Encouraging San Diego Creativity to Solve Business and Scientific Problems

Creativity isn’t just the domain of the artistic types and has practical applications for businesses. Without new ideas, ways of accomplishing goals, and unique solutions businesses fail to develop and grow. A paper by Deepa and Gopal (2011) delves into a model of creativity and how it can be used to foster business growth. The model focuses on four main stages of creative development that pushes a unique idea to a practical solution. San Diego has an abundance of creative people and artists from all walks of life that can contribute to economic growth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Art is a jealous mistress, and, if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture, or philosophy, he makes a bad husband, and an ill provider, and should be wise in season, and not fetter himself with duties which will embitter his day.”  The problem with artists is not the art itself but the practical use of the creative mind to solve real problems. With a little training and trust an artist can turn into an idea generator.

Creative people have the natural ability to see problems from a more holistic vantage point and make new and unique conclusions to solve problems. The very nature of science and advancement springs forth from developing a unique perspective and conclusion of a problem. The possibilities of the solution are analyzed through critical thinking and the scientific method. 

The four stages of creative development are:

Preparation: The period of a person’s life where they gain knowledge, skills and abilities. It is a long process of practice, experimentation, and trial & error. 

Imagination: The stage where new ideas are created through analogies, brainstorming, memory associations. It may also include other types of analysis such as cost & benefit as well as SWOT.

Development: From the imagination stage a few ideas will show promise and are moved into the development stage where they are evaluated for feasibility, marketability, and sustainability. 

Action: Once the most feasible ideas have been evaluated it is possible to develop a strategy for action.

Creative thinking for artists parallels creative thinking in science and business. Newton wouldn’t have discovered the laws of gravity without first being hit in the head by an apple. The Internet would not have been developed without insight into the nature of communication. Society itself cannot move forward without a creative and entrepreneurial class that pushes new concepts forward.

Business executives should learn the important applications of creativity in the workplace and no longer shun such activities but instead learn to capitalize on them. Including creative people on a team help to encourage that team to think beyond conventional limitations. Creativity matched with the experience of more seasoned members and with those who have analytical evaluative abilities moves the unique into something feasible for business purposes. The next time you see an artist walking down the street scratching out a living think about the other benefits such people provide if put to practical use. Places like San Diego have an abundance of creative people seeking opportunities to put their natural abilities to good use to the advantage of themselves and their employers.

Deepa, N. & Gopal, R. (2011). Advocating different paradigms: relevance of workplace creativity. SIES Journal of Management, 7 (2).

Learning About Perception, Creativity, and Science Through Poetry

Few things strike as true as poetry from great artists who pondered the nature of man and the universe. Some poetry is long and some is short but each brings a different perspective about this thing we call existence. The poetry below is about our imaginations and the power of seeing and perceiving the world. Those who feel and see the world do so through their mental faculties built upon the information gathered through their senses.

This knowledge is not reliant only on physical sensation but the interpretation of that sensation. Those with higher cognitive functions adapt, innovate and perceive at a higher level than those who don’t.  They make more connections, understand in greater depth, and can see the impact of decisions from the power of their imaginations.

Consider asking a person with no knowledge on a particular subject to formulate a relevant opinion. Without doubt the far majority will rehash the opinions of other notable people in society.  They may draw from famous thinkers, politicians, or leading figures in an effort to appear knowledgeable.  However, those who use their imagination create something new and truer than simple blind copy.

Imagination is most useful when matched with analytical thinking. We must first make a connection to a concept and then logically and sequentially analyze the truth or falsehood of that new concept. When we do this well we create something called “truth”.  It is a truth based upon new understandings that are supported by fact that create innovative breakthroughs in science and life.

Consider a poem by the British Poet William Wordsworth:

''Imagination, which in truth
Is but another name for absolute power
And clearest insight, amplitude of mind,
And reason, in her most exalted mood.''

The poem discusses perception and the power that comes from understanding. Perception, or “awareness”, mixed with the ability to create a model of an event is based in truth to the perceiver. That model is then tested through thought, experimentation, or experience to develop clear insight for others. Knowledge, perception, imagination, and scientific analysis create ways to innovate. Truth in society is built from generations of people who push forward new truths.

Are all Businesspeople Artists?

Art and business are often seen as two radically different fields that appear on the surface to have very little in common with each other. Art is for the romantic while business is for the realist. Art is a dreamer’s occupation and business is for the hard-nosed adherent to the facts of life. This artificial mental barrier may not be true as we think for art and business are integrally tied to the ability to see possibilities.  

There are obvious connections between the two once we start digging into the nitty gritty of their existence. For example, in marketing business requires the use of art to create stories, messages, and themes. It would be difficult to attract new customers in an atmosphere of marketing fatigue unless you are willing to do something unique. Most of us remember the really creative commercials that take into consideration visual artistic design. 

Let us move a little deeper into the use of art and business for product development. Successful business are able to convert products and services to new forms that generate higher value on the market. Art allows one to visualize something new, explore a previous unknown form, or ponder improvements while understanding how people will view them. Without a level of creativity these new products and services will never enter the conceptual stage. 

At an even deeper level we can find an association between theory and creativity. All theory is based on imaginary models that are tested for validity. The ability to visual how different components work together and interact in theory is similar to understanding how the varying colors work together to create an entire picture. Finding, formalizing and testing is all mental play that can generate great products like electricity or airplanes. 

There are differences between art and business but these are surface differences. Art is exploration of human experience while business seeks to reinforce that experience. It is difficult to sell products if you do not have a clear understanding of how self-identity influences the type of products people purchase and the underlining human experience that influence motivations. 

As a business person you may not view yourself as an artist. However, you are the maker and the creator. The better you are at your craft the more likely you are to sell that ability on the market. You must be able to see the options and opportunities through your abstract thinking to make strategic decisions. Failure to see new possibilities, build new products, and generate new sources of revenue means the eventual collapse of your business. 

Type of Art: music, painting, sketching, mechanical drawing, photography, acting, dancing, etc…

The Process of Creative Breakthroughs and Scientific Discoveries

If you ever had an “aha” moment or a creative breakthrough this article is for you. Occasionally, if we think about a problem long enough we find a solution that is unique and beneficial. Scientific discoveries often live and die off new discoveries. According to Melissa Schilling (2005) those aha moments are years in the making and often rely on the cognitive abilities of the person. They are derived from the way in which people connect information to find new and unique perspectives.

Insight is a concept that entails an atypical association through the recombination of information to create a shortcut in a person’s network of representations. This shortcut can re-orientate a person’s perspective and create cascades to other connections. The result is a verified solution to a problem that has been previously undiscovered.

These connections are from working decades within a field and often rely on tight clusters of information. In science, as a person continues to gain more information they are capable of building in their memory multiple tightly connected networks or clusters of information. When a person finds a unique connection between all of the material, they can create new frameworks for viewing solutions. 

The question remains as to why one person can find new connections while another person with equal experience cannot. In many cases, as a person works within a field they become locked into a particular vantage point. This makes it difficult for them to move outside of that perspective to find a new connection. Some may call this ideology while another may call it cognitive rigidness. The more engrained they are in their pattern of thinking the more confirmed their beliefs. 

This is where intelligence and cognitive fluidity become involved. Some are more prone to try new connections and incorporate additional frameworks of information that allow them to see different connections. They can trace back connections to find logical conclusions and are capable applying those frameworks to new situations. This incorporation of unexpected connections of new representations can be seen as:

-completing a schema

-reorganizing visual information

-overcoming mental block

-finding a problem analog

-random recombination

The creative person enjoys thinking in novel ways and often tries to connect information in unique manners. Some have developed mental frameworks that constantly bring in new elements and attempt to find a match for them within their existing patterns. Generally, such individuals are persistent, highly motivated by intrinsic factors, and enjoy working on problems they find interesting. Over the years of data incorporation, they are able to build stronger clusters and more connections. 

Outside of this report, you can see that science, breakthroughs, and creativity are associated.  Previous research on gifted people indicates that they carry many of the creative, persistence, and deep thinking abilities that afford opportunities to find scientific breakthroughs. It is possible that over their lifetimes their over excitabilities and sensory sensitivities afford opportunities to build additional tightly woven clusters. When significant experience is gained, they can reconnect this material in new ways to make a creative breakthrough.

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” Arthur Schopenhauer

Schilling, M. (2005). A “small-world” network model of cognitive insight. Creativity research journal, 17 (2/3).