On Creativity

From Wikipedia:

Creativity (or "creativeness") is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts.

From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. An alternative, more everyday conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new.

The stages of the creative process:
From ArtLex

1. Finding or formulating a problem. George Kneller (American psychologist) called this stage "first insight."
2. Researching and drawing from life experiences (memory), networking, etc. This stage is variously called "discovery" and "saturation."
3. Mulling over the problem in a sort of chaos of ideas and knowledge, letting go of certainties (forgetting). Jacob Getzel (American psychologist) called this stage "incubation" — engaging the intuitive, non-sequential, or global thinking at the core of creativity.
4. One or more ideas surface. This is also called "immersion" and "illumination."
5. The idea is tested as a potential solution to the problem. Getzel called this "verification." This final stage often involves revision — conscious structuring and editing of created material.
   

When you don't allow creativity to flourish:

• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

• "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.

• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." --A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

• "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" --H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

• "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." --Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

• "Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

• "Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

Creative Thinkers:

• "Creativity is the ability to see relationships where none exist." -- Thomas Disch

• "There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes." -- Buckminster Fuller

• "Whenever you see a successful business someone once made a courageous decision" - - Peter F Drucker.

• "Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world. Imagination is the highest kite one can fly" -- Lauren Bacall.
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• "Instead of pouring knowledge into people's heads, we need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so that we can see the world in a new way." -- J S Brown.

Read more quotes at Mycoted