This is the current career book I'm reading--again a recommendation from a Work Group colleague!
Over the years I've taken a number of creativity, brainstorming, out of the box, etc. courses, and I admit I tend to score at the lower end on those tests when it comes to pure out-of-the box elements.
HOWEVER, my creativity shines in making some of those other pie-in-the-sky ideas work. There can be tremendous creativity in implementation, innovation and stretching to make things work.
I might not be so creative in coming up with wild ideas (though I'm decent enough I think!), but I can usually come up with a bunch of ways to make it work when I know the goals. And writing copy and taking pictures also has creativity--though with some structure around it.
In this book, as in THE ELEMENT, Ken spends time focusing on the problems with education today and the teaching to the test focus in schools. I admit, this wasn't a problem for me growing up, as I am a good test taker. But I do agree with his comments that after starting school kids who would belt songs proudly, draw wildly, tell crazy stories and be adventurous often start to "settle down" in some fashion and become self-conscious. I'm not sure if it's teachers, fellow kids, older kids or the pressure to fit in, but it does happen.
My niece is five (and three-quarters as she would remind me), and loves her American Girl dolls. She dresses them, wants pictures with them, walks with them and sends them over to their grandparents to spend the night when she's away or busy and can't love them enough. Along with changes of clothes (and they better change once during the visit!), she sends lists of what they should eat and do and the rituals before going to bed. I love it, but also miss the time a few years ago when it was her imaginary friend who would visit and have to do these things. Now the girls (and one boy) are very concrete objects. She's still creative, but is she losing some of that spark? And is it necessary? I'm not sure that the future holds, but very interested in seeing it.
There's a lot more to learn in the book about how to spark creativity, but just wanted to share one fact I found fascinating from a tech point. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter (eek!) but when asked by Ken for a visualization, the scientist said it's "about the distance that a man's beard grows in one second."
Being able to manipulate something that small? It's certainly creative I think!