The Myths of Innovation

Chapter 12. Creative thinking hacks

Each one of us possesses everything necessary to be more creative. The problem is that schools, parents, and workplaces tend to reward us for following rules. It’s something quite different to learn to ask our own questions and seek our own answers (which is one simple definition of creative thinking). This chapter is a high-speed, condensed version of a course I taught at the University of Washington on how anyone, with some honest effort, can easily become more creative at any task at any time.

Kill creative romance

Like most media today, this chapter starts with violence—and an unnecessary exclamation point! Close your eyes, and imagine the most amazing sword ever made. Now, with it in hand, attack every creative legend you’ve ever heard. (We’ve romanticized da Vinci, Mozart, and Einstein into gods, minimizing the ordinary aspects of their lives so intensely that their mothers wouldn’t recognize them in the legends we tell.) Next, using your sword’s mint-scented flamethrower attachment, set fire to childhood tales of Isaac Newton and the apple, Benjamin Franklin and the lightning kite, and Edison and the lightbulb. Think of other similar legends you’ve heard, even if they were not mentioned in this book. These popular tales of creativity are deceptive at best, wild lies at worst. They’re shaped to placate the masses, not to inform or help people ...