Inside the Entrepreneurial Mind: From Ideas to Reality
Ch. 2
For: Dr. Landrum
By: James Esch
EM 4001
Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Creativity is the ability to develop new ideas an to discover new ways of
looking at problems and opportunities.
Innovation is the ability to apply creative solutions to problems and
opportunities to enhance or to enrich people’s lives. (Creative destruction)
In a nutshell, creativity is thinking new things, innovation is doing new
things.
Creativity – A Necessity For Survival
A paradigm is a preconceived idea of what the world is, what it should be
like, and how it should operate.
Paradigms act as logjams to creativity since they are immovable blocks to
creative thinking.
Creative Thinking
The right brain is creative and intuitive – lateral thinking
The left brain is logical and rational – vertical thinking
Those who use their right brain are more likely to be different and challenge
traditional mindsets (paradigms), which leads to innovation (also known as
“creative destruction”)
Basically…
• Right brain = Intuitive
• Innovation = Creative destruction
• Innovators = Being different
Barriers to Creativity
Searching for the one “right” answer
Most educational systems teach that there is one “right” answer to a problem.
This is a boon to creativity since it acts as a block to brainstorming.
Focusing on “being logical”
Being logical is valuable when evaluating ideas and implementing them, however,
focusing too much effort on being logical in the early imaginative phases
discourages the use of intuition.
Blindly following the rules
Often times, creativity depends on our ability to break existing rules so we can
find new ways of doing things.
Constantly being practical
Suspending practicality for a while frees the mind to consider creative solutions
that, otherwise, might never arise.
Barriers to Creativity (cont…)
Viewing play as frivolous
Play gives us the opportunity to reinvent reality and to reformulate established
ways of doing things.
Becoming overly specialized
Defining a problem as one area of specialty limits the ability to see how it might
be related to other issues.
Avoiding ambiguity
Ambiguity encourages us to “think something different.” Ambiguous situations
force us to stretch our minds beyond their normal boundaries and to consider
creative options we might otherwise ignore.
Barriers to Creativity (cont…)
Fearing looking foolish
Creative thinking is no place for conformity. New ideas are rarely born in a
conforming environment. People tend toward conformity to avoid looking foolish.
Fearing mistakes and failure
Trying something new often leads to failure, however, failure should not be seen
as an end; but rather as pit stops toward success.
Believing that “I’m not creative”
One who believes they are not creative will likely behave in the same way, thus
making the belief a reality. Everyone has the potential to be creative, however,
one must tap into that potential first.
How to Enhance Creativity
Expecting creativity
One of the best ways to communicate the expectation of creativity is to give
employees permission to be creative.
Expecting and tolerating failure
Creative ideas will produce failures as well as successes. Creativity requires
taking chances, and managers must remove employees’ fear of failure.
Encouraging curiosity
Constantly asking “what if…” questions and taking a “maybe we could…” attitude
allows one to break out of the assumptions that limit creativity.
Viewing problems as challenges
Every problem offers the opportunity for innovation. Dumping one’s problems on
employees’ desks to be “fixed” does nothing to develop creativity within
employees.
How to Enhance Creativity (cont…)
Providing creativity training
“What separates the average person form Edison, Picasso, or even Shakespeare
isn’t creative capacity – it’s the ability to tap that capacity by encouraging creative
impulses and then acting upon them.” Training can help everyone learn to tap
their creative capacity.
Providing support
One must give employees the tools and resources they need to be creative. One
of the most valuable resources is time.
Rewarding creativity
Monetary rewards, praise, recognition, and celebration can be powerful incentives.
Modeling creative behavior
Entrepreneurs who set examples of creative behavior, taking chances, and
challenging the status quo will soon find their employees doing the same.
The Creative Process
1. Preparation
:: Prepare the mind for creative thinking (formal education, work experience, etc)
2. Investigation
:: Develop a solid understanding of the problem or decision
3. Transformation
:: View the similarities and differences in the information collected
4. Incubation
:: Give the subconscious time to reflect on the information (daydream, relax, etc)
5. Illumination
:: The creation of an innovative idea – the “Eureka factor” stage
6. Verification
:: Validate the idea is accurate and useful (conduct experiments, prototypes, etc)
7. Implementation
:: Transform the idea into reality
The Creative Process (cont…)
Convergent thinking is the ability to see the similarities and connections
among various data and events.
Divergent thinking is the ability to see differences among various data and
events.
Test: Sociopathic tendencies
Techniques for Improving the Creative Process
Brainstorming is a process in which a small group of people interact with very
little structure with the goal of producing a large quantity of novel and
imaginative ideas.
Mind-mapping is a graphical technique that encourages thinking on both
sides of the brain, visually displays the various relationships among ideas,
and improves the ability to view a problem from many sides. This is often
referred to as “flip-flopping.”
Protecting Your Ideas
A patent is a grant from the federal government’s Patent and Trademark
Office (PTO) to the inventor of a product giving them the exclusive right to
make, use, or sell their invention in this country for 20 years.
Approximately 98% of all inventors rely on patent experts to steer them
through the convoluted process. Legal fees for filing a patent range from
$3,000 to $10,000 depending on the product’s complexity.
The average cost of a patent infringement lawsuit is about $600,000 if the
case goes to trial. About half of the parties settle before going to trial. Of
the trials, more than 60% of those holding patents win.
Protecting Your Ideas (cont…)
A trademark is any distinctive word, phrase, symbol, design, name, logo, slogan, or
trade dress that a company uses to identify the origin of a product or to distinguish it
from other goods on the market.
Today, 1.5 million trademarks are registered in the United States, and 900,000 of
them are in use.
A copyright is an exclusive right that protects the creators of original works of
authorship such as literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works.
A copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 50 years after their death.
A copyright lasts 75 to 100 years if the holder is a business.
Experts estimate that the U.S. software industry looses $15 billion each year to pirates
who illegally copy programs.
Out-of-Box, In-the-Box, New-Box, Other-Box, No-Box Thinking
http://www.creativityforlife.com/article1051.html
Robert Alan Black, Ph.D. believes that there are more thinking systems than simply
out-of-box and in-the-box thinking. In fact, he marks that simply jumping out of a
box or tearing down the box can eliminate ideas and solutions that can come from
staying in-the-box. These new thinking systems are:
• New-Box
New-Box thinking is a controlled form of out-of-the-box thinking. Vertical thinking is
comparable to digging the same hole deeper to find the treasure. Horizontal or lateral
thinking can be comparable to digging new holes in many locations (new boxes).
• Other-Box
Other-Box involves leaving yours and entering someone else’s once again with the “What’s
good about it?” philosophy. For example, sending people to work in other departments to
learn what the “grass on the other side” is like.
• No-Box
No-Box might mean complete open thinking with no limits or virtual/transparent-box
thinking. This thinking challenges the greatest majority of people since tremendously
potential risks are involved. Anything can go wrong at any time.
Discussion Questions
2. How are creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship related?
Creativity is thinking new things, innovation is doing new things. Successful
entrepreneurs have the ability to both come up with new ideas and are able to
then find ways to make them work to solve a problem or fulfill a need.
4. One entrepreneur claims, “Creativity unrelated to a business plan has no
value.” What does he mean? Do you agree?
This statement essentially means that an idea is essentially useless unless it is acted
on and made into a reality and marketed. I definitely agree with this statement
since the philosophy of an entrepreneur is “ready, aim, fire…,” not “ready, aim,
aim, aim….”
6. Can creativity be taught or is it an inherent trait? Explain.
Creativity is a trait that everyone has. Therefore, everyone has the potential to be
creative. Creativity cannot be necessarily taught, instead, one can be taught how
to tap into their creative potential.
Discussion Questions (cont…)
8. Briefly outline the 10 “mental locks” that can limit individual creativity. Give an
example of a situation in which you subjected yourself to one of these mental locks.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Searching for the one “right” answer :: When taking tests for school, we were usually brought to
believe there is only one right answer.
Focusing on “being logical” :: At times I have rejected ideas because I thought of them as being
“illogical.”
Blindly following the rules :: At a young age, we all are taught not to “color outside of the lines.”
Constantly being practical :: Impractical ideas are often shot down by the logical side.
Viewing play as frivolous :: Often times people view games as being counter-productive.
Becoming overly specialized :: “Tunnel vision” can often times limit the ability to think of ideas
from another point of view.
Avoiding ambiguity :: It is often hard to consider at least two different, often contradictory
notions at the same time.
Fearing looking foolish :: Often times refrain from expressing ideas to avoid criticism.
Fearing mistakes and failure :: Nobody wants to make mistakes or fail, therefore often times
people are apprehensive about taking risks that may result in failure.
Believing that “I’m not creative” :: Often times people think that creativity is a trait inherited by
certain individuals. The truth is that everyone has creative potential, but just needs to learn
how to tap into that potential.
Discussion Questions (cont…)
10. Explain the steps of the creative process. What can an entrepreneur do to
enhance each step?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Preparation :: Prepare the mind
•
Adopt the attitude of a lifelong student
•
Read more
•
Discuss ideas with others
Investigation :: Investigate the problem or decision
•
Study information related to the field that the idea is in
Transformation :: Observe similarities and differences in the information collected
•
Evaluate the parts of the situation several times
•
Rearrange the elements of the situation
Incubation :: Give the subconscious time to reflect on the information collected
•
Walk away from the situation
•
Take the time to daydream
•
Relax
Illumination :: “Eureka factor” moment
•
This moment will come randomly, just be ready to act on it when it comes
Verification :: Validate that the idea is accurate and useful
•
Conduct experiments
•
Run simulations and tests
•
Build prototypes
Implementation :: Make the idea become a reality
•
Take your product to the stage, don’t get caught up in the planning stage