Reflecting on "Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship"

Using the Learning Assessment Tool as a jumping off point, I wanted my final blog post to be a reflection on the different techniques, ideas, and books we examined and discussed during the last couple of months, many of which found their way in some form or another in earlier blog posts.

10 Creativity Techniques

In My Own Words and How I Used Them

1. The Job To Be Done. I think the aim of this creativity technique is to be able to clearly and efficiently explain the need that our rubber band group would be meeting from the perspective of the consumer. This technique was definitely important to my group because it was working through this one that allowed us to settle on our #BandTogether idea (more on that on Sunday!)

2. Brainstorming.This technique is sort of the "classic" understanding of brainstorming--getting a group of people together and scribbling out ideas on a large surface, allowing other people to be inspired and (literally) draw from each other's ideas to build up their own or others. I did this activity with a slightly different group of people than I did my rubber band project with, but I still thought that this was a good way for the class to "get our feet wet" when it comes to practicing creativity techniques.

3. Brainwriting. To me, this technique is a riff on brainstorming, in that the work is done silently and more personally; only a complete thought or idea is shared with the group, and then the members build upon it. I felt that my group was eager to discuss some of the ideas that were being passed back and forth, so it was hard to work through until the end of the exercise since we were itching to jump to the next step.

4. Random Stimulus. This was a technique I tried again by myself, and although the results weren't as successful the second time around, this is a good technique in that it gets your brain to think about the problem differently by introducing random and miscellaneous words and images into the process to startle yourself out of the path you had previously been working on. I think our group (and probably most of the groups) got a kick out of the random assortment of toys, celebrities, places, and foods that we were shown to get us thinking differently. I suspect that even that unexpected moment of laughter or joy also helped propel us in different directions and get to creative places we hadn't initially thought possible.

5. Creative Pause. This creativity technique is one that aims to let you step back for a moment or two to reset before diving back in to the brainstorming activity. This one was difficult for me personally since any break in work merits a Facebook or e-mail check, so simply stepping back, quieting my mind and reflecting for a couple of quiet minutes isn't something I'm used to.

6. Mindfulness Training. This technique is kind of like an expanded version of the technique above; it requires you to take a longer break to clear your mind before returning to the task at hand, but with your mind relaxed and hopefully even fresher. I think this is a wonderful technique in life (particularly during a harried or stressful work day) but due to the limited time of the class, I wasn't as enthusiastic about this technique within the context of the class, particularly given our condensed schedule. I am a huge fan of yoga in general, and would highly recommend the Sweat and Soul yoga studio for anyone who either loves yoga, or wants to try it out in a safe and friendly environment.

7. Thinking Hats. As an organizational and idea evaluation technique, the "Thinking Hats" definitely got our group off and running on our #BandTogether idea, because it forced us to focus on one component of the idea at a time, allowing us to efficiently and effectively work through the concept. Having a group member act as the guiding hand or "Blue Hat" also made this a particularly effective creativity technique for my rubber band group.

8. HIT Matrix. This creativity technique is another one that aims to shakeup the thinking or brainstorming process by forcing you to compare two (seemingly) completely different products/services/experiences in order to develop something new from one or more of the overlaps. This was a technique that my group practice offline and out of the classroom, which I think made it not quite as useful to us as some of the other techniques.

9. Provocation and Movement. This technique has you think the exact opposite way from what you had been doing previously; instead of trying to solve a problem, you think about ways you might exacerbate it. My group definitely utilized this one to it's extreme, which is how we probably came up with #BandTogether as a hashtag, and moved away from the actual rubber band as a physical object made out of a specific kind of material that we could work with and base our idea off of.

10. The Innovation Matrix. this technique is quite similar to the HIT Matrix, but instead of comparing products/services/experience with other products/services/experiences, compare them with markets. This serves to shift the focus of your idea from the creativity and innovation stage to the innovation and entrepreneurship stage.

Reflecting on the Experience of Pitch Training

"The Pitch" was something that intrigued me so much I wrote an earlier blog post analyzing how effective they were on the reality competition series Shark Tank. For me, working on the pitch in the smaller groups was what made it worthwhile to practice. I got to know the people in my pitch group better than other members of the class (excluding my rubber band group) and therefore felt much safer and more comfortable practicing my pitch in front of them. Similarly, I was able to really take to heart the feedback I received from them. I think this was for two reasons: 

1) Like I said above, that I felt so comfortable with them that I was able to understand that the feedback wasn't personal, but rather, was talking specifically about how I had delivered my pitch

2) The format of the feedback ("I really liked the way that you X, but wish that you had Y...") also removed the person and just focused solely on the pitch, which also helped me accept and see the feedback as helpful

The other wonderful thing about the pitch training was not just hearing all the cool and different ideas, but seeing what people were passionate about. I felt that the pitches not only revealed windows into people's hobbies and interests, but also tackled real-world problems and sometimes even aimed to start nonprofits and other service organizations that sought to help others, rather than just turn a profit (even if they were fictional.) I know I will try to incorporate much of what I learned about crafting and delivering the pitch as I begin to interview for and apply to different doctoral programs, and hopefully be able to pitch "myself" into an acceptance letter or two!

My Major Takeaways of the 3 Books

For The Creative Habit, I definitely took away the idea of the box, and being free to stick any bit of ephemera or inspirational object, along with files, checklists, post-its, and research materials as a way to both record and save every component that went into a creative project. I'm normally super organized and am all about tabs, files, color-coding, and organization when it comes to dealing with projects (normally because they're usually in very structured formats, such as papers or as other concrete deliverables), but the idea that I can just throw everything in a box and that not only will it be safe, but that I will be okay was something incredibly important that I took away from this book, and has stuck with me since May.

For The Art of Innovation, the idea that the physical spaces we create and the physical objects that we surround ourselves with are just important to our creativity and our work output was an important takeaway for me. Ever since I began working in the "9-5 world" after graduating from college I have been very intrigued by the different kinds of work spaces certain professional environments offer. I've worked in a giant room with no dividers; I've worked in a ceiling-less office. I wrote the vast majority of my GCS capstone at a Starbucks in Brookline, but banged out a 10 page paper (that I'm incredibly proud of) for my Feminist Media Studies course from the same position on my couch. I've read articles about novel desks in classrooms that allow students who tend to fidget to stand up and even move around while they do their work, instead of being confined to a chair. I think all of this relates to the kinds of spaces Kelley was talking about in his book, and I think that is why that part stuck out to me the most.

Finally, with The $100 Startup, I really liked the way he encouraged the readers to just "jump right in" when it comes to starting their projects. I can get really panicked and even stall sending out important (and even not-so-important) e-mails because the wording isn't perfect, or I can't get my signature to look just so. Obviously there are times when you need to have all of your ducks in a row (I wouldn't suggest a plane to taxi down the runway without enough fuel) but in the instance of a microbusiness or startup (or even job application) sometimes the key is to just jump right it and figure out some of the details later. 

Creative Work Created Out Of Creativity Exercises

The other day I was listening to a podcast called "You Made it Weird," with comedian Pete Holmes. His guest that day was comedian and author John Hodgman, perhaps best known to my generation as "PC" from a number of Apple commercials from the early to mid-aughts, such as this one:

Anyway, about 40 minutes into the podcast, Holmes and Hodgman begin discussing writing, comedy, and creativity. Hodgman says at one point: "There is no ritual, other than starting, that enhances creativity." And while I don't disagree with this sentiment, I do believe that there are certain activities or exercises one can do to help with the starting process.  In fact, Hodgman himself believes this to some extent, since right after he says the above quote, he begins talking about cartoonist Lynda Barry and her book One Hundred Demons.

Although Hodgman mentions Barry and this book as an example of an artist who jumpstarts creativity by "just starting" (he cites Barry's practice of simply moving pencil to paper, which not only get her hands going, but also serves to remind her brain that "she can do this"), I wanted to know more about what Barry might have to say about creativity or getting one to behave or act creatively. I borrowed a copy of One Hundred Demons from my local library, and although the content of the book itself didn't offer up much in the way of tips for creativity, some brief online research revealed to me that the genesis of the book lay in a particular kind of creative exercise. According to the website Comic Book Resources,

"The concept of the series [that became the book One Hundred Demons] was to do a twist on the Japanese zen painting exercise called "One Hundred Demons," where you paint your "demons" in an effort to get them out of your system. In this case, Barry turns her demons into funny, engaging and heartfelt comic stories."

I really liked the idea that a creative exercise (not unlike the many we have tackled in our class so far) resulted in a specific, creative piece of art. As a challenge to myself (and for a blog post) I decided to try and find 5 more books (or other creative texts) that were (potentially) borne out of a creative exercise. After spending a solid 30-40 minutes pulling titles off my shelf and doing online research to corroborate potential origins, I counted 8 books and considered my findings a success. Then, as I began to write up the results of my search, I realized that I had to discount half of those titles.

For me, one of the biggest challenges in this exercise was determining whether or not somebody was simply cataloguing an interesting, innovative or creative endeavor they had already completed, or if the book had truly resulted out of an exercise meant to jumpstart creativity. In the end, I kept in these 4 titles:

1) The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

According to legend (and verified by this NPR story) The Cat in the Hat came about after William Spaulding, the director of the educational division of Houghton Mifflin, gave Dr. Seuss a list of vocabulary words for first graders.

2) My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock

After being laid off from her job as an entertainment reporter, Noelle Hancock decided to do one thing every day that scared her (taking inspiration from Eleanor Roosevelt, hence the title.) Sometimes this meant running down the hall of her apartment building naked; other times it meant climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. This exercise was done not simply as an exercise to get her creative juices flowing again after losing her job, but also truly reoriented how she lived her life.

3) "Indian Education" by Sherman Alexie

One story in particular in this collection that really seems the result of a creative exercise is called "Indian Education" and includes a brief snapshot (a paragraph or less) from each year of the protagonist's life, starting with "First Grade." Although it seems like a series of 12 anecdotes, it actually builds up into a complete story with a full narrative arc and running themes and tropes. I know for a fact this exercise can help inspire creativity since in an English class in high school I was once assigned to write a story using this as a model.

4) The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Emma Donoghue

Each of the short stories in this collection is based on a historical news story, fact, or brief anecdote that Donoghue fleshed out to develop a complete story, oftentimes giving the women featured in the story more depth, empathy, and humanity than the original historical accounts may have afforded them.

And just in case anybody is interested, here are the 4 books that didn't quite make the cut:

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche
The Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman
Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky
Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World by Seth Stevenson