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Stanford professor, neuroscientist and author Tina Seelig, who just published InGenius: A Crash Course On Creativity, recently spoke at Google about innovation.
Seelig heads up Stanford's Technology Ventures Program and says that creativity can be taught — but you have to work at it.
Watch her full presentation here; otherwise here are the highlights:
TRAIN TO BE CREATIVE
When we're young we're given information to understand how the world works, but not given a parallel process to learn how to invent new things
REFRAME THE PROBLEM
For example: 5 + 5 = 10 could be reframed as ___ + ___ = 10, which provides infinite possibilities
Einstein said that if given an hour to solve a very important problem, he'd spend 55 minutes framing the problem
The field of astronomy was established by reframing the way we see the universe
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
If we don't ask questions in the right way, we don't come up with the right answers. It's all about asking the right question
CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS
Most of us come up with first answer and think we're done, but challenging assumptions is critically important
CONNECT AND COMBINE WHAT'S NOT OBVIOUS
Most people in the world see themselves as "puzzle builders" — if there's a missing piece, it can't be done
Entrepreneurs have a different mindset: "If anything can go wrong, fix it"
TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE, BE MORE OBSERVANT
There are always problems and solutions that are right in front of you
HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
It will give you the confidence, motivation and drive to solve problems
ENVIRONMENT IS CRUCIAL
If you're not in an environment that stimulates creative thinking, you're "hosed"
Habitat creates rewards, constraints and incentives
Resources — like communities and processes — are equally important
People get more afraid of failing as an organization gets bigger
USE ANY AND ALL DATA
After failed experiments, look at what they tell you about the user or customer — instead of just moving on
