Creativity, innovation can be learned if you get out of 'fixednesses'

Dubai - Professor Srikant Datar to deliver lecture on 'Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving' in Dubai on October 24

Majority of us believe that creativity is an inborn thing and cannot be developed or nurtured. But that's not the case anymore.
While rejecting this myth, renowned Professor Srikant Datar, faculty chair of the Harvard University Innovation Lab, believes human beings tend to fall into certain patterns of "fixednesses" - or fixed ways of thinking - which suppress creativity, innovative thinking and problem-solving techniques.
"People say innovation and creativity can't be learnt - it's either God-gifted or you are out of luck. So I went on Sabbatical to test that idea of what people say that it can't be taught or learnt. I came away from Sabbatical test completely convinced that you can learn creativity. The theory is simple; we have certain kind of fixednesses - functional, relational, cognitive or structural. In order to break those fixednesses, there are specific techniques you can use. I have consistently seen that by using these methods, you can think in very different ways than the traditional thinking. We can make individuals, companies, products, services and business models all more innovative by simply applying innovative method of innovation. The course programme is very short and helps people develop those skills as you can break fixed ways of thinking," said Professor Datar.
"When we are young, we are very innovative and creative. Sometimes, we are too creative and parents say don't do this, don't do that - because we are taking too much risk in different fields of life at the young age. And then slowly over a period it [creativity and innovation] gets beaten out of us as we tend to fall into certain patterns and fixednesses. So there are ways that you might design and include in education curriculum early on where it will encourage students to think more innovative and creative way. In the US, they are always encouraging creativity at the school level. The teachers try to develop creativity among students for priority is given to creativity and innovation," he elaborated.
Professor Datar will also deliver a lecture on "Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving" in Dubai on October 24. His research and teaching interests are in strategy implementation, design thinking and innovation, and data science. He published his research on quality, productivity, time-based competition, new product development, bottleneck management, incentives, and performance evaluation. He also serves on the boards of director ICF International, Novartis, Stryker and T-Mobile USA.
Professor Datar acknowledges that the UAE is a remarkable place where innovative thrives on the back of support from the government and the society because both are willing to embrace new technologies and innovations.
"If you think what causes companies, countries or societies to be more innovative, it's the willingness to welcome diverse ways or thought. If you have people who think in an innovative way, embrace new thinking, open to ideas and thinking, appreciate new thinking and are willing to change, worrying about technology and how to developing talent, all these causes innovation to be much more rapid. The support the UAE provides for innovative thinking to develop society is just fantastic," Professor Datar said while praising the UAE's efforts to back creativity and innovation among corporates, society and at the individual level.
 
Venturesome consumerism
Creativity and innovation is happening here in the UAE because of the diverse population that comes here; there are a large group of people who are as excited about innovation as they occur. Because there is a particular type of consumer - called venturesome consumerism - who is excited about trying something different, unique and innovative, he noted.
"There is an interesting research that one of the reasons why countries like the US and the city like California is very innovative because of what I call venturesome consumers and venturesome companies. Because if you have a society where there are venturesome consumers, innovators will always flourish. For instance, when Apple is coming out with a product and the price is going to be this [high], but still there are going to be long queues of people because they are venturesome who love to engage with the new iPhone or iPad," he reasoned in the interview with the Khaleej Times during his recent visit to the UAE.
"This vibrancy in societies adds plus and you have a lot of that there in the US. Of course, if you want people to come up with innovation, then it's equally important that people who are going to be beneficiaries of innovation are equally ready to embrace it as it comes. I think venturesome consumers are very important. One reason I do believe that the US will maintain its lead in innovation because of its consumer base which is very venturesome. I think creating venturesome consumer is almost as important as creating venturesome producers," he added.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com