Creativity

Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is based on a study spanning 5 years where various 'Creative Individuals' were interviewed to try to get to the heart of what leads to true Creativity, with a C.

He defines Creativity as a symbolic domain in which the culture is changed. The definition of a creative person is someone whose thought or actions change a domain, or establishes a new one.

When we think of creativity, we usually think specifically of a creative individual. We also see this character trait as something that exists independently. In this book MC looks at the interaction between the area of interest and its scope for creativity, the field of interest being the others involved and their capacity to recognize creativity, and thirdly the individual and their capacity to be creative.

Effectively this is similar to the tale Gladwell tells in 'Outliers'. Almost the story of how the stars align to allow for creativity in a combination of luck, hard work, obsession, support and a sprinkling of magic.

A quote I enjoyed was:

A person cannot be creative in a domain to which he or she is not exposed. No matter how enormous mathematical gifts a child may have, he or she will not be able to contribute to mathematics without learning its rules.

I like to think of creativity as creating something that matters. For that to happen talent, brilliance and genius is not enough. You need to put the effort in, you need support, you need curiosity and interest, you need to be in the right place at the right time... and when you get there you need to be prepared and to recognize you are there.