Creativity/Innovation Quotes

SYMBIOSIS: Beneficial relationships can develop between very dissimilar things. Example: Lichen (pronounced “liken”) is actually a symbiotic community made up of fungus and algae which, in many environments, could not exist by themselves, but together are able to flourish. Very often, the blending of different (sometimes even opposing) ideas can result in very creative solutions. There is strength in diversity.

UNRECEPTIVE ATTITUDES THAT DESTROYED OPPORTUNITY: “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” – (Charles H. Duell, Director of US Patent Office 1899) “Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.” – (Grover Cleveland, 1905) “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” – (Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927) “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.” – (Robert Miliham, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923) “Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.” – (Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895) “Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching.” – (Tris Speaker, 1921) “The horse is here today, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” – (President of Michigan Savings Bank advising against investing in the Ford Motor Company) “Video won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” – (Daryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, commenting on television in 1946) “What use could the company make of an electric toy?” – (Western Union, when it turned down rights to the telephone in 1878)

INNOVATION is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation. And they need to know and to apply the principles of successful innovation.

The Japanese are thought by many as not being true innovators. However, innovation that EXPLOITS change (which the Japanese do) is not as visible as innovation that attempts to CAUSE change (which is the hard way to go). The Japanese have a saying: “The nail that sticks up tends to get hit down.”

I roamed the countryside searching for the answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plant and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightening becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.

We all operate in two contrasting modes, which might be called open and closed. The open mode is more relaxed, more receptive, more exploratory, more democratic, more playful and more humorous. The closed mode is the tighter, more rigid, more hierarchical, more tunnel-visioned. Most people, unfortunately spend most of their time in the closed mode. Not that the closed mode cannot be helpful. If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time for considering alternative strategies. When you charge the enemy machine-gun post, don’t waste energy trying to see the funny side of it. Do it in the “closed” mode. But the moment the action is over, try to return to the “open” mode – to open your mind again to all the feedback from our action that enables us to tell whether the action has been successful, or whether further action is need to improve on what we have done. In other words, we must return to the open mode, because in that mode we are the most aware, most receptive, most creative, and therefore at our most intelligent.

Framework of reference: A woman conducting a survey into sexual behavior was questioning an airline pilot. She asked him, finally, when he had last made love. He replied, “1956.” She was most surprised, pilots being what they are. “Nineteen fifty-six?” she asked. “Well it’s only 2216 now,” he replied, looking at his watch. A joke involves a sudden switch from one framework of reference to another. This sudden switch of frames of reference is the kind of lateral thinking that can often generate creative ideas.

Man gets a flat tire by mental institution. Takes off old tire. Accidentally drops lug nuts down drain. What to do now? “Nut” sitting on fence inquires what the problem is. Suggests taking one nut from each of the other three wheels! The guy may be crazy but he wasn’t stupid.

A white man was unsuccessful in trying to catch monkeys. A native took a narrow mouth pot and placed cookie at bottom. Monkey reached in grabbed cookie, but couldn’t remove hand. Was stuck – didn’t think of letting go! We don’t want to get trapped into fixed methods of doing things to the point where we can’t see any other way. Babies tend to do the same thing (grasping reflex) “lock-on” to finger, can’t let go.

When Gordon McKensie visits schools demonstrating his metal sculptures, he asks: How many artists are there in the room? He reports that first graders will all enthusiastically raise their hands. However, only about half of the second graders raise their hands and by sixth grade only one or two. The message: because of peer intimidation, the gift of possibility is removed suppressing true talent.

Turning FAILURE into SUCCESS: Ivory Soap wasn’t meant to float, but a manufacturing error became its top selling point. Kleenex failed as a cold cream remover. Repackaged as a disposable handkerchief, its success remains nothing to sneeze at.

15 ways to stimulate CREATIVITY: 1. Associate with diverse individuals 2. Spend time with children under the age of 6 3. Eat and drink different foods and beverages 4. Try a new hobby 5. Fly a kite 6. Exercise stimulate endorphins) 7. Relax (blow bubbles, review momentos from last vacation) 8. Meditate (beta state of brain) 9. Go to a cultural celebration 10. Visit a museum 11. Walk in the woods 12. Visit a foreign country or watch a foreign film 13. Practice saying yea and why not to something new 14. Listen to music or an opera 15. Encourage creativity in yourself and others

Six creativity killers: 1. There is only one right answer 2. Always follow the rules 3. Don’t rock the boat 4. Don’t make a mistake 5. Be practical 6. Become highly specialized

Excellence can be attained if you: – Care more than others think is wise – Risk more than others think is safe – Dream more than others think is practical – Expect more than others think is possible

Unfortunately, most of us learned to “act our age” as we grew up. This meant abandoning some of the most natural and powerful high-energy stimulants available to us. Learn to let the child within you live. Fifteen childhood characteristics that encourage creativity and innovation and that frequently get lost in adults: 1. Seek out things that are fun to do 2. Jump from one interest to another 3. Curious, eager to try new things 4. Smile and laugh a lot 5. Experience and express emotions freely 6. Creative and innovative 7. Physically active 8. Constantly growing mentally and physically 9. Risk often – are not afraid to keep trying something that they aren’t initially good at and aren’t afraid to fail 10. Rest when their body tells them to 11. Learn enthusiastically 12. Dream and imagine 13. Believe in the impossible 14. Generally don’t worry about things 15. Passionate

The word question is derived from the Latin quaerere (to seek) which is the same root as the word for quest. A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions can be very useful guides. Most useful are open-ended questions; they allow for fresh unanticipated answers to reveal themselves.

Creativity killers: – Surveillance – Evaluation – Rewards (if overused, deprive intrinsic pleasure of creative activity) – Competition (win-lose situations) – Over-control – Restricting choices – Pressure

One measure of how creative you are is how you respond to changes in your circumstances and environment. How flexible are you? Consider how water adapts to its environment: evaporation, condensation, snowflake, melting, flowing, goes around rocks, fills containers, etc.

An inventor is simply a person who doesn’t take his education too seriously. You see, from the time a person is six years old until he graduates form college he has to take three or four examinations a year. If he flunks once, he is out. But an inventor is almost always failing. He tries and fails maybe a thousand times. It he succeeds once then he’s in. These two things are diametrically opposite. We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

You’ll keep gettin’ what you been gettin’ as long as you keep doin’ what you been doin’.

You have to recognize that every ‘out front’ maneuver you make is going to be lonely, but if you feel entirely comfortable, then you’re not far enough ahead to do any good. That warm sense of everything going well is usually the body temperature at the center of the herd.

You don’t understand anything unless you understand there are at least 3 ways.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Without ambition, no conquests are made, no lands discovered, no business created. Ambition is the root of all achievement.

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.

Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.

When the ‘weaker’ of the two brains (right and left) is stimulated and encouraged to work in cooperation with the stronger side, the end result is a great increase in overall ability and … often five to ten times more effectiveness.

When you are completely absorbed or caught up in something, you become oblivious to things around you, or to the passage of time. It is this absorption in what you are doing that frees your unconscious and releases your creative imagination.

When I eat a tomato I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently.

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work? A stick!