Defining Creativity

As the cornerstone of innovation, creativity is an elusive human characteristic that can make one individual a better design thinker than another. I believe that EVERYONE is creative. Not only is it an untapped, undernourished part of ourselves, it is also our most valuable personal asset. Regardless if you believe that you were born with an endless supply of creativity or not, knowing that you can acquire it through practice would be an enormous game changer. There is a study being conducted by Stanford’s d.school and School of Medicine about this very topic right now. The team had to construct a working definition of “creativity” for the purposes of this study that aligns with a 21st century application/meaning. After rounding the bases several times, this is where we (Yes, I am part of this incredible project+team!) landed:

Creativity is a state of being and adaptation of personal skill sets that enable an individual to synthesize novel connections and express meaningful outcomes.