Digital Digression sums up some excellently simple points by Mitchel Resnick on creativity:
- Imagine - open your mind to possibilities, imagine, be creative
- Create - Based on your ideas, create something!
- Play with it, try it out, experiment with it, does it work like you intended, why? or why not?
- Share it with others, find out what they think?
- Reflect - what does it all mean, the experiences playing with it, sharing it, maybe something can be improved?
- Imagine how it could be improved, what else could be done, start a new cycle of ideas.
The playful approach to this rather jellylike subject seems very useful. I have always believed creative organisations to be more dependent on culture than other organisations or firm. The crux being that creative organisations cannot compensate by, say, routines, rules, processes etc. Mr. Resnick's six points seem a good foundation for such a culture.
Andy Law, when still at St. Lukes, compared a good creative environment to a roller coaster: frightening but ultimately safe. (At least on a short term, one could add.) Michael Eisner, when still (successful) at Disney, stressed friction in an organisation, as a necessity for creativity. In hindsight both quotes highlight the very fine balance between sufficient amounts of friction and safeness. I suppose that's why creative organisations often feel like they are on the brink of collapsing. In this context Mr Resnick's points, as good as they are, might make creativity seem a bit simpler than it really is. Yet, a good start they certainly are.
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