Categories: Articles

The Myths Of Creativity

Are you creative?

It’s a funny question to ask, isn’t it? In my experience, people usually answer this question without thinking too much about it. Yes, I’m creative. No, I’m not creative. It took me a long time to get to this point, but I do think that everyone is creative. Very creative. And, I do believe what David Burkus has to say about the notion of confirmation bias, when he opens this fantastic talk that he gave at Google recently. If we believe a story that we tell ourselves (regardless of how true or untrue it is), we tend to find all kinds of supporting data to reinforce this belief, even if it isn’t really true or based on facts.

We do this all of the time. We do this to ourselves.

Think about something you like, and then start peeling away at those layers. Why do you like it? When did you first start liking things like this? What attracts you to it? Are these positive or negative things? Here’s a bigger question: how do we really know if we’re creative? Where do the best ideas come from? Well, in David’s latest book, The Myths of Creativity – The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas, the Harvard Business Review, Forbes and 99U writer, helps all of us look beyond the commonly held beliefs (…or myths) about creativity and the moments when we capture them. As you can well imagine, David has many powerful and intelligent strategies that will debunk these myths, and the facts are very impressive.

This is a pretty eye-opening presentation, so sit back and keep a Moleskine nearby…

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.