Creative Confidence Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

Creativity is eclipsing all other factors as the key to growth - and even survival - for every type of business. An IBM survey of 1,500 CEOs reports that thinking creatively is the most important leadership competency.

Yet, only 25% of employees surveyed say they're living up to their creative potential.  Could we be holding ourselves back? Perhaps we feel that being creative is a fixed trait…it's not!

Creative confidence is like a muscle - it can be strengthened through  effort and experience. And we can't  be afraid to fail since  lessons learned from failure make  us smarter and stronger.

Proven Tips for Generating Creativity

Start by learning new things: Look for new ideas from radically different sources.  For example, the head of a hospital  in London got creative inspiration  from watching  a Ferrari pit crew. The resulting changes reduced technical errors during surgery by 42 percent!

Apply "Constraint"  to Drive Creative Action: Of all constraint factors (e.g. budget, talent, etc.), it's often time constraints that lead to the most creative solutions. Challenging time-frames cause people to pull out all the stops - and this can create exciting breakthroughs.

Know Your Customers: Observe them first hand  as individuals in the real world, not just as aggregated composite characters from market  segmentation data. You may find nuances in their behavior that uncover surprising insights.

Watch Your Language: What we say affects creativity. A successful publisher told her team that every time they said,  "we've tried that already"  or "that'll never  work," she'd fine them $10. After publicly enforcing  her fine just a few times,  those soul-sucking expressions disappeared.

Build a Creative  Support Network: Some of the best ideas come from collaboration.

Stop  Planning and Start Acting:  With a more proactive mindset, you'll start  to see more opportunities.  But seeing isn't enough. You need to act!

Or as Yoda, one of the most wise and seasoned masters of creative confidence put it to Luke

Skywalker,  "Do or do not. There  is no try."

By Tom Kelley & David Kelle