Collaboration Over Time

Will HunterJake Jordan

Introduction

• Creativity is a long and arduous process• Even the brightest historical minds failed –

often• Be proud to be a failure

The Origin of Species

• Interesting analogy as ideas occur much like evolution

• Darwin took thirteen years to design his theory

• We learn that creativity takes time

Learning from Failure

• Great creators are also colossal failures• Darwin, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin all had

miserable failures• Ex: Darwin’s theory of monads, Einstein’s

refusal to acknowledge quantum theory

Historiometry

• Method for testing creativity• In all facets, most people are uncreative and

the majority of creativity is with the few• Nobel Laureates and successful inventing firms

use failure as a measure for success, valuing ‘quantity’ over ‘quality’

Connecting the Sparks

• Conceptual transfer – using analogies to replace similar strains in ideas

• Conceptual combinations – using two discordant ideas to make one sensible one

• Conceptual elaboration – using one idea in the extreme to make a new idea

• Ad-hoc conceptualism – using ‘random’ categories to class seemingly unconnected things

The Power of Visual Imagery

• Uses the power of vision to spark ideas• Picking visuals from many options forces brain

to think around the normal patterns• Having pre-conceived notions of ideas

hampers creative thought

In Memoriam

• Studies show creativity takes ten years to become streamlined for an individual

• A ‘good’ success-to-failure rate is 1:10• Great creativity comes from melding many

ideas, both good and bad

Question (Actually, Imperative Statement)

• Name two of the four ‘Connecting the Spark’ categories for innovation and describe each with a sentence.