CREATIVITY & STRUCTURE

It is quite refreshing for me to read that "creativity is enhanced when it is organised, systematic and based on highly structured processes", which serves as an interesting counterpoint to "the common belief that lack of structure and randomness enhances creative output".

Here's the link to the original article by management consultant Kal Bishop. I certainly like his exemplar from George Lucas' Star War movies.

Somehow, the author's energising ideas remind me of two great works:

1) 'The Houdini Solution: Putting Creativity & Innovation to Work by Thinking Inside the Box', by Ernie Schenck [principal premise: more focused & powerful ideas come from accepting the constraints instead of being controlled by them];

2) 'Get Back in the Box: How being Great at What You Do is Great for Business', by Douglas Ruchkoff [principal premise: the secret of success lies inside the box, by looking at your core competencies, work environments & customer landscapes];

Actually, there is a third book - just came in from Amazon - which I have yet to read.

It's 'Creativity Unlimited: Thinking Inside the Box for Business Innovation', by Prof. Micael Dahlen. I have bought it because of it's catchy structure around three key steps:

- Expanding the box: so that the pieces of the puzzle in it can move around more freely;
- Filling the box: with even more knowledge, and how to get these new pieces of the puzzle to connect with the existing ones;
- Shaking the box: so that the pieces fall into new places and form new patterns;

Please stay tuned!