The key to creativity

The relationship between research and creativity has always been a tricky one. Researchers like to think they can help spur creativity, but creative professionals don’t always agree. So what’s the key to this elusive quality?

Jonah Lehrer, a contributing editor for Wired, has just published a book on the subject. It won’t have come as a surprise to his audience at the ARF’s Re:think conference in New York yesterday to hear Lehrer say that many established corporate practices obstruct creativity. Companies spend a lot of time trying to be efficient, but “creativity is not about efficiency, creativity is about serendipity”, he said. “Companies have to do a better job of not killing creativity”.

The first thing to know is that creative ideas tends to arise from collaboration. In the past, influential scientific papers tended to be the work of one person, but the age of the lone genius is over and the most widely cited papers are much more likely to be produced by teams. Why? Possibly because many of the known scientific problems that one mind could deal with have been solved. As science progresses, things get more complex and only the harder problems remain. As a result the “return on collaboration” increases with every year that passes, Lehrer said.

Some companies try to harness collaboration in brainstorming sessions, but Lehrer warns these may be a waste of time – studies have shown that the same number of people can come up with more ideas working separately than in a brainstorming session, and that the idea of sharing ideas without criticism or judgement is counterproductive – because the friction and conflict of debate is fertile creative ground.

Lehrer draws a comparison between companies and cities. Cities tend to be hotbeds of creativity and they get more productive (in terms of measures like the number of patents registered) as they grow – while companies get less so.

The crucial difference is that, in a city, people have more freedom to do what they want, providing opportunities to bump into a wide variety of people and exchange of ideas. The bigger the city, the more opportunity. On the other hand, the bigger a company gets, the more rules and divisions and strata of management are introduced.

The solution? Be more like a city: bring a diverse mix of people together and allow for serendipity. Pixar’s headquarters, for instance, is designed so all employees have to walk through the lobby to go to the bathroom – encouraging chance meetings. Also, don’t tell people when or how to be creative. And, whatever you do, don’t brainstorm.

Business networking events are a testament to the value of coming together in person, said Lehrer. We may have the tools to communicate with people all over the world, but “even in this world of technology, it is still the human friction that makes the sparks”.