causing creativity

May 21, 2007 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

Its encouraging to see that even the more traditional business columnists are writing about competencies and creativity required to succeed in the Conceptual Age. As solo professional service firms (psf’s) we’re in a good position to learn, practice and coach this, if we really want to make a difference in all 4 quadrants: the individual and the collective; the inner state of awareness and the outer world that we experience.

A new documentary film (in my queue) about Frank Gehry provides inspiration for this column: Inside the brain of a genius lies lessons on generating and implementing ideas

The trouble with studying genius at its source is that it mostly occurs inside the brain, so there’s not much to seeing it in action. I’m told that at Adam Smith’s home, you can still see the spot where the genius who came up with “the invisible hand” would stand and rub his forehead against the wood paneling while he pondered economics. That’s not great theater. As Arthur Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes say, “It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I beg you won’t speak to me for 50 minutes.” But with this Gehry film we get to see his thinking, sort of. Enough so that there are lessons to be learned.

In attempt to understand creative genius, most writers place the emphasis on the brain. There’s very little, however, written about the downtime between genius brain-storming sessions, when inspiration, ideas, synchronicity and solutions seem to just arise out of nowhere and no-thing. We all experience that, but few truly value it as integral to what and how they create. For those who do, space is as much of the “cause” of idea as is form (cognition, knowledge, genius, ego, process, etc.) which brings the idea to life, or conceptualization. But since form is all that most of us are conscious of, it gets all the credit.

So if you’re in transition, or working with clients dealing with change, you can shift belief away from 100% outer form: will, action, thinking, knowledge, storyline, ego, work, etc. And you can shift into balancing all that with inner space: stillness, synchronicity, meditation, deep breathing, etc. At the very least, stress will lessen. But its also likely that glimpses of the dormant inner creative genius, with the skills and competencies for the Conceptual Age, will emerge. So sharpen your, and clients’, power of observation so you notice and catch the glimpses. Like the Paul Weller song: Blink, and You’ll Miss It.

cause_effect.jpg

Blink and You’ll Miss It

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