creative work. Artists, writers, and musicians struggle to earn a living in an increasingly globalized marketplace that values conformity over originality. Educators invested in building creative skills in students risk lowering test scores and jeopardize the jobs they have dedicated their lives to. Policymakers proposing innovative solutions to domestic and international problems are often discounted by a system mired by gridlock. For example, Adam Grant (2016) finds that in a variety of fields from the classroom to the boardroom, the behaviors essential for creativity—risk taking, testing boundaries, challenging rules—are least associated with short-term success and the approval of teachers and bosses. When schools and public officials who fund them (unintentionally) undermine creativity among students, teachers, and administrators, they not only diminish the beauty of the earth but also threaten our collective ability to preserve it. Schools rarely undermine creativity intentionally. After all, vision and mission statements extolling the virtues of creativity are ubiquitous. But when we compared the good intentions of schools as they aspired to enhance creativity with their actual behavior (Reeves, 2015), we found an enormous gap between rhetoric and reality.
To better understand the gap between how much educational systems claim they value creativity and how much they actually do, as well as to better understand the science of creativity as whole, we must turn to the research.
Research on Creativity
What with the aforementioned climate change and global terrorism to contend with—along with myriad other challenges we face in the modern world—we assert that creativity is essential to the survival of civil society and the planet. If we are to successfully respond to this great responsibility we now face, then we must first understand what creativity truly is. It is not a matter of applying decoration and glitter to an otherwise mundane presentation. It is not a curricular afterthought, with time and resources allotted to students and teachers once their standardized tests have been completed. Creativity is also not merely a form of entertainment to be enjoyed by the wealthy or performed by artists who possess some inherent creative genius.
In exploring what creativity is, we are committed to an evidence-based approach to a topic in which folklore often takes precedence over research. Pervasive myths have led to gross misconceptions in our society about what creativity is, where it comes from, and how it can occur. Our understanding of who creative people are—or can be—is often reduced to caricatures, clichés, or tropes. The reality is much less simplistic and opens up creativity to many more possibilities.
While since the mid-1990s, we have seen many studies devoted to the subject of creativity, rarely have these studies been cited or explained to a general audience. Indeed, in surveying business or self-help literature, the same stories and anecdotes are dredged up time and time again with the same reliability of ghost stories told around a campfire. Staples of marketing and science literature have retold the stories of Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Bob Dylan for decades without citing the source or researching for accuracy.
Rather than cherry-picked anecdotes and personal war stories, our approach is based on the preponderance of the evidence, including observations, interviews, quantitative analyses, qualitative observation, meta-analyses, and syntheses of meta-analyses. We should note that, as you read, you will see quoted material from students. Student quotations are composites of authentic conversations we had with students and are used with the permission of students and their parents.
In appendix A (page 99), we will share our research on the ways creativity is assessed in schools. However, we offer this new research as only a pebble on the mountain of research on the subject. We have sought the insights of a wide variety of scholars who employ different methods. Some are connoisseurs of creativity, offering insights born of decades of thought and reflection, while others are systematic observers. Still others take a quantitative approach, examining the creative work products that result under specifically described conditions. We also consider syntheses of the research. It is therefore not a single approach to the research that is definitive, but rather the preponderance of the evidence that will best serve the reader seeking the truth about creativity.
Some of the research findings may seem obvious, though we’ve often been surprised at the counterintuitive nature of some results. Although scholars disagree on many issues, there is an emerging consensus on the science of creativity. This includes long-term historical studies extending back two centuries or more, and the latest in 21st century research on human cognition and brain function (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Grant, 2016; Johnson, 2010).
Virtues of Creativity
Amid the platitudes and botched science, certain findings are consistent, coalescing around a handful of essential ideas. By defining and examining these themes, it is easier to conceptualize the underlying patterns of the creative process as a whole. These themes, or virtues as we have come to call them, are neither absolute nor all encompassing. Nevertheless, there is a substantial body of research that supports focus as a key to learning, leadership, and change. Just as an expert actor might think of a thousand or more ways to develop and portray a character, the vast majority of this artist’s work comes down to a very few considerations: voice, body, tone, feeling, and instruction from the director. We could add historical context and contemporary relevance. Ultimately, Brooks would argue, presence and engagement are the most important qualities in bringing a character to life. Our focus on seven virtues, therefore, is a means of accessibly communicating a complex and vast field. If you find additional virtues in your quest to understand creativity, we encourage you on such a journey. We have chosen to focus on the following seven virtues.
1. Curiosity: This is the hunger for knowledge. It is the passion that drives us to look around each corner and turn every page. Curiosity is fundamental, and while the simple act of asking a question and seeking the answer is not necessarily inherently creative, it is certainly a prerequisite to creative activity. It can also be a drive that is too easily quelled when the answer to almost any question is seemingly a Google search away. We will consider how you can be your own explorer in a world awash in easy information. Creativity challenges boundaries. Critical thinking challenges assumptions. Together, they are the twin attributes that propel new ideas.
2. Versatility: Having a creative vision is not always a matter of sticking to your guns. Adapting one’s work to a changing set of circumstances can often lead to powerful breakthroughs. We explore how unlimited freedom can be counterproductive in innovation and how constraints both real and imaginary can push the mind to places it would never go on its own.
3. Synthesis: Instead of viewing creativity as the act of pulling original ideas out of the ether, we consider how creativity is actually the joining of disparate notions and sources together into something greater than the sum of its parts. We will explore the myth of the lone genius and review the anatomy of invention. We will also look at the controversial issue of intellectual property laws and ask the important question, Who owns ideas?
4. Discipline: Ideas, art, and invention are not the product of mystical inspiration. Instead, they are almost always the consequence of hard work. We will examine the consistent role of ritual and habit in the work of many of the greatest writers, artists, and thinkers. We will discuss tools you can use to break through blocks and rough patches as well as show you how to push through your inner critic and the voice of the desperate procrastinator.
5. Collaboration: Some of the most fruitful inventions and artistic endeavors have been the work of creative individuals working in tandem (Shenk, 2014). While some artists and thinkers have staunchly preferred to work in isolation, the realities of life often require working collaboratively with our fellow human beings. We will identify fundamental principles of successful collaboration while also examining how to avoid common pitfalls of human interaction.
6. Experimentation:
