Creativity & Innovation

Kalpana Sinha
 Define Creativity

Creativity is ‘‘the ability to bring something new into existence’’ This

definition emphasizes the ability and not the activity of bringing
something new into existence. A person may therefore conceive of
something new and envision how it will be useful, but not necessarily
take the necessary action to make it a reality.
 Creativity and Economic Development
• Creativity & innovation “is the process of bringing something new into
being………. Creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of
creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness
what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is
one of heightened consciousness- ecstasy” Rollo May.

Daniel Pink Classifies four era of economic activity:

 Agricultural Age(Farmers)
 Industrial Age (Factory workers)
 Informational Age (Knowledge workers)
 Conceptual Age (Creators and innovators)
 The creative process
Idea germination: Preparation: Incubation:
The seeding stage conscious search Subconscious
of a new idea of knowledge assimilation of
Recognition Rationalization Information
Fantasizing

Illumination : Verification:
Recognition of Application or test
idea as being prove idea has
feasible value
Realization Validation
 The creative process
• Idea germination:- Natural seeding process stage borne out of
an individual’s interest in or curiosity about a specific problem or
area of study.
• Preparation:- Once a seed of curiosity has taken form as a
focused idea, creative people embark on a conscious search for
answers. They seek information about the problem and how
others have tried to resolve it.
• Incubation:- It’s a stage of “mulling it over” while the
subconscious intellect assumes control of the creative process.
Crucial aspect of creativity because when we consciously focus
on a problem, we behave rationally to attempt to find systematic
resolutions. When we rely on subconscious processes our
minds are undisturbed by the limitations of human logic.
 The creative process
• Illumination:- This occurs when the when the idea resurfaces as a realistic
creation. “Oh I see” or Eureka moment!
• Verification:- This is the development stage of refining knowledge into
application. Is tedious and requires perseverance. Many ideas fall by the
wayside as they prove to be impossible, have little value or already exist.
The creative process Bell’s Story
Ideas usually evolve through a creative process whereby
imaginative people germinate ideas, nurture them, and develop
them successfully
Alexander Graham bell was fascinated with physics of sound
since childhood as mother had serious hearing problem. He
taught is dumb and deaf school and set up a lab for testing new
hearing devices. Many of these devices were like mechanical
horns that amplified sound waves.
He realised the possibilities of altering sound waves in various
type of materials, such as steel wire during 1870’s.
Experimented for several years with magnetic device in an effort
to produce hearing aid.
 Bell story continues….
In 1875 Bells’s lab assistant Thomas A.Watson accidently
clamped a magnetised steel reed too tightly to a magnet,
and when he plucked at it, the reed came loose with a
Twang that echoed, sending a signal along a wire to Bell’s
magnet receiver.
Bell heard the twang and recognised that an electrical
signal had replicated the vibration caused by Watson’s
steel reed. At that Instant the harmonic hearing aid became
a feasible idea. It took several years to produce a harmonic
telegraph (telephone) and several years to commercial
communications.
 Define innovation
Innovation is the process of doing new things. Innovation, therefore is
the transformation of creative ideas into useful application, but
creativity is a prerequisite to innovation.
Innovation is the act of creative destruction to device new and better
ways of doing thing that supplant or make obsolete old ways.
IBM Global Innovation study 2006 defined innovation as using new
ideas or applying current thinking in fundamentally different ways that
result in significant change.
 Types of innovation
External: Innovation that emerge from external environment. Could be
from technology, competitors, channel partners, governing authorities
and others.

Internal: Innovations that a company has to continuously work on, in

order to stay ahead of its competitors. These are of two types
 Incremental Innovation: or continuous innovations are those
efforts that focus on bringing about improvements in current offering.
 Radical Innovation: developing breakthrough new products,
services or processes that are likely to affect the economies of a
company’s business.
 Area of innovation
There are three types of radical innovation that contribute to wealth
creation in organization.
Business model Innovation- Significantly changing the structure and
or financial model of the business.
Operations Innovation: Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of
core business processes and functions.
Product/ Services/ Market Innovation: Creating new or significantly
differentiated products, services or go-to-market activities.
 Seven areas of innovation
 Strategy innovation
• Reinvented enterprise strategy
• Innovation corporate growth strategies
• Improved competitive strategies

 Business innovation
• New business models
• New approaches to value chain management
• New approaches to information, idea and knowledge management
• New forms of strategic partners
• New forms of selling and customer service
 Seven areas of innovation
 Organizational innovation
• New people partnership;
• Better internal climate, motivation and communication
• New forms of employee stakeholder participation
• Better culture of innovation and innovation system
• More efficient innovation metrics

 Product innovation
• New product categories, venture strategies
• Line extensions
• Improved products or services
 Seven areas of innovation
 Process innovation
• New processes and production techniques
• Quality and efficiency improvements
• Novel lean and cleaner production methods

 Technology innovation
• Technology strategies and road-mapping
• Development of new technology
• new ways of technology commercialization and exploitation

 Marketing innovation
• Innovative design and presentation techniques
• New forms of differentiation, positioning, and advertising
• Innovative distribution and customer service methods
 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• If creativity is the seed that inspires entrepreneurship,
innovation is the process of entrepreneurship
• Innovation implies action, not just conceiving new Ideas
• Inventors are not limited to those who create new products.
They include those who identify new technological
processes, new forms of plant life, and new designs.
• Innovation is the development process. It is the translation
of an idea into an application. It requires persistence in
analytically working out the details of product design or
service, to develop marketing, obtain finances, and plan
operations.
Invention versus Innovation

The creation of Results In

Invention new
Something new
knowledge

The transformation Results in new

of an idea or products,
Innovation resources into
Useful applications services, or
processes
 Elements in the innovation process
For a idea to have value it must be developed into a useful and marketable offering.

Translations of creative idea into a useful application

Analytical Organizing Implementation Commercial

Planning Resources application

To Identify: To obtain: To accomplish: To provide:

Products design Materials Organization Value to customers

Market strategy technology Product design Rewards for employees
Financial need human resources Manufacturing Revenues for investors
Capital Services Satisfaction for founders
 Using left-brain skills to harvest
right-brain ideas
• Creativity required whole brain thinking;
Right brain imagination, artistry and intuition plus
left brain logic and planning.
• The right hemisphere, is the creative side where spatial relationships are
developed, intuition prevails, and nonverbal imagining influences one’s
behavior. The other, the left hemisphere, is the analytical side where abstract
thoughts and concepts may be formulated, but only through logical and
rational processes.
• Psychologists suggest that most people tend to have a dominant orientation,
either to the left side(prone to rational, analytic behavior) or to the right side
(prone to creative, intuitive behavior)
 Using left-brain skills to harvest
right-brain ideas
• From an entrepreneurial perspective, the right brain skills are crucial for the
vision necessary to be creative, but innovation does not occur until left brain
rationalization takes place.
• Integrating predispositions from both hemisphere is the critical behavior
needed to a successful innovator, to use left brain rationality to “harvest” right
brain creativity
 What is Corporate Creativity?
Creativity is a core competency for leaders and managers and one of
the best ways to set a company apart for the competition.

Corporate creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the

world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections
between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.

Generating fresh solutions to problems, and the ability to create new

products, processes or services for a changing market are part of the
intellectual capital that gives its competitive edge.
 Corporate Creativity

Creativity is fostered in organizational cultures that

value independent thinking, risk taking and learning.
They are tolerant of failures and they value
diversity. Open communication, a high degree of
trust and respect between individuals are crucial.
Key people in technological innovation

Creative Champion sponsor

source

Inventor or originator Entrepreneur or manager Person or organization

Who creates something who pursues the idea, That backs innovation
New through personal providing leadership for with finances, advice and
Vision and effort applications contacts
 Can creativity be learned
A Study by George Land reveals that we are naturally creative and
as we grow up we learn to be uncreative. We tend to conform rather
than be creative.
Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that be
managed.
Learning to be creative is akin to learning a sport. It requires practice
to develop the right muscles and a supportive environment in which
to flourish.
 Can creativity be learned
Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that be
managed.
Learning to be creative is akin to learning a sport. It requires practice to
develop the right muscles and a supportive environment in which to
flourish.
Some typical mental blocks to watch for
• Preoccupation with order, conformity and tradition that discourages
experimentation
• Self-deprecation: if YOU think you are not so good, who is a better judge?
• Creative people believed that they were creative
• Demeaning practically: when you consider a new idea, do you torture
yourself with the question, “If this were such a good idea, why didn’t
someone else think of it?’’
• You can fall victim to over-intellectualizing. If you scrutinize all of the
possible reasons for finding fault in your idea, you eventually will find one
that satisfies your doubt
• Fear of failure: is never trying better than risking failure and the stigma
associated with failure?
Some typical mental blocks to watch for
• Denigrating daydreaming: ideas may be born out of inquiry; ideas
may be born out of luck; ideas may be born out of happenstances;
but rarely are ideas born out of an aura of rigid work ethic.
• Fear of looking and doing something foolish: you looked pretty silly
when you begin to walk as an infant.
Mental blocks can also be demolished
• No idea is too insignificant to be ignored
• Daydreaming is OK, but control it. “mind mapping’’ is a technique
based on this concept
• Teach yourself to become attuned to your thoughts, and write them
down
• Keep an “idea Journal”. Record your ideas
• Combat negativism with positivism
• Mull your idea over in your mind just before you go to sleep
• Break your routine
• Doing something creative is, by itself, creative!