Irfan Khan

CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES
Creative problem solving is an important requirement for effective leadership at every organizational level. The role of a creative leader is to bring intoexistence ideas and things that did not exist previously, or that existed in a different form. Innovation refers to creating new ideas and their implementation or commercialization.
I. STEPS IN THE CREATIVEPROCESS
An important part of becoming more creative involves understanding the stages involved in creativity, the production of novel and useful ideas.
Step one on creativity is opportunity orproblem recognition, in which the person discovers that a new opportunity exists or a problem needs resolution. Step two is immersion, in which the individual concentrates on the problem and becomesimmersed in it. Step three is incubation, in which the person keeps the assembled information in the back of the mind for a while. Step four is insight, when the problem-conquering solution flashes into themind at an unexpected time. The aha moment usually arrives after hours of thought and study. Step five is verification and application, when the individual sets out to prove that the creativesolution has merit.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE LEADERS
Creative leaders, like creative workers of all types, are different in many ways from their less creative counterparts. Creative leaderschallenge the status quo and are flexible enough to overcome the traditional way of looking at problems.
A. Knowledge. Creative problem solving requires a broad background of information, including facts andobservations. Being creative often involves combining two or more things in a new and different way.
B. Cognitive Abilities. Creative problem solvers tend to be bright rather than brilliant. Theymaintain a youthful curiosity throughout their lives, within and outside their fields. Creative people are good at divergent thinking, but also know when to narrow the choices. Creative business...