Thinking about Thinking Creatively

A group of researchers interviewed 3,500 entrepreneurs and other businesspeople, and identified a short list of 5 qualities that mark out "creative executives":

The first skill is what we call "associating." It's a cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas.

The second skill is questioning — an ability to ask "what if", "why", and "why not" questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture.

The third is the ability to closely observe details, particularly the details of people's behavior.

Another skill is the ability to experiment — the people we studied are always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds.

And finally, they are really good at networking with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

(via lonegunman & Ben Casnocha)

Bonus link from Ben: Keith Jarrett on improvisation.

In our conversation, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the mindset that drives his improvisations. It is rooted, of course, in a certain amount of confidence that his years of playing, practice, and listening have given him the tools to pull it off. Beyond that, though, Jarrett emphasizes, paradoxically, how critical it is to clear his mind and set himself free from his own knowledge and habits. Jarrett says:

How do you find these surprising combinations...if you have perfect pitch and you know what everything's going to sound like? How do you get past your own [understanding]? Those are barriers. Perfect pitch would lead you to know exactly what it's going to sound like before you're going to play it. So one of the things I do now as part of the risk-taking and have been doing more since Radiance [2005 album] is not to play something. If my hands are in a certain position at the keyboard, I don't play in that position -- especially if I've already thought about what that sound is going to be. I just move my hand [away] and say: "Do something." In our conversation, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the mindset that drives his improvisations. It is rooted, of course, in a certain amount of confidence that his years of playing, practice, and listening have given him the tools to pull it off. Beyond that, though, Jarrett emphasizes, paradoxically, how critical it is to clear his mind and set himself free from his own knowledge and habits. Jarrett says:

How do you find these surprising combinations...if you have perfect pitch and you know what everything's going to sound like? How do you get past your own [understanding]? Those are barriers. Perfect pitch would lead you to know exactly what it's going to sound like before you're going to play it. So one of the things I do now as part of the risk-taking and have been doing more since Radiance [2005 album] is not to play something. If my hands are in a certain position at the keyboard, I don't play in that position -- especially if I've already thought about what that sound is going to be. I just move my hand [away] and say: "Do something." In our conversation, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the mindset that drives his improvisations. It is rooted, of course, in a certain amount of confidence that his years of playing, practice, and listening have given him the tools to pull it off. Beyond that, though, Jarrett emphasizes, paradoxically, how critical it is to clear his mind and set himself free from his own knowledge and habits. Jarrett says:

How do you find these surprising combinations...if you have perfect pitch and you know what everything's going to sound like? How do you get past your own [understanding]? Those are barriers. Perfect pitch would lead you to know exactly what it's going to sound like before you're going to play it. So one of the things I do now as part of the risk-taking and have been doing more since Radiance [2005 album] is not to play something. If my hands are in a certain position at the keyboard, I don't play in that position -- especially if I've already thought about what that sound is going to be. I just move my hand [away] and say: "Do something." In our conversation, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the mindset that drives his improvisations. It is rooted, of course, in a certain amount of confidence that his years of playing, practice, and listening have given him the tools to pull it off. Beyond that, though, Jarrett emphasizes, paradoxically, how critical it is to clear his mind and set himself free from his own knowledge and habits. Jarrett says:

How do you find these surprising combinations...if you have perfect pitch and you know what everything's going to sound like? How do you get past your own [understanding]? Those are barriers. Perfect pitch would lead you to know exactly what it's going to sound like before you're going to play it. So one of the things I do now as part of the risk-taking and have been doing more since Radiance [2005 album] is not to play something. If my hands are in a certain position at the keyboard, I don't play in that position -- especially if I've already thought about what that sound is going to be. I just move my hand [away] and say: "Do something."