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My own experience studying creative environments (both directly and as a historian) suggests that you are right: creativity thrives in environments that are disciplined, dense with brains and divergent stimuli, and where people have the opportunity to break free from the group to nurture ideas in private or in smaller group before bringing those ideas back to the big group to face more criticism. But there is also a limited place for free-flowing brainstorming (sometimes called divergent thinking). What blends divergent and convergent thinking together, and what is sometimes missing from discussions of creativity, is leadership. Leading groups of creative people is a fine art. A good leader (and most of the creative environments cited were helmed by strong leaders) knows when to make space for free-flowing brainstorming and when to shift the focus of the group toward criticism. A strong leader can reverse the tendency toward group-think that can afflict critical groups of otherwise intelligent people.
A compelling image of creativity that emerges from Lehrer and other recent work is one of variation and selection that is similar to natural selection. A good creative leader can make that process more efficient in the same way that a breeder does: the leader can set aside small groups to speed up evolution in particular directions (like making mini Galapagos Islands), can quickly prune off ideas that would die a long protracted death on their own, can decide when it is time to bring in new genetic stock to stimulate more fertile idea generation, and can ensure that the selection pressures that the group is using are good analogs for the selection pressures that the ideas will face in the real world. The leader also frames the problem that the group is trying to solve, and set up the narrative framework within which group members understand what they are doing. Creativity is demystified somewhat when we understand it as a process of problem solving that follows divergent and convergent pressures. It is no longer a magical process from which something is created out of nothing. But if there is one place where some mystery still lives, where the divine spark still brings forth new things, it is in the leadership of creative groups.
On Jul 18, 2012, at 10:50 PM, Charlie Carlson wrote:
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> Hi All,
>
> Sometime back, like March 2012, posted an article about creativity by Jonathan Lehrer. In his article he put forth evidence based upon his research into creative environments which strongly argued against the notion of non-critical brainstorming put forth by Alex Osborn in 1939.
>
> I'd only read a few articles at the time and heard a few NPR reviews. Since that initial flurry of activity, I've had a chance to do some follow up.
>
> I finally read the appropriate sections of Lehrer's book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, chapter 6. Clearly, he made an anecdotal set of observations based upon the research of others, and no controlled studies himself. He cites a 1958 Yale study, and a UC Berkeley study both of which soundly refute the Osborn hypothesis.The evidence Lehrer presents clearly demonstrates the opposite. Renowned creative environments like Pixar, Apple, Fairchild, Intel, etc. don't and didn't use free flowing idea riffing, and instead foster a culture of criticism, sometimes severe criticism that plays a vital role in driving to the best solutions. For example, Pixar employs a "plussing strategy," that is a criticism requires putting forth a suggested solution or alternative interpretation, and it sounds way more challenging than pleasant.
>
> His underlying thesis is that the human brain is a problem solving machine, and that we thrive on challenge and argumentation. A corollary, to the challenging environment observation, is that there is power in the number of synaptic connections working on the problem, and that groups of brains are way more powerful thinking machines than individual ones.
>
> It maybe be why we live in groups and cities have become ascendant rather than disastrous living situations. It's all about problems and numbers of brains.
>
> I had several inquires as to how it all works, and the simplest answer is that creative brainstorming needs to be moderated but that it's essentially a "no-holds-bard" focus on making accurate assessments and proposing alternative solutions, and that alternative and different solutions which go against commonly held solutions are frequently the most useful solutions, and that blind acceptance is a death knell to creativity.
>
> In any case, Lehrer's book is a good read, and provides some useful insights into the process of problem solving and how our brain's work.
>
> C
> Charles Carlson
> Senior Scientist
> exploratorium
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