By Dr. Leo Ann Mean
Creativity has been defined in many ways by different writers and thinkers. Nevertheless, there is a common thread running through the various definitions. Creativity denotes a person’s capacity to produce new or original ideas, insights, inventions or artistic products, which are accepted by experts as being of scientific, aesthetic, social or technical value. The crucial element is that the outcome of creativity is both novel and valuable. In other words, creativity is the ability to come out with new and useful ideas.
Novelty and value can be seen in inventions, for instance. The printing press, the internal combustion engine and the laptop computer are great inventions. X-rays, lasers, vaccination, waste disposal, rockets, roller-blades and tetra-packs all started off as ideas in somebody's brain. The ideas were then developed into what has become thriving businesses and vital components of our lives today.
Creativity also means putting together two seemingly unrelated ideas or things. The first person who put the wheel and the chair together to invent the wheel-chair has a creative mind. Putting floats to a plane makes it into a sea-plane that can take-off and land on water. Putting a library into a van converts it into a mobile library. Things that were previously unrelated and have existed separately for years are brought together. These inventions and innovations are manifestations of the practical application of creative ideas. History has shown that the generation of these ideas are not necessarily the domain of scientists and brilliant minds. Ordinary men, women and children have creative talents too.
Creativity also means finding alternative ways to do things. When it is not practical or possible to build a road straight up the mountain, we build one round it, we follow its contours, we cut a pass through the mountain and we dig a tunnel through it! We get across a stretch of water by building bridges or digging a tunnel under the water. Flying would be a faster alternative but someone has to invent the aeroplane first! That, fortunately was done a hundred years ago. Why can’t we fly like the bird? We challenge the obvious and come out with creative solutions.
Creativity is also about thinking differently and making things better, faster and cheaper as well. An example is about how the Swiss went from being the world's leader in watch manufacturing to a minor player in just a decade. A Swiss researcher was the inventor of the quartz watch, but his idea was rejected by the watch manufacturer he worked for because their watches just weren't made that way. They didn't even patent the idea. The researcher took his quartz watch to a trade show and there it was discovered by a Japanese company that started manufacturing it immediately.
MEASURING CREATIVITY? As creativity has been defined in various ways, it may also be measured from various angles. What are the measures of creativity and how do we know a person, a process or a product is creative?
It is fairly well known that there are four measures of creativity, namely originality, fluency, flexibility and elaboration.
Originality is the first attribute of creativity, the ability to come out with totally new, previously not thought of ideas. Artists produce original works of art, composers produce original music pieces, poets write original poems, inventors come out with original inventions and business people come out with novel marketing ideas, etc. The quartz watch is an original idea. So is the roller-blade. The first guy who thought of it and made it, is the original inventor. We can also cook up original recipes.
Fluency is the ability to come out with lots of ideas whereas flexibility is the ability to produce lots of different kinds of ideas. A fluently creative person can produce hundreds of ideas, for example, ways to get money, uses for a paper clip, and designs for a dress.
Flexibility on the other hand is not only thinking of ideas of the same kind but ideas of many different kinds. As an illustration, fluency in thinking of ways to get money include ideas such as selling books, magazines, toys, cakes, drinks, flowers, book markers, stamps, coins, etc. Flexibility in thinking of ways to get money would include not only selling all the items above but also exchanging the items, making various items for sale, working for money, borrowing, etc, i.e. ways other than just selling.
Elaboration is the ability to go into fine and minute details as in drawing things in detail, describing incidents at length and in explaining ideas and concepts in depth. Creative people have this ability. We all know how creative traditional arts and crafts are, due to their elaborate detail and exquisite design. Modern mass produced items on the other hand are generally plain and simple.
ASPECTS: Creativity may also be looked at in three ways - the person, the process and the product. A creative person is normally defined as ‘someone with ideas’. The creative person is someone who consciously defines problems and look for new ideas and fresh insights. He considers many ideas and different kinds of ideas. He can even change or transform ideas. The creative person is usually energetic, confident, independent, adventurous, thorough, spontaneous, child-like, has a sense of humour and takes risks.
Creativity can be viewed at as the process of getting ideas, testing them and communicating the results. Creativity is the process of relating, connecting and sometimes adding ideas to what is not previously thought of. Essentially, there are four steps in the creative process, namely preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. Preparation is the stage where the groundwork is laid - doing research, gathering background information and specific data and other necessary particulars. Incubation refers to taking time off, enjoying a rest period where the total process is turned over to the subconscious mind. Illumination is the AHA! experience where insights, possibilities and answers come - getting the great idea! Verification is taking the idea through a checklist of criteria for potential application, getting feedback, modifying and improving.
Finally, creativity may also be seen as a product. It is the ability to bring something into existence, something which previously never existed. Creativity as a product emphasizes originality as in coming up with original inventions, recipes, songs, poems, paintings, toys, weapons, machines, buildings, transport systems, etc. The mobile phone and wireless enabled lap-top computers would be good examples of current products of creative minds at work. So are sky-scrapers.
IN CONCLUSION, no matter how we view or measure creativity, it has a common denominator - it is the ability to produce something new and useful. Novelty and practicality are the hallmarks of creativity. Creativity is an innate talent that all persons are born with. It is also a process, a set of skills that can be learned, developed and used in daily life. Creative people are those people who do not suppress their innate creativity and who use their creative ability, thereby enriching our experience in all spheres of life, be it socially, scientifically or in the economic and business world. 
Dr. Leo Ann Mean is the Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Invention and Design Society (MINDS). He has been a teacher, curriculum officer, training specialist, lecturer and associate professor at the
His field of specialization is creativity in management.
He can be contacted at annmean@yahoo.com.
Article published in Symbiosis February 2004
