Don't think outside the box; remove the box entirely, says OpenGenius CEO

Study after study has proven that creative companies flourish because they're innovative, Griffiths tells Sneha Bhattacharjee

What is the link between creativity and innovation? What is the use of creativity in business if that cannot be scaled up and monetised?
 
Creativity is a key ingredient in innovation — the real difference is that innovation is about actually applying creativity. Having strong, creative ideas is great — but you’ve got to do something with them to really scale up your business. Look at a company like Apple, they applied their creativity when they imagined a phone without a keypad and then actually created it. If they’d not made that idea a reality, today we’d have no iPhone.

 
Can you give an example of a situation when an organisation’s creativity was failed by its inability to market?
 

A good example of the dangers that come with not broadcasting your creativity is the case of Xerox Corporation. In the ‘70s, they had pioneered a lot of the fundamental elements we now associate with the personal computer. You probably didn’t know that — and that’s because Xerox failed to actually shout about it in the commercial space. Steve Jobs, however, saw an early-stage version of this technology and immediately recognised its potential — and well, we all know how that story ends. 

 
There’s just too much talk of creativity today. Are organisations and leaders getting tired of all that talk? What is your one-line definition of creativity?
 
I think there is a certain amount of scepticism when it comes to creativity. In business, people want to use methods that are concrete, and you can’t directly track creativity to see how much revenue it’s bringing in. Yet, study after study has proven that creative companies flourish because they’re innovative. I think the resistance to a change in thinking is really rooted in fear; it requires a complete reframing of mistakes. After all, it is the risk factor that facilitates creative development.

 
Creativity is one of those terms people have a hard time pinning down; something transient, in-flux. However, it is important to have a definition which makes sense to you. I like to go by the following: “The incubator and cultivator of new ideas, which are born from existing knowledge and combined to form a new neural pathway in the brain, leading to a personal original thought.” For me, that’s the crux of it — the process by which existing pieces of knowledge are fused together to bring forward new original ideas.
 
What would you recommend a leader to do to bring more creativity into the decision making process?

 
Know where you’re going, and make sure your company does too. Encourage healthy mistakes and reward successes — run an organisation that knows winners fail more times than losers even try. Be aware of your own influence and get honest opinions from your employees by reframing your language. Instead of asking “what do you think of this idea?” — try “what’s wrong with this idea?” All in all, be positive and lead by example; do so and your employees will soon follow suit.
 
 How can creativity be equally imaginative and logical?
 
One word: Structure. People have been debating the creative process for a long time, it’s something that many associate with a sudden lightning strike of inspiration — but it doesn’t have to be like that. You need to put framework behind it; don’t just daydream, practice focused daydreaming. That means doing your homework before taking a break. Eliminate thinking errors such as reactive thinking — doing so makes you more logical because you’re taking the time to reflect on a situation, rather than just reacting without a thought for the consequences. 

 
If I were to ask you to summarise three key learnings from your book, The Creative Thinking Handbook what would they be?
 
One, historically, people have said that creativity is about “thinking outside the box” — but what if we remove the box entirely? Working on the book I learned that the metaphorical box is made up of our assumptions and biases — removing these is how we really get creative.
 
Two, Kalina Christoff and colleagues at the University of British Columbia conducted a study that found that more parts of our brain light up when we’re daydreaming than when we’re actually partaking in focussed work. For me, that really hammered home the link between creativity and daydreaming.

 
Three, I learned that optimism is naturally aligned with a creative mindset. Being positive means being open to taking chances and also means you’re more likely to get back up and carry on after a mistake occurs.