Can I Really Learn to Be Creative?

The simple answer to the question in the title of this, my latest post in the Innovativo Better Brainstorming series, is - of course you can.

I want to borrow some reasoning from the guru of creativity and lateral thinking, Edward De Bono. De Bono points out that there's a major difference between Artistic Creativity and Idea Creativity. The former cannot be learnt. You can't train someone to be the new Mozart because music and the arts is about the ability to express your creative thoughts in a particular way - through music, brushstrokes or dance etc. It's about the gift of turning creative thoughts into patterns that really express those thoughts such that others can read and interpret them.

Idea creativity is different in that we can all have ideas. Most of us have the basic gift of speech and writing and therefore we can easily express these ideas in the form of words or writing and if we use some of the techniques presented in this series, we can really generate masses of ideas.

As such, like De Bono, I too believe we can all be taught to be creative in business and idea generation. The problem is that the formality of our education system has taught us not to be creative or innovative. We're taught wrong from right, that X + Y = Z, that the world is round, the Normans invaded in 1066, etc etc. Facts and nothing but facts. Wouldn't it be great if we substituted History lessons and the routine memorising of often meaningless dates and the names of Kings and Queens, and had Future lessons instead. Lessons where our children are encouraged to think 'what if', to speculate about the future and to be creative in coming up with possibilities. This way our children might be able to scratch out the supposed reliance on the combustion engine and really start to believe in the possibilities of alternative fuel. History tells us the combustion engine is one of the most important inventions of all time, it was but it isn't anymore. Only those big coprorates that rely on it and the revenue from oil make us believe this. I saw an article on a new sports car that can do 140mph and o-60 in 4 and a bit seconds. It's electric... Only problem is that the battery lasts for about 300 miles. What if we put all of the best brains in the world onto the problem of extending battery life? Now we're into the realm of possibilities... We are all creative, we can all contribute. All we have to do is learn how...