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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Petar Dimov
    Essay on creativity

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 14
    sy, “Yup. To you ih new. le may be new to the word, But it sil not good.” "To say what is beautifl you have to tke a sophisicated group, ‘of people, people who know that particular at and have seen alot fof it and say this is good st, or this is good music, o this fe 3 tpeed invention. And that dosen’ mean everybody can vote of they don't Know enough. But if a group of engineers who work fon new stuff look at ie and sy, “That prety nice” thats because they know. They know because they've been tained init. ‘And 2 good creative perion is well waned. So he has fis of ll an enormous amount of knowledge in that field, Secondly, he tres to combine ideas, becate he enjoys writing music or enjoys rventing. And finally, he has the judgment to 3, "This is good, 1M pore thie freer” It would be very difficult to improve on this description of how the systems model works after itis internalized. Drawing on over cighty years of varied experience, Rabinow has dsl with great insight what is involved in being a creative inventor. And s his words suggest, the same proces: holds for other domains, whether poetry, sic, oF physics, ® THREE THE CREATIVE PERSONALITY Fei GUY IP, LS YE 98,99 ‘© be creative, 2 perion has to internalize the entice system that makes creativity posible, So what sort of person i likely to do tha? This question i very difficult to answer. Creative individuals are remarkable for thee ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. If nothing, tlie tis distinguishes them from the rest of us. But there does not, seem to be a particular set of tats that a person must have in order ta come up with 2 valuable novelty. What John Reed, the CEO of Citicorp, who has thought quite a lot about such things, says about businesspeople could be applied to creative persons in other domains se wel: ‘Wel, because of my jb, 1 tend to know the guys who run the top fifty, one unded companies inthe country, and there's quite 2 range. It has litle to do with the indasty- es fonny, there i a con- Siteney in what people look atin businespeople, but there’ no consistency in syle and approach, personality, and 0 forth, There is nota consistent norm with raed to anything other than bus ness performance. 8 Personality type syle There ae guys who drink t00 much, tere are guys who chase gid: there are guys who ate conservative, do none of the above: there aze guys who are very serious and ‘workaholic: there ae guys who-itk quite amazing, che range of siyes. Youre paid to run companies, they watch quite carefilly as dimension. How you do it seems to be a wide-open variable ‘There isnt 2 cleat patern, uemendowily different peesonalty types And it doesn’ seem to run by industry either. ‘The same is true for scientists: Wht leads to an important discov- ‘ery doesn’t matter at long as you play by the rules. Or for artis: You can be a happy extrovert like Raphael, or 2 surly introvert lke Michelangslo—the only thing that matters is how good your paint ings ate judged to be. This all well and tre; yet a the same ime it is somewhat disappointing. ARer all co say that what makes a person creative i his or her creativity is 2 tautology. Can we do any beter? We dont really have very sound evidence, let alone proof, but we ‘an venture some rather robust and credible suggestions. eshape the frst trait that Facilitates creativity i a genetic predispose tion fora given domain. t makes sense that a person whose nervous system is more sensitive to color and light will have an advantage in becoming a painter, while someone born witha perfect pitch will do wel in music. And being better at ther respective domain, they will become more deeply interested in sounds and colors, will earn more bout them, and thus are in a postion to innovate in music or art ‘with greater exe ‘On the other hand, 2 sensory advantage is certainly not necessary EI Greco seems to have suffered fiom a diceae of the optic nerve, and Beethoven was finetionally deaf when he composed some of his greatest work, Although most great scientists seem to have been attracted to ntimbers and experimentation eaely in lie, how creative they eventually became beats litle relationship to how talented they were ae children, ‘But a special semsory advantage may be responsible for developing an ealy ieee demain which i certainly an important ingredi- ‘ent of creativity The physicist John Wheeler remembers being inter ‘sted in “toy mechanisms, things that would shoot rubber bands, ‘Tinkertoys, toy nilroads, electric light bulbs, switches, buzzers.” His father, who was 2 librarian, used to take him to New York State Universi, where he left John in the library ofice while he lectured. John was Excinated by the typewriters and other machines, especially hand calculators “You pushed a bution. down and turned a crank, and how the thing worked, tha intrigued me immensely” When he swan twelve, he bul a primitive calcultor that had gears whitled out of wood, Without a good dose of curiosity, wonder, and interest in what things are like and in how they work, itis difficult to recognize an interesting problem. Openness to experience, 2 fuid attention that constantly processes events in the environment, is a great advantage for recognising potential novelty. Every creative person is more than amply endowed with these traits, Here is how the historian Natale Davis selects what historical projects to focus om ‘Well, 1 just get really curious out some problem. I just hooks in very deeply. At the time I don't know why necessarily itis that 1 invest so much curiosity and eres into some project. At the time, it jt seems terribly interesting and important for the field. 1 may ‘not know what is personaly invested in it, ther than my curiosity and my delight. ‘Without such interest it is dificult to become involved in a domain deeply enough to reich ite boundaries and then push them farther. Tre, i i possible to make one creative discovery, even a very important one, by accident and without any great interest inthe topic. But contributions that require a lifetime of struggle are impos- sible without curiosity and love for the subject. ‘A person alto needs acts 1 @ domain, This depends to 2 great extent on lick. Being bora to an alent family, or close to good schools, mentors, and coaches obviously isa great advantage. It docs ro good to be extremely intelligent and curious if I cannot learn what it takes to operate in a given symbolic sytem. The ownership of what sociologist Pierre Bourdieu calls “cultural capital” is a great resource. Those who have it provide their children with the advan- tage of an environment fll of interesting books, stimulating conver- sation, expectations for educational advancement, role models, tutors, useful connections, and s0 on. ‘But here too, luck is not evervthine. Some children foht their ww {0 the right schools while their peers stay behind. Manfred igen was Captured by Russian troops at age seventeen and taken to a prsoner~ fof war camp at the end of World War I, because he had bees Grafed to serve in an antiaircraft uni two yeas earlier Bu he was {determined to get back to studying science, eventhough he had had te leave high school at fieen and never Finished hit stdicg He cseaped from the POW camp, walked back across half of Europe, and tmade a beeline for Gottingen, for he had heard thatthe best faculty jn physics wat reasiembling there after the ravages of the wat. He reached the city before the university actualy had a chance to open ‘bat was admitted later with the frst cohort of students, even though hhe lacked a high school diploma, Caught up in the ascetic postwar dedication to scholarship, led by the most knowledgeable teachers surrounded by other equally dedicated students, he made quick progress. A few yeas liter he received his doctorate and in 1967 the Nobel Prize It s true that in eatly childhood Eigen could draw on substantial culural capita, because his family had been mesial and intellectually ambitious. Nevertheless, few people tossed by fate 50 far outside the circle of knowledge found their way back to is center as quickly and surely ashe did, ‘Acces: to «field's equally important. Some people are teribty knowledgeable but are so unable to communicate with those who matter among thei peets that they ate ignored or shunned in the formative years oftheir careers. Michelangelo was reclusive, but in his youth was able to interact with leading members of the Medici court long, enough to impress them with his skill and dedication. Tiaae Newton was equally solitary and cantankerous, but somehow convinced his tutor at Cambridge that he deserved a lifetime tenured fellowship at the university and so was able to continue his wook ‘undisturbed by human contact for many yeas. Someone who i nat known andl appreciated by the relevant people has a very dificut time accomplishing something that will be seen as creative. Such 3 person may not have a chance to learn the Intest information, muy fot be given the opportunity to work, and ifhe or she does manage to accomplish something novel, that novele is likely to be ignored oF ridiculed, Tn the sciences, being at the right universiy—the one where the ost state-of-the-art research is being done in the best equipped lbs thw the moat vishle eientsts—is extremely important, Georee Stier Aeseribes this 28a snowballing process, where an outstanding scientist fgets funded to do exciting research, atracs other faculty, then the best stadents—until a critical mast is formed that hasan irresistible appeal to any young person entering the fld. Inthe art, the ateac~ tion is more tothe centers of distribution, now primarily New York City, wheve the major glleies and collectors ae Tneated. Just as century ago aspiring young arts fel they had to go to Parsi they wanted t0 be recognized, now they feel that unless they run the gauntlet of Manhattan they don’t have a chance. One can paint beau- tiful pictues in Alabama or North Dakots, but they are likely to be risplaced, ignored, and forgotten unlesr they get the stamp of approval of critics, collectors, and other gatekeepers of the field. Eva Zeieels work received the imprimatur ofthe art establishment after her ceramics were shown by the Museum of Modern Art, The same is true of the other arts: Michael Snow spent ten years in New York City to catch up with the field of jase music, and writers have to ‘make connections withthe agent and publishers there ‘Acces to fields is usually severely restricted. There are many gates to pas, and botdlenecks form infront of them. Writes who want to catch the atention of an editor long enough to have their work read have to compete with thousands of similarly hopeful writers who hhave also submitted their manuscripts. The editor typically hs only 2 few minutes to dedicate to each writers work, assuming he or she even glances atthe submission in the first place. Getting a literary agent to sell the manuscript is no solution either, since a good agent's attention isa difficult get a that of an editor. Because of there botlenecks, accet to a Geld is often determined by chance or by irrelevant factors, such as having good connections Students applying to good universes in some disciplines are +0 ‘many and have such excellent credentials chat itis dificult to rank. them in any mesningful way. Yer the openings ate few, so 2 selection must be made. Hence the joke thatthe admisions committee throws all the application folders down a long stairway, and the students whos files travel farthest get admitted. ‘Tus Ten DIMENSIONS oF CompLextTY ‘Access to the domain and access to the field are all well and good, but when are we inet deal with the wal chownetriire nf Persons? When do we get to the interesting part—the tortured souls, "he imposible dreams, the agony and the ecsasy of creation? The reaton T hesitate to write about the deep personality of erative indi vidual is that I am not sure that there is much to write about, since ‘creativity isthe property of a complex system, and none ofits com- ponent alone can explain it. The personality ofan individual who is {0 do something creative must adapt itself to the particular domain, to the conditions of a particule eld, which vary at diferent times and from domain to domain. Giorgio Visti in 1550 noted with chagrin that the new genera~ tions of Kalan puinters and sculptors seemed to be very diferent fom thei predecestors of the early Renaisance. They tended t0 be savage and mad, wrote the good Vasari, whereas their elders and bet ters had been tame and sensible Pethips Vasari was reacting to the artists who had embraced the ideology of Mannersm, the style ush- cred in by Michelangelo nea the end ofhis long career, which relied 6m interesting distortions of figures and on grand gestures. Ths style ‘would have been considered ugly a hundred years eatlie, and the painters who used it would have been shunned, Buta few centuries later, a the height of the Romantic period, an artist who was not ‘more than a litle savage and mad would not have been taken very seriously, because these qualities were de rigueut for creative souls In the 19605, when abstract expresioniam was the reigning style, those ar students who tended to be allen, brooding, and antisocial were thought by their teachers to be very cteative. They were encouraged, and they won the prizes and fellowships. Unfortunately, when these students Ife school and tried to establish careers in the art word, they found that being antisocial didnot get them very fr. “To get the attention of dealers and ertice they had to throw wild Purties and be constantly seen and talked about. Hence a hecatomb ‘of introverted artis ensued: Most were selected out, ending up 38 3r¢ teachers inthe Midwest or as car salesmen in New Jersey. Then the ‘Wathol cohort replaced the abstract expresionst, and it was young artists with cool, clever, dip personalities who projected the aura of ‘creativity. This, too, was a transient mask. The point that you can- ‘ot assume the mantle of eeativity just by asuming a certain person- ality style. One can be creative by living like a monk, or by barning the candle at both ends. Michelangelo was not greatly fond of ‘Women, while Picaso couldn't set enowoh of them Roth chanaed od lide the dormin of pining, eventhough shee personales ‘Are thre then no Si ht iting creative people? 1 to expres in on word whot makes thes penonaes den fom othe would be sampler By it mean hat they show tend Ger of thought and action at most people ae Sexe. Ti consin contactor extemerinsead of being an “ini Gach ofhem i "ltade” Like the cole wit thangs all the us inthe spectrom, they tnd to ting tether the nie ‘ange of human poses within teaches ‘These quale are pent inal oe, but wally we ae tlned > develop only one pole ofthe dle. We mie grow op cal ‘ing the agree, compete side of our sues and Sin or ‘press the mre, coopetine se. A ernie ind x more Tkly to be both apgreive and cooperative ether atthe sae ine ora ere nes ending one tn Having ape penomlity ncn ings to exes the al ange of ts that se Potenalypreent nthe human reper but scaly atopy eens we think that one ot teeter ple “good” wees he ‘This Kind of penn hat many tat in common with what the Swi lic pycheloge Ca ng considered» marae posal He ato thought tat erry one of our rong pins ha epee Shadow ie tat mou fe ee to acknowl," very ede son may lon oe spntncou, he submis person Wiest Te dominant A lng are dw hee sndows, te ext ow be hoe or ed. Yet ht what we uly dy sads0 we Heep on “roeling pit ouries tying to ve Yoana that dors curve beng "A complex peroaliy doesnt mpy neural, othe average {not some potion a the midpoint between two poles 1 doesnot imply, fr istance, being w-wh 30 Ut one never very compeiive or very cooperstie. Rather i ives the ability to toe fom one ene fo theater athe oven resus. Fer taps cent! potion, + golden mean, is the pace of eee, what sofware wrt cl the dal conn, But ceive pero titel Know both extremes and experience both with eq inna Sd withoue me confi eng be eae ok thi one Clon a ters en pao spare ane i ht ar often both present in such individuals and integrated with each other ina dialectieal tension, 1. Creative individuals have a gret deal of physical enengy, but they ate ao ofien quict and at rst, They work long hous, with fect concentations while projecting an aur of fedhnes and enthusiasm, This sugges 3 superior physial endowment, 2 genetic vantage. Ye iti surprising how often individuals who in thei seventies and eighties exude energy and health emember a ehild- hhood plagued by illness. Heinz Maier-Leibite was bedridden for montis in the Swist mountain recovering from a lung ailment CGysrey Faludy was often ill a child, and so vas the psychologist Donald Campbell, Public opinion analyst Elsabeth Noell-Nes= tann wat_given no hope of survival by her physicians, but a hhomeopathie cure so improved her health that thie years ater she works harder than any four person half her age, fe seems thatthe energy of these people is internally generated and is due more to thee focused thinde than to the superiority of their gens {Although it must be sid tht some respondents, such as Linus Paling, answered “good genes” when asked to explin what accounted for their ahicwements) “This does not mean tat creative pesons are hyperactive, always on? constant churning sway. Infact, chey often take rests and sleep 4 lot. The imporane thing is that che energy is under their ‘own control—it i ot controled by the calendar, che clock, an texternal schedule. When necesary they can focus i like a Iser ‘beam; when iti not, they immediately start recharging thet bat- teries, They consider the rhythm of activity followed by idleness or reflection very important for the success oftheir work. And this not 3 biorhythm they inherited with thei genes: it was learned by tral and exror a8 2 stategy for achieving their goals. A humorous ‘example is given by Roberson Davies: “Well, you Know, that leads me to something which 1 dhink fas been very important ia my lie, and it sounds foolsh and rather trivial But Uve always insisted on having a nap after Tunch, and {inherited thi fom my father. And one sme 1 sid to him, "You know, you've done avfily well in the world. You fame to Canada as an inimigrant bey without anything and you trve done very well. Whar do you teibute ito?" And he sid, "Wel, what drove me on toe my own boss was that the thing that [wanted mou wat to be able to havea nap every day afer lunch And I thought, What an extraordinary imple 1 drive 2 man on! But it did, and he always ad a ewenty-minote sleep See inch, And Pm she same. { dhink ie very important. If {ou wll not permit yourtelf to be driven and flogged through i, you'l probably enjoy i more. ‘One manifestation of energy is sexuality. Creative people ae paradoxical in this respect alto. They seem to hive quite 2 song, tose of eros or generalized libidinal energy, which some express ie ino sexual. At the same time, a cereain spartan celibacy js ako 2 part of their makeup; continence tends to accompany superior achievement. Without eos, it would be dificult take life on with vigor; without restraint, the energy could easly disi- pate 2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at che same time, How smart they actully ae is open to question. Its proba- by true that what prychologiss ell che g factor—meaning a core ‘of general intellgence—is high among people who make impor- tant creative contbutions. But we should not take seriously the Ts that used to be printed on the sidebars of psychology text- books, acorng to which Jobn Stuare Mills must have had an 1Q (of 170 and Monat an 1Q of 135. Had they been tested atthe time, pethaps they would have scored high. Perhaps not. And how many chien in the eighteenth century would have scored even higher but never did anything memorable? “The eatiest longitudinal study of superior mental abilities, initiated at Stanford Univesity by the psychologist Lewis Ter- man in 1921, shows eather conclusively that children with very high 10s do well in life, but after a cerain point 1Q does not seem to be correlated any longer with superior performance in real life. Later studies suggest chat the cutoff point is around 120; it might be dificult to do creative work with a lower 1Q, but beyond 120 an increment in IQ does not necessarily imply higher creativity fs quite obvious. Bot bsg imellecralybriliant ean abo be dei rental to creativity, Saune people with high 1 get complacent Td, secure in deie mental speriocty,dhey lee the euros esen- ul to achieving anything nee. Learn facts, playing by he exist Jing rules of domains, say come so exily to 2 high-1@Q person that he or she never has any incendve to question, doubry and improve ‘on exiting knowledge. This it probably why Goethe, among others fai that ravers the mos important aribute of gens ‘Another way of expresting this dialectic is by the contrasting poles of wisdom and chilshness. As Howard Gardner remarked in fis stady of the major creative geniuses of thi century, a certain immaturity, both emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with Seep iasights. Mozart comes immediately to mind Furthermore, people wha bring about an acceptable novel in 1 domain acem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the romero and the deen. Convergent thinking is measured by 1Q tess, and it involves solving well-defined, rational problems that hve one correct answee. Divergent thinking leads to no agreed- ‘pon solution TinolvesSaeney, or the ability to generate a great [Goamity of ideas: exit, othe bility to switch fom one pet Spectve to another, and originality in picking unesua asocations Uridens. These ate the dimensions of thinking that most creativity {ests measure and that moet workshops try to enhance Te probably tue that in system thats conducive to cteatvily a person whose thinking is vent, exible, and original is more Fitely to come up with novel dest. Therefore, it makes sense t0 Cultivate divergent thinking in laboratories and corporations— Specilly if management ie ale to pick out and implement the {nest appropriate ides fom dhe many that ase generated. Yet there Tennana the maging sosicion that at the highest levels of creative chievement the generation of novelty is not che main issue. A Galileo or 4 Darwin did not have that many new idea, but the tones they fastened upon were 40 central that they changed the atte cure Simi, he individual in ovr study often cme to fave had only two or thtee good ideas in heir entre career, but ‘each idea wat 50 generative that it kepe them busy fora ieime of texting filing ox, elaborating, and applying. Divergent thinking isnot much use without the abiliy to tll a cre Cuearive Pensonauity 61 good ites fom a bad one—and thie selectivity invoies convert arpking, Manfed Eigen sone of several scientists who carn that the only erence between them and thee les creative collages shar they can tell wheter 3 problem i soluble of not, and tit aes enormous amounts of time and many fale stats Georse Soper eres the importance of Dud, that i, divergent dinking wee one hand, and good judgment in recognizing 2 vibe prob Tem on the other {consider that 1 have good intuition and good judgment on wine problems ae wort pursuing and what Tnes of work are ont doing, t wied to say (and I think this was bragsing that vrtereas most scholats have ideae which do not pan out Ore Thane any, pereent ofthe te, ine come through maybe 80 percent ofthe ime. 4, A third paradoricel tit refers to the related combination of Flafsnes and diipline, or responsiblity and fresponsbicy re smo eyetion that 2 plyflly ight atitade is typical of re= sees pandual, John Wheeler sj thatthe mos important ding fas young physicnt i this Bounce, which I alvays asocate with a se scence, Kicking things around. Is not gute joking, but it tha some of the lightness of joking. 1 exploring teas” David Pe an describing dhe attitude of “detached attachment” shit pak ham an astute observer of the social scene, sess the Gt he always wanted at the same time to be irresponsible and responsible” ‘Bar his playflness doesn't go very fr without its anthesis aquaty of doggednes,endorance, perseverance, Much hard work seemesory to bring 2 novel idea to completion and w permet the obnacles a creative person inevitably encounters, When asked aoe enabled him to solve the physics problems that made isn Throws, Hans Bethe answered with a smile: “Two things ate uted. One is 3 brain. And second ste willingness send rea timer in thinking, wih 2 deine posi hat you come ‘outwith nothing” Trae elton, whose playfully wild germs of ideas ate the Bene sis of her sculptor, very ira about the imporence of hard work: “Tell anybody youre ae a selptor and they'll sy, “Oh, how exciting, how wonderful” And I tend to say, “Whats s0 won- ‘defa?™ I mean, itt lke being a mason, or being a carpenter, half the time. But they don't wish to hear that because they really only imagine the fit par, the exciting part, But, a Khrushchev once std, that doesnt fy pancakes, you se. That fgetm of an idea does not make a sculpture which stand up. Te jst sits there. So the next stage, of cours, ithe hard work. Can ‘you really translate it into a pice of sculpture? Or will tbe 2 ‘wild thing which only seemed exciting while you were siting in the sto alvie? Will Took like something? Can you acto- ally do it pysialy? Can you, personally, doi physically? What do you have by way of materia? So the second parti lot of hhard work, And sulpere is dat, you see. Ie tthe combination of wonclerfl wil ideas and then a lot of hard work. “peob Rabinow ues an intresting mental technique to slow himself down when work on an invention requires more endurance than intuition: Yea, there atric I pull fo this. When Ihave a job to do like that, where you have to do something that takes a lt of cor, slowly, | pretend I'm in ji, Dont laugh, And if 'm in Jal ime is of no consequence. tn other word, iit takes 3 week fo cut chi, itll take a week, What be have I got to do? I'm foing to be here for twenty years. See? This 2 kind of mental trick, Becawte otherwie you sy, “My God, its not working’ tnd then you make mistakes, But the other way, you sy time i Of absolutely no consequence. People start saying how much twill e cost me in time? IFT work with somebody ele it Silty ‘backs an hour. a hundsed delle an hour. Nonsense. You just forget everything except that is got to be bu. And I have no trouble doing this | work ft, normally. But if something wil take a day gluing and then nextday [ple the oer side take two dye doesn bother me all. Despite the ctefies air that many creative people affect, mot of them work lat into the night and persis when less driven individ- tual would not, Vasri wrote in 1550 that when the Renasance tiv, he would walk back and forth all night, muttering to himself “"What 2 beawtfl ching i this penpectivel” while his wife hept ‘allng him back to bed with no success. Close to five hundred ‘yeors ltr, physicist and inventor Frank Offer describes the ime the was trying to understand how the membrane of the car works [As the answer may come to me in the middle of the night [My wife, when I was fist into this membrane stuff, would kick ‘me inthe middle of the night and sy, “Now get your mind off ‘of membranes and get to sleep” 4, Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality atthe other. Both are heeded to beak away from the present without Iosing touch with the pat. Albert Einstein once wrote chat art and science are two of the greatest forms of escape fom reality that humans have devised Ina vente he was right: Great at and great science involve a leap ‘of imagination into world that diffrent fom the present. The rest of socesy often views these new idea 2s Fantasies without rele= ‘ace to current reality. And they ae right. But che whole point of art and sience isto go beyond what we now consider real, and Create anew realty At the ame time, this escape” isnot into a rnever-never land. What makes 2 novel idea creative is that once we see i, sooner ot later we recognize tha, strange ai, its ere, “This dialectic is reflected by the way that, many years ago, the ants we studied responded to so-alled projective tests, like the ‘Rorschach or the Thematic Apperception Test. These require you to make up story about some ambiguous stimol, such as inkblss for deswings. that could represent almost anything. The more ere- ive ats gave responses that wete deisitely more original with ‘unowal, color, detailed clement. Buc they never gave “biatre™ responses, which normal people occasionally do. A bizare response is one tat, with ll the goodwill inthe work, one could ot ee inthe simul, For instance ian inkbot looks vaguely lke 2 butter, and you say that it looks like a submarine without being thle to give a sensible civ 38 to what inthe inkblot made you sy fo, the response would be scored 2s bizare. Normal people are rarely original, but they are sometimes bizarre. Creative people, i emt, ate original without being bite. The novelty they se i 66 cneariviny Most of us asume that artits—muscians, writers, poet, painters—are strong on the fntay side, wheres cients, polit ans, and businesspeople ae realists, This may be tre in terms of Ary-to-day routine activities. But when a perion begint to work creatively, all bets are off—theactit may beat mach a realist asthe pliysicis, and the physest as imaginative asthe arti. ‘We certainly think of bankers, for example, at having rather pedestrian, commonsense view of what is teil and what is not. Yet financial leader such as John Reed has muuch to say that dis pels that notion. In his interview, he returns again and again to the theme that reality is relative and constantly changing, « per- spective tha he think i exenil ¢o conffonting the future ere— atively I dont think dhere is sucha thing a rely. There are widely varying descriptions of realty, and you've got to be alert to when they change and what realy going on. No ane is going to truly grasp it, but you have to stay ely active on that end, ‘That implies you have to have a multifaceted perspective. ‘There isa set of realities that exit at sry moment in time. 1 always have some kind of a model in my mind at to what 1 think is going oa in ehe world, I'm always coning that [model] and tying to get diferent insights a [look at things, and {try to relate i back to what it means to out busine, to how one behaves, yu wil T don't mean to ty there fant anything in the centes. {just think we can Took ait (reality in so many differen ways. Right nw, ia my busines, banks ae deemed tobe sucesfl bated on capital ratios. Ten years ago there was no concept ofthe “capital ratio” [filed totally ro understand the impact ofthe saving and loan crisis on Congress, the regulators, and the industry. The ‘worl I'm living in today bears litle resemblance tothe world lived in ten yeas ago, wih regard to what was thought to be important. So we have defined a rity, which a Tsay is not cempry, but it close to being empty. Like anybody else, I was slow to recogize the new rely. Knowing these kinds of things tarns out to be awlly relevant, because your depress of feedom gee uken away if you's off base. [ went through 2 masive adjustment to play 2 game that ‘vas diferent from the one you saw befor. Bu it 4 changing reality. know goddamn well hat there capital ratios are not suf ficiently robast co be long-term, decent leading indicators of things, and five years from now the people whe worry about ‘how to price bank stocks are not ping to be Focusing on thote, I describe succes as eelatnary succes. ‘What Einstein implied about art and science reappears in this account of banking: It is an eolionay process, where current reality becomes rapidly obsolete, and one mist be om the let for the shape of things to come. At the same time, the emeeging real ity nota fanciful conceit but something inherent in the here and now. It would be easy to dimist Reeds visionary view as the romancing of a businessman who has had one too many encoun- ters with realty: But aparently his unorthodox approach works: A recent issue of Namuede announced: “John Reed might be cexcosed a litle gloating... Since his drkert days the years ago Inet quietly produced a stunning 425 percent return for investors ‘ho bought Citicorp shares” And one commentator ad thatthe ‘overias investments Reed made were considered junk five years ago, whereas now they ae seen a a hot stock, “Nothing's changed but the perception” the nancial expert says echoing Reed’ take fom the realty ofthe market. 5. Creative people sem to harbor opposite tendencies on the con- ‘inuum between extroverion end intoversion. Usually each of ws tends tobe one or the othe, ether preferring to be inthe thick of | rowel or siting on the sidelines and observing the passing show, In fic, in current psychological research, extroversion and into version are considered the most stable perronalty traits that difer- cntiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured, (Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to express both tats at the same dine. ‘The stereoype ofthe "solitary genine” i trong, and gets ample support aio fom our interviews. Afr all, one must geneily be alone in order to write, punt, or do experiments in 4 laboratory, ‘As we know from suds of young talented people, teenagers who ‘cannot sand being alone tend not to develop their sil because (Only those teens who can tolerate being alone are able co master ‘the symbolic content of domain, ‘Yet over and over agai, the importance of seeing people, hear ing people, exchanging ideas, and geting to know another per son’ work and mind ae stressed by creative individuals. The phys {st ohn Wheeler express this point with his usual directness. “If Jou don't Kick things around with people, you are out of i Nobody, | always sy. can be anybody without somebody being sound” ‘Physicist Freeman Dyson expreis with 2 Gne nuance the oppo ste phases ofthis dichotomy in his work. He points tothe door of | is office and sys: Science isa very gregarious business. Ie is esentily the dif ference between having this door open and having it shut. ‘When Tam doing scence {have the door open. I mean, that it kind of symbolic, but i true, You want to be, all the ime, talking with people. Up to 2 poiat you welcome being inter- rupted because itis only by interacting with other people that, you get anything interesting done. Ts essentially 2 communal tntcrprse, There ate new things happening al the time, and you should keep abreast and keep yourself aware of what is foing on. You must be constantly talking, But, of coune, ‘ritng is diferent, When Iam weting {have the door shit, tnd even then too mich sound comes though, so very offen when fam writing I go and hide inthe library, Its 2 solitary fame. So, I suppose that is the main diference. But then, sfierward, ofcourse the feedback is very strong, and you get teemencdows enrichment of contacts 384 tesult. Lots and lots of people write me letters simply because Ihave writen books ‘which address a general public, so T get into touch with = Imach wider cicle of friends, W's broadened my horizons very fnuch. But that is only aftr the writing is Gnished and not while is going on. John Reed builds the alternation between inner-drected reflec tion and intense social intercon into his daily routine: mv an early morning guy. [get up at ve abways, get out of the shower about 5:0, and I typically try to work either at home or a the office, snd thats when 1 do 2 guod bit of iy thinking and peiocty setting, 'm 2 grt liste. [have twenty fists of tings to do all he time, If ever have five free minutes sit and make lite of hinge that I should be worrying about or ‘ding. Typically 1 get to the ofce about 6:30. I try to keep a reuonably quiet time until 930 of 10:00, Then you get invcleed in lou of wamactinns. you are chairman ofthe com- pany its like being a tribal chiefain. People come into your ‘office and elk to you. Even in the very private teal ofthe arts the ability to interact fs enental. Nina Holton describes well the role of sociability in ‘You realy anit work entirely lone ip your place. You want to hive a flow artist come and tlk things over with you— “How does that strike you?” You have to have some sort of feedback. You cant be siting there eniely by yourself and never show i And then eventual, you know, when you begin to show, you have to have a whole necwork, You have to get to Jenow gallery people, you have to get to know people who work jn your feld who are involved. And you may want find out ‘whether you wish to be part of it or not be part oft, but you ‘annot help being pat ofa fellowship, you know? cob Rabinow again puts into clear words the dilemma that i many creative individual ice: 1 remember once we had a big party and Gladys [his wife] ssid that 1 sometimes walk to 2 diflrent drummer, In other ‘word, 'm 40 involved in an ide I'm working on, T get 30 cat Tied away, hat Um all by mypel, mn not isting to what amy= body sy, This sometimes happens. That you've got 2 new idea and you feel that i@ very good and youte to involved that ‘you've not paying attention to anybody. And you tend to dit “ony from peopl. Its very hard for me to be objective. I dont Know I'm social {ike people, ike to tell jokes, 1 ike £0 500 the theater, But its probably trae that there are mes when ‘Gladys would have liked me to pay more attention to er and to the family {love my chien, they love me, and we have 2 wonderfil lationship, But i could be that if I were not an inventor but had 2 routine job (8 spend more sme at home and 1 pay mote atention to them, and th job would be something that would ike ta da, So maybe people who dont ke their jobs love this home more, Ik quite posible 6, Creative individual are ko remarkably humble and provd at the sme time, Iti remarkable to mest a famous person whom you expect to be arrogant of superiious, only to encounter sll Aeprecation and shyness instead. Yet there are good reasons why this shouldbe so. In che Sit plce, these individuals are well aware that they sand, in Newton’ words, “on the shoulders of gant” ‘Theie respect for the domsin in which they work makes them wate ofthe long line of previous contributions to it, which pus their own into perspective, Second, they alo are aware ofthe role that luck played in their wn achievements. And thied,chey ae ‘osaly so focused on future projects and current challenges that their past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, a no longer very interesting to them. Ebiabeth Noell-Neumann’ answer to the question “Looking buck on all your accomplish rents, which one would you ay you ae most proud of?” typi oa 1 never think of what I am proud about. I never look back, except to find out about mistakes, Because mistakes are hard to emember and to draw conclsions from. But I only see danger in thinking back about things you ate proud of When people ask me if lam provd of someting, I jst shrug and hope to get fay as soon 28 posible. [should explain that my way is alvays to Took ahead, all my pleasant thoughts are about the Fur. It has been this way since Iwas twenty years old start every day fiesh, The most important thing for me is to keep up the research inatitat, to keep up empirical research, Despite her great accomplishments and reputation in the Bld, neuropsychologist Brenda Milner ells of being very sel-ritcl and of having enormous relE-doubts about being creative. The ‘Canadian artist Michael Snow attributes the ress experimentar tion that fed him to 0 many successes to a sense of eonfison and ‘Another indication of modesty is how often this question was, answered in terms of the family eather than the accomplishments that made a perion famous, Por instance, Freeman Dyson’ atswer ‘was “I suppose itis jst to have nase sx kids, and brought ther ‘up a fir as one can see, ll to be interesting people. [think that's shat Tamm most pron of ally” And John Rnedie "Oh, Govt ‘Thats real... suppose being 4 parent. Ihave four kid. If you had co sy what has both surprised and given you alot of pleasure, Tsay that I'm elose to my kids and I enjoy them, and F never ‘would have guessed that that would be as much fan a ie turned ‘out o be” ‘At the same time oF coure, no matter how modest these indi- viduals are, they know that in comparison with others they have accomplished 2 great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of | secuigy, even pride, This is often expresied a a sense ofself-su ance. For instance, medical plysicit Rosslyn Yalow mentioned repeatedly that all through her life she never had any doubts about succeeding in wht she started out to do, Jacob Rabinow concurs: “Thece’ one other thing that you do when you invent. And that what T ell the Existence Proof, This means that you have to assume that i can be done. If you dont asume that, you won't ‘even ty. And I always astme that not only t can be done, but 1 can do it” Some inividoals stress humility, others slf-asurance, ‘but in actuality all ofthe people we interviewed seemed to have 3 ood dose of both, Another way of expresting this duality is to See it asa contrast bevween anion and sefesnes, or competition and cooperation, eis often necesry for creative individuals to be ambitious and aggresive. Yet atthe same time, they are offen wiling to subordi- ‘ate heir own personal comfort and advancement to the success of whatever project they are working on. Aggresivenes is required epecilly in fields where competition is seute, or in domains ‘where is diicult to introduce nove. In George Stigler’ words: very scholar, I think, is aggresive in some sense. He hat to be aggresive if he want to change is discipline. Now, if you eta Keynes ora Friedman, they are also aggressive in that they ‘want to change the wotld, and so they become splendid public Sigures aswell: But thats very hard game to play. yo cnexronty Brenda Milner claims thatthe she has always een very SEB sive webally, john Gardiner, statesman and founder of several sonal prsroots politcal organizations, describes well both the escefl and aggresive Sines chat coexist within these per 1 was the peesident of the Carnegie Corporation. 1 had + very imerestng Hie, but not Tot of new challenge not 2 ver aleous Bf, 1 was well protected. When I went to Wash ington I dcovered Tot of things about mye that ¥ didnt snc { discovered that 1 liked politicians. 1 got along. wel wean them, I enjoyed dealing withthe pres, as much 38 any- Tne can enjoy dealing with the pres. And then T dicovered ho | enjoyed a political Fight, which was about 2 fr 20a ftom my self-image a yoo ean get. 'm a very peacefl petson. ‘Bur these things come out. Life pulls them out of you, aad af fay, Tan slow lamer, but in my miafities I esmed some jeteresting things. ‘Several petone mention that in the cours oftheir caters moti- tion has shied from elf-centered goals t9 more alti inter~ vee For instance, Sarah LeVine, who started out a5 an anthropolo- (Git and then became aGtion writer, has hit 87: ‘Up until quite eceny fused to think of prodvcton ony for ae greater glory of mye, saly 1 dont ee it that way a all snymowe, Lean, itt rice ifone get recognition for what one ‘Joes but mich more important sto leave something that other people ca learn about, dT suppose that comes with mile 2 17 wall cultures, men are brought up to be “maselin CGsepard and repre thor aspects of thir temperament tat che aloe regards as "feminine," whereas women ae expected t0 do ‘he ebponte, Creative individuals to a certain extent escape this vig gender tole exeatyping. When es of mascot feinine reece given to young people ver and over one in tat ceive wo toed gis are more dominant and tough than other etl, sity creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive chan their parhpeealg ply sexual terms and sherefore it gts confxed with homosex Tat, Bor paychological androgyny is + much wider concept ‘Sleting to's peson’ ability t beat che sare ime aggresive and ‘Gorturant,senitve and rigid dominant and submissive, cepa ‘Ot gender. A peychologialyandrogmnous person in effect doubles stor her repevtoite of responses and can inert withthe world in terns of much richer and varied spectrum of opportunities. Te IE not surpdsing that creative individuals are more likely to awe rot only the strength oftheir own gender but those of the other “Kosong the people we interviewed, cis form of andropyny wt iicuk to detce--no doubt in part because we did not we any Standard test co measure its presence. Neverthles it was obvious thar the women arts and scientists tended to be much more Terive, velfconfdent, and openly aggresive than women ate {enenly brought up to Be in our society. haps the mos odce- ie evidence forthe "Yemininity” of the men in the sample wat thee rear preoccupation with thie family and their sensitivity to tubule specu of the environment that other men ae inclined c0 “Femi as unimportant. Bot despite having these eats that are not “gual to their gender, they retained the usual gender-specific eit pve In general the women were perfectly “feminine” and the ten thoroughly “masculng in addition to having cros-gender 8, Genenily, creative people ae thought tobe rbelious and inde pendent, Yer i is imposible o be creative without having Gist Frenalized + dain of cutute, Anda person mas believe i the Jmmportance of such 2 domain in order to learn is rules henes he rahe must be toa cetain extent a tational, So iti dificue osce how a person ean be ereative without being bot tonal tnd comersatve and atthe same ne rebelions and inca, Being Shi trtional Ienves the domain unchanged: consanily taking Chances without tegard to what has been valved inthe pas rely feats to novely thats accepted as 2m improvement. The artt Eva ‘Zeisel, who says that the folk tradition in which she works is “her oma” nevertheless prodaces ceramics that were secognized by the -Moseusn of Modern Art a masterpieces of contemporary design hissing i tt Him rE aye i: eee, on ofa you 2 we ‘ofthese crafis, you have to be ree mayne swen wy = ae ‘diferent from different. Secondly, of ‘Bt he willingness to take is, 0 break wih te ify an Ne Mo mmcemry. The econo Gear Sigler vey emp hie soma ny one be ot coon as oe ee on ete gone yl: Ser es Sa lm i acon wah sor duo it at ns Soe en r,t ye le Ee in nae pee a Swe 9. Mo erie pra aint ns 2 Me cs yn et we Te ee Oa amen sche an eh ek 2 i gan mgr po he wo. Wy a iy Wi i ns ne a ate wt ig sce os se dks ory So oe et re mens eel «yng een te ts Ete He tow te Hern Nac Deapes ‘am sometines ke smother ing to bring he past oie agin, ove what ding and eve wie. Ls hae 2 at del of affect nmeted in bringing these peopl to Hie Si, in some way. I doen’ tan that lowe ny ebarces, ‘ecetailythee people fom the pas But {love to Gnd xt ‘hour them and e-crete thes oe thei sstion Teh iit ‘ery imporant ro find a way toe detached fo what you. rite 90 that you cant be 10 ened with your work that Jou cat scept evil and respon, and thats the danger Sthaving as much abet a do. Bue Tam aware of hat and of ‘when think is partial important to detach ons fom the work, and that in something where age ely does help. 10, rally the opennes and senitvy of cretve individuals ‘fen expe hen to firing ad pain etl grt de of xy Inet The ering i ay 19 andertand. ‘The grestersenstiity Cl ae sighs and anne hae not ally by theres of | tar Ment would agree with Rabinow’ words: “Inventors ive 4 low thea of pin. Things Bother them” A. badly designed machine caer pla (on ivetive engine, jst a the creative ‘rte shure when ending tad prot. Being alone at he frefont Uf docpline ao maker you expoted and rlnerbe, Eminence loves cram and fen vsour atcha When an artist hat feted years in making 2 sure, or 2 sient in developing + ony ie deting Pmcbody cae. Tet since the Romantic movement pained sscendance 2 Sew centuries ag, ties have been expected to safer in oder 10 morse theses of thei ou In fet, reset shows that arts and ter do ave unusually high ete of p= ‘hopatclogy abd adixone. But wht is the caus, what tthe tet The post Mak Sand comments ‘There have teen a lot of unforrimite exes of writes print, who have been melancholic, depresed, taken thie fen ves {don eink ie ges wit dhe territory 1 tink hore ‘prope would have been depraved, or lobo sucka, what- ver, even if they weet wring. Ij eink is thei chare- feolgicl makeop Whether that charcteaagi makeup tle them to write or paint a well as 0 alco oto s- {Sie dont know 1 kow dre are an sl lt of healthy ‘writes and pointers who have no thoughts of sci. I dhink itt 2 inyth; by and lege. Ie crester a special aura, a frit, around the aris to ay that he lives 40 close to the edge. Hes 0 respon sive to the world around him, so sensitive, s driven to respond to iti amon wnentable, That he must sape either throng drugs or alcohol, finaly suicide, the burden of consiousnes is 0, gteat. But the barden of consciousness is great for people ‘who donit—you know—want to Kil themselves. Itisabo trve that deep interest and involvement in obscure sub- Jects offen goes uncewarded, or even brings on ridicule. Divergent thinking is often perceived as deviant by the majority and so the ‘eeative person may fel isolated and misunderstood. These occt~ ational hazads do conte with the teeritory, so to speak, and iti tiicult to see how a person could be creative and atthe same time inwenstve to them. Pethaps the mot dificult thing for 2 creative individual to bear is the sense of loss and emptiness experienced when, fr some rea~ son or another, he or she cannot work. This is especially painful when a pesto feels one creativity drying out; then the whole self-concept it jeopardized, as Mark Stand suggests: ‘Yeah, there 4 momentary rereneness, a sense of satisfaction, ‘when you come up with an ida chat you think is worth purso- ing. Another form ofthat is when you have completed, where you've done a mich as you can with an ides that you thought ‘yas worth working on. Then you sort of batk inthe glow of Completion for 2 day. maybe. You know, have a glass or (wo more of wine a night because you dont fel you have to go ‘upatis and look 2 anything again. ‘And then you'te beginning sgn. You hope. Sometimes the bias wil lst not overnight but for weeks, months, and yeas ‘And the longer the hits between books that you'e commsit= the more painful and festrting life becomes. “When Tsay “psinful” chats probably too grandiose a term for the petty fstation one fel, But ft goes on, and on, and you develop what people call a writer’ bloc, itt painful, bectse your identity at sake. Iryoure not wing, and you're a writer ‘Yet when the peron is working inthe aes of hit or her exper tie, wore and cae ill say replaced by a sense of bis. Pethaps the most important quality, the one that i most consistently pres cent in all creative individual, isthe abifty to enjoy the proces of | ‘ration for it own sake. Without this tit poet: would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles, ‘economists would work for banks where they would earn 3 least tice as mich as they do atthe university, physicists would stop

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