How can you define creativity and what does it mean to be creative? Is ‘being creative’ something that an individual does for himself, or does it have an intrinsic social dimension? Are we creative for our own sake, or do we want to touch other people’s emotions? These questions kept the group busy until they were asked to list as much uses they could think of ... for a paperclip.
That was one of the challenging exercises the trainers of the creativity group served the team before lunch. The group came up with more than 150 things one can do with a paper clip. A short selection of the options: chew on it, pick your nose, holding paper together (!), test potatoes, help you in MS Word, alleviate boredom, enemy/friend, piece of art, use it as a piercing, computer hangers (?), make music, collecting, fish hook, pop a balloon ...
Now why this exercise? Sir Ken Robinson - a knight and guru at the same time – talks about an experiment in one of his famous presentations. Apparently, the older we become, the more we lose the ability of divergent thinking, which is one of the main ingredients of creativity. Have a look at the animated presentation below to learn more about the causes of this odd evolution. Stay young forever?!
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