Who Killed Creativity?: ...And How Do We Get It Back?

Part I: Who killed creativity?

Chapter 1: Investigating the crime scene

Creative thinking CSI

Crunch.

‘Look Dad, a sailing ship!’

Sitting in the back of the car, our five-year-old son Kallen had taken the first bite out of a large, round biscuit — and opened up a world of possibilities.

Crunch.

‘Look, it‘s a moon now!’

Kallen was beside himself with excitement, but he wasn’t getting much response from Dad up front. You see, Andrew’s mind was engaged in serious work, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted by childish play. He had a keynote to prepare for, a presentation on groundbreaking new research into creativity and innovation, but he was having trouble coming up with a creative opening. Feeling under pressure to produce something suitably dazzling for the afternoon session, he knew he needed to maintain his focus on the task at hand.

‘Sorry Kallen, I’ve got work to do.’

Crunch.

‘But look Dad, you gotta look! It’s become a mountain.’

‘Son, not now! I’m trying to be creative.’

Crunch. Crunch.

Undeterred: ‘Hey Dad, now it’s a bird!’

Mostly out of a guilty sense of parental obligation, and probably also as a way to help stop the interruptions, Andrew turned to look at his son, who held a biscuit wedge a couple of bites short of complete annihilation, and grunted a cursory acknowledgement, before turning his attention back to the serious challenge confronting him.

But then it hit him. In a Eureka moment, Andrew suddenly recognised that while he had been busy trying to conjure ...