Creatividad e innovación

Paolo Legrenzi

Creativity and Innovation

1

Index

Preface 1. The long history of creativity

p.

3 5

Products and processes. – Creativity, art, and science. – A creation without a creator: Darwin’s revolution. – Mice and labyrinths: creativity abandoned. – The mind beyond the cage: creativity rediscovered.

2. Creativity, discoveries and innovation

21

Re-inventing theumbrella: the processes of restructuring. – Asking the right questions: creative restructuring. – Discoveries, invention and creativity. – Creativity professionals.

3. The obstacles in the way of creativity

39

The a-creative thought: focalization. – The a-creative thought: fixation. – Creativity and quasicreativity: lateral thinking.

4. Creativity as a social phenomenon and empathy48

Collaboration and conflict: the psychology of associated minds. – Who will win the beauty contest? Creativity and empathy. – A tricky game. – Technology, talent, tolerance: where creative environments grow.

5. Creativity and technological innovation

55

Trademarks and patents. – Technology and design as diffused creativity. – Innovation within the firm, the outside clone. – Innovationand tacit knowledge. – Mental models and innovation.

6. The overall picture

66

The creative process according to Johnson-Laird. – Innovations in companies and the multistage process. – A general scheme of creativity and innovation. – Can we learn to be creative?

Epilogue For further information

73 74

2

Preface
And God said, ‘Let there be cake.’ And there was cake. And Godsaw that it was good. K. Mansfield, Psychology in Bliss and Other Stories, 1920 In the novel Man without Qualities, Robert Musil dreads the day in which a racing horse is considered gifted. We already call the best athletes talented, magical or legendary. This type of misuse of terms is now also occurring with creativity. It is an ingredient used for numerous dishes, a sort of passe-partout that weresort to when we have used up all other common interpretations. Such factors as Made in Italy, the future of a country, the rising costs of labor and export hint at, more or less explicitly, the intervention of this deus ex machina, or problem solver, as well as innovation, inimitable differences, and competitive advantage. Ancient professions like that of architecture have been contaminated bythis term, as the famous architect Vittorio Gregotti observes:
Every work of architecture seems to be justified by the term creativity, which by now is used to define every aesthetic act (diffused aesthetics has overwhelmed us) with which designers, advertisers, stylists, architects and many other professions justify their “artistry”. (Trans. Knaeble)

What exactly is creativity? Is it just aword? A common notion? An umbrella that covers the most varied of things such as entrepreneurial skills, inventiveness, good taste, industrial competitiveness, or traditional craftsmanship? Creativity is considered the lowest common denominator of Made in Italy’s roots. How many of the great entrepreneurs of the second half of the last century could we say possessed the same qualities as thosedescribed in the following statement on Giannino Bassetti, published in the Italian newspaper “Sole 24 Ore”, edition “Domenicale” of Dec. 19, 2004? “[…] strong entrepreneurial ability with a noticeable appeal for intuitive and pragmatic innovation [..]”. (Trans. Knaeble) Without innovation and creativity the world of today, and of yesterday, would appear quite different. What is the mechanism, ifthere is one, that allows people and organizations to go on inventing and creating fabrics, shoes, clothes, eyeglasses, bags, furnishings, cars, and other objects for the home, work place, and leisure activities? Does their inventiveness have no limits? Does it concern true renewal or merely replication, infinite variations on a single theme? The challenge lies in dealing with the combination of...