive myth

  • Motivation is hugely important for creativity but the kind of motivation is just as important
    1. Intrinsic – results in far more creative work than creative
    2. Extrinsic – can be detrimental to creativity

Lone creator 

  • Edison
    1. 22 people created light bulbs before Edison
    2. His great creation was Menlo Park facility where he hired a team
      1. They were called muckers
    3. They turned Edison into a lone genius…. But it was instead a work of the collective muckers
  • Creativity is a team sport.
  • Team needs diversity

Constraints myth 

  • Creativity loves constraints
  • Constraints give us structure to work with
  • Lack of Resources is not the problem. Lack of resourcefulness is
  • Creativity requires constraints
  • 4 constraints that promote creativity
    1. Domain – provide a structure to work within. Limits variability
    2. Cognitive – limitations of the mind.
    3. Variability- how much does it need to vary from the original
    4. Talent
  • Constraints force simplicity
  • 37 signals
    1. Stop whining. Less is a good thing

Mousetrap myth 

  • If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat the path to your door – big myth.
  • We have to be persistent in face of rejections the idea will face

Important Links

Listen to some of our other related interviews:

Insight Out

Share0
Tweet0
Share0
>