CAVE RITE ? AVERT ICE ? TEAR VICE ? CARVE TIE ? REACTIVE ?

I
RACE VET ?
CREATIVE !
The extent of human potential is not easy to gauge. Several of today's
ahievements !ould sarely have "een onsidered ahieva"le a fe!
enturies ago. Seemingly far#fethed notions have ome true$ !hether
it's %ying faster than the speed of sound or transplanting the human
heart.
There are some of us to !hom the hallenge and exitement of "eing
part of the push#at#the#perimeter$ at the extending edge of human
thought and apa"ility$ holds speial appeal.
S&'TRACT T(E )I*ITS
+oes this mean that every one of us should try to aomplish an
invention or a disovery? ,ell$ !e ould$ "ut ertainly !hat's feasi"le
and desira"le is that eah of us disovers the inherent thin-ing po!er
and ho! to tap more of it.
This an "e done "y attempting t!o things # ma-ing our thought
proess more direted$ and reating an enouraging limate for
ideation.
)et's larify !hat exatly is meant "y the a"ove. The .rst part is a"out
"eing a"le to regulate one's thought proess "y ultivating a method of
thin-ing. )et's say !e !ant to disuss the s-y itself # !hy any other
topi under it ?/ 0o! that's 1uite an expansive su"2et. ,e ould tal-
of it in terms of shape and form. The olours !e see in it at di3erent
times$ or at di3erent plaes. (o! oupied or vaant it appears. Then
!e ould spea- of !hat passes through or falls from it. Rain$ sno!$
meteors$ lightning strea-s$ omets$ rays$ light$ high#%ying "irds and so
on.
,e ould then disuss it in tehnology terms suh as ommuniation
satellites$ remote sensing$ radio !aves$ airline routes$ pollutant gases$
o4one layer$ and a lot more "esides. Consider the sporting angle and
you !ill get para#2umping$ hang#gliding$ s-y!riting$ -ite %ying$
"allooning$ aero"atis$ et. Thin- of the sounds you assoiate !ith it #
rustle of leaves$ a strong gale$ sharp sho!ers$ thunderlap$ high
hirping of "irds$ drone of airraft and !hat else ? As an "e seen
learly$ the s-y ertainly has no limit /
+id you notie that !e an approah the su"2et from di3erent vie!ing
angles ? That !e an shift from one angle to the other and try to see it
from ne!er and more angles ?
That it involves sifting and sorting through our memories and our
-no!ledge in a some!hat systemati manner ?
5irstly there's the sheer physial aspet # sensory information # of the
sights and sounds and smells and taste and touh. Then there are the
uses and purposes$ and other !ays in !hih it onnets !ith human
lives. 6ou'll see an ative searh proess involved here and it is a
direted thought proess. Energy is direted at onduting the searh
and expanding the list of mental assoiations as !ell as generating
ne! angles from !hih to vie! the su"2et.
The more pratie in onduting the thought proess in a methodial
and sustained !ay$ one 2ust gets "etter at it. Experts researhing on
Creativity have found that high intrinsi motivation$ independent
attitude$ see-ing analogies and use of divergent thin-ing$ a sense of
purpose$ and a la- of rigidity and dogmatism$ are all -ey fators in
Creativity.
I+EAS T(RIVE 70 RE)ATI70S(I8S and VICE VERSA
The seond part$ as important$ is regarding a onduive limate for
ideas to "e produed$ .ne#tuned$ exhanged$ and developed and
implemented through team!or-. (o! to -eep the ideational proess
fanned and fuelled so that the resulting illumination an sho! the !ay
ahead in di3erent arenas of human endeavour ?
'ill 'a-er$ exeutive reative diretor of ad ageny 'a-er Spielvogel
'ates ,orld!ide$ expounds on this$ 9 A "asi idea is li-e a ne!"orn
"a"e. It needs a family that extends "eyond the immediate parents if it
is going to gro! and live up to its full potential. 5athers and mothers
an't ta-e an infant all that !ay "y themselves. Along the !ay they are
going to need help # teahers$ dotors$ dentists$ oahes$ et. The
same applies to a "asi idea.
A "asi idea !ill never gro! !ithout the help of people !ho an
provide exeutions that ma-e it pratial$ along !ith other people !ho
put their faith # and often their money # in it and say$ 9 ,e'll "a- it$ or
!e'll use it.9 ,hat all these people together represent is !hat I all the
Idea 5amily. The Idea 5amily onsists of many di3erent -inds of people
representing many di3erent s-ills and interests. They are attahed to
eah other not "y shared genes$ "ut "y a mutual attration to an idea
in some stage of its development.9
*7&)+ I0 :7)+
R.;.Stern"erg has identi.ed the elements that are universal in
intelligent performane. In the early <=>?s$ he outlined !hat he
termed as the metaomponents of purposively adaptive intelligene.
These are <@ reogni4ing the existene and nature of a pro"lem A@
deiding upon the proesses needed to solve the pro"lem B@ deiding
upon a strategy into !hih to om"ine those proesses C@ deiding
upon a mental representation upon !hih the proesses and strategy
!ill at D@ alloating proessing resoures in an eEaious !ay F@
monitoring one's plae in pro"lem solving G !hat has "een done$ !hat
is "eing done$ !hat needs to "e done@$ H@ "eing sensitive to the
existene and nature of feed"a- >@ -no!ing !hat to do in response to
this feed"a- and =@ atually ating upon the feed"a-.
Clearly$ reativity or an intelligent approah is not only a matter of
aptitude and a"ility$ it "an-s on attitude as !ell. To "e reative$ one
must desire to shape the things around one. In fat$ in ertain
individuals$ there is an inner ompulsion or neessity to do so.
Stern"erg !rites$ 9I "elieve that a -ey aspet of intelligene is the
ative seletion$ !here possi"le$ of an environment that ena"les one to
apitali4e upon one's strengths and ompensate for one's !ea-nesses.
,here possi"le$ more intelligent people atively selet environments
that are more favoura"le for their adaptive s-ills$ that is environments
in !hih they perform more intelligently. If they annot selet suh
environments$ they !ill try to shape the environment they are in so as
to "e more favoura"le for them.9
1. Don't be afraid to fall in love with
something and pursue it with
intensity.
(You will do best what you like to do
most.)
2. Know understand take pride in
pra!ti!e develop use e"ploit and
en#oy your greatest strengths.
$. %earn to free yourself from the
e"pe!tations of others and to walk
away from the games they try to
impose upon you.
&. 'ree yourself to (play your own
game( in su!h a way as to make
good use of your gifts.
). 'ind a great tea!her or mentor who
will help you.
*. Don+t waste a lot of e"pensive
unprodu!tive energy trying to be
well,rounded. (Don+t try to do
everything- do what you love and
!an do well.)
.. %earn the skills of interdependen!e.
'eing responsive to urrent hallenges holds the -ey for individuals as
!ell as nations. In India as !ell$ there's no point in either "ela"oring
the olonial hapter in our history and it is e1ually futile iting golden
eras of previous millennia for omfort. ,hat !ill really ount is the
pae of see-ing ne! ideas$ devising solutions and formulating e3etive
means of implementing them.
The positive desire to shape the surroundings implies a fous on 9what
can be done9 $ 9where can we improve9$ rather than only on !hat is
!rong or faulty. Compulsive omplaining a"out soietal and glo"al
pro"lems$ and "erating dra!"a-s in any 9system9 annot "e
onsidered reative$ rather virtue an only onsist of devising ne!
means to surmount old pro"lems. Commonsense too suggests that
diagnosis is of little use if it doesn't failitate or attempt a ure.
Creativity moves for!ard on the "elief in the possi"le$ the po!er of
ingenuity$ a sense of hope and doership.
0E, I*8R7VE+ ITE*$ ,IT( 5REE EITRA A?J / (&RR6 /
7rganisations and teams$ in industry and aademia$ have ommened
programs to instill suh an approah along !ith some orientation for
developing the ideational potential among their mem"ers. 'eause
innovation is not 2ust "ene.ial$ in some "usinesses and ativities$ it
holds the only hope of !orth!hile re!ard as there is 2ust no room in
the mar-et for 9more#of#the#same#thing9 -ind of produts and servies.
Some ready instanes of mar-eting innovations # prepaid gift ard G a
fusion of a range of onepts ta-en from a onventional gift he1ue$
the prepaid aspet of ell#phone ards and the validity Gat shops and
esta"lishments@ fator of a redit ard. Another reent suessful
fusion idea !as that of a A#in#< toothpaste !hih om"ined !hite
toothpaste !ith gel. The strolley G you !al- and drag your "ag li-e a
trolley@ or push#along suitase or even the simple notion of plaing
!heels "eneath luggage is a novelty that surprisingly doesn't seem to
have existed "efore the A?
th
entury. Again$ the very onept of an
individual stereo player !ith earpiees G proposed "y A-io *orita @ also
opened up a ne! produt ategory.
So let's propose here$ a tooth"rush !hih has a penil shaped handle.
This tu"ular handle serves as a artridge for pasteKfoam$ !hih gets
released at the "ase of the "ristle#area through pores. So this is a
disposa"le "rush#um#paste unit that's used for ten to t!elve days and
is replaed "y a fresh one.
0aturally$ the idea !ill have to "e evaluated for its "ene.ts and for the
situations !here it'd ma-e a di3erene. 5or no!$ it has innovation
value. 7ne an ho!ever see readily that the Rail!ays ould o3er it to
passengers on an overnight 2ourney.
,ATTS I0SI+E T(E '&)'
,hile there has "een a prevalent tendeny to thin- that innovative
ideas arise in a 9sudden %ash of intuition9 and 9having a "rain!ave9
et.$ the fat is that for those !ho regularly generate ideas and expet
to produe a num"er of them$ there must "e dependa"le !ays of
.shing for them$ apart from the oasional 9pure lu- "ut heavy tug9 at
the end of the line.
Typially$ the start may entail forming a ha4y impression or a sense of
diretion a"out the solution !e are see-ing. A four#stage proess has
"een mapped. Information # the preparatory phase !hen !e saturate
our mind !ith diverse -inds of data availa"le on the su"2et or the
spei. pro"lem. Incubation # the data is examined and mulled over$
and there is an attempt to pattern or group them to o"tain a simpli.ed
relationship. Illumination # an insight is arrived at$ !hih is the !ay
ahead. Implementation # the detailing of the idea$ and !or-ing out the
means of applying it to the situation.
7f ourse$ !hile there are !ays and !ays to understand and explain
this tremendous phenomenon$ !hat -eeps it going is a"undant
hildli-e uriosity$ ade1uate fasination !ith 1uestions and possi"le
ans!ers$ and the faith that Creativity gro!s all the more as !e apply it.
( S.Balakrishnan has created ad campaigns since 1990; for
brands including Mother air!" #ero #onda" $II%" &racle etc.;
has taught 'dvertising for si( !ears" and is also on the panel
of researchers for the )niversit! *hallenge +ui, on
BB*-orld. .