"Creativity in Management"

the “closed mode”... It's a mode in which we're very purposeful, and it's a mode in which we can get very stressed and even a bit manic, but not creative.

Creativity is not a talent. It is not a talent, it is a way of operating.

once we've taken a decision we should narrow our focus while we're implementing it, and then after it's been carried out we should once again switch back to the open mode to review the feedback rising from our action, in order to decide whether the course that we have taken is successful, or whether we should continue with the next stage of our pla... See more

to be at our most efficient we need to be able to switch backwards and forwards between the two modes.

In fact, the only thing from the research that I could tell you about how to be creative is the sort of childhood that you should have had..

The most creative (when in this mood) as being childlike. For they were able to play with ideas… to explore them… not for any immediate practical purpose but just for enjoyment. Play for its own sake.

You can't become playful and therefore creative if you're under your usual pressures, because to cope with them you've got to be in the closed mode...You must make a quiet space for yourself where you will be undisturbed.

We need to be in the open mode when we're pondering a problem but once we come up with a solution, we must then switch to the closed mode to implement it. Because once we've made a decision, we are efficient only if we go through with it decisively, undistracted by doubts about its correctness.

Time. It's not enough to create space, you have to create your space for a specific period of time...And it's only by having a specific moment when your space starts and an equally specific moment when your space stops that you can seal yourself off from the every day closed mode in which we all habitually operate.

The most creative professionals always played with a problem for much longer before they tried to resolve it, because they were prepared to tolerate that slight discomfort and anxiety that we all experience when we haven't solved a problem...And so, just because they put in more pondering time, their solutions are more creative.