• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Feb 5, 2023
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

taxbandits banner
Home / Startup / 10 Ways Entrepreneurs Limit Their Creative Potential
10 Ways Entrepreneurs Limit Their Creative Potential

10 Ways Entrepreneurs Limit Their Creative Potential

1613 Views

Aug 17, 2020 By Marty Zwilling

entrepreneur-creative-potentialEvery entrepreneur believes in their heart that their startup is more innovative and creative than their competitors. Yet none knows exactly where creativity comes from within, or how to pick and motivate the most creative people for the team. Most believe and follow one or more of the popular myths on business creativity, even though none of them have much scientific evidence.

Like most people, they think of creativity as something divinely-inspired, unpredictable, and bestowed on only a lucky few. A classic study based on intensive research, “The Myths of Creativity,” by David Burkas tries to demystify the processes and forces that drive innovation.

His research supports what I have always believed, that anyone with a practical and common- sense mindset, grounded in reality, with the proper training, can deliver creative and innovative new ideas, projects, processes, and programs. The first step is to resist the urge to limit your thinking to the following long-standing myths:

  1. Eureka myth. This myth arises from the fact that new ideas can sometimes seem to appear as a flash of insight. Research shows that such insights are actually the result of hard prior work on the problem, usually followed by time to incubate in the subconscious mind as we connect threads, before the ideas pop out as new innovations.
  2. Breed myth. The belief here is that creative ability is a trait inherent in one’s heritage or genes. In fact, the evidence supports just the opposite; there is no creative breed. People who have the confidence in themselves and work the hardest on a problem are the ones most likely to come up with a creative solution.
  3. Originality myth. This myth is fostered by the long-standing emphasis on intellectual property, making a creative idea proprietary to the person who thought of it. The historical record, and empirical research, shows more evidence that new ideas are combinations of older ideas, and sharing those helps generate more innovation.
  4. Expert myth. Many companies rely on a technical expert, or team of experts, to generate a stream of creative ideas. Harder problems call for more knowledgeable experts. Instead, research suggests that particularly tough problems often require an outsider’s new perspective, or people who don’t know all the reasons why something can’t be done.
  5. Incentive myth. The expert myth often leads to another myth, which argues that bigger incentives, monetary or otherwise, will increase motivation and hence increase innovation productivity. Incentives can help, but often they do more harm than good, as people learn to game the system.
  6. Lone Creator myth. This reflects our tendency to rewrite history to attribute breakthrough inventions and striking creative works to a sole person, ignoring supportive work and collaborative preliminary efforts. Creativity is often a team effort, and recent research into creative teams can help leaders build the perfect creative troupe.
  7. Brainstorming myth. Many consultants today preach the concept of brainstorming, or spontaneous group discussions to explore every possible approach, no matter how far out, to yield creative breakthroughs. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that just “throwing ideas around” is enough to consistently produce innovative breakthroughs.
  8. Cohesive myth. Believers in this myth want everyone to get along and work happily together to foster innovations, so we see “zany” companies where employees play fooseball and enjoy free lunches together. In fact, many of the most creative companies have found ways to structure dissent and conflict into their process to better push the creative limits.
  9. Constraints myth. Another popular notion is that constraints hinder our creativity, and the most innovative results come from people with “unlimited” resources. Research shows, however, that creativity loves constraints, so perhaps companies should do just the opposite – intentionally apply limits to leverage the creative potential of their people.
  10. Mousetrap myth. Other people falsely believe that once we have a new idea, the work is done. In fact, the world today won’t beat a path to our door, or even find the door, on an idea for a better mousetrap, unless we communicate it to the world, market it, and find the right customers. We all know of at least one “better mousetrap” that is still hidden.

If these are indeed the myths of business creativity, then what are the true components? Teresa Amabile, Director of Research at Harvard, asserts that creativity is really driven by four separate components: domain expertise, a defined creativity methodology, people willing to engage, and company acceptance of new ideas. Where these components overlap is where real creativity happens.

Thus if you believe that your startup success really depends on more creativity and innovation than your competitors, it behooves you to spend the time needed to understand and nurture the components of creativity in your environment, and not blindly following the historic myths. How creatively are you pursuing innovation in your business?

Filed Under: Marketing Your New Business, Startup Tagged With: Creativity

Source: Startup Professionals

Marty Zwilling

Marty Zwilling

Marty Zwilling is the Founder and CEO of Startup Professionals, a company that provides products and services to startup founders and small business owners. Marty has been published on Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, Gust, and Young Entrepreneur. He writes a daily blog for entrepreneurs, and dispenses advice on the subject of startups to a large online audience of over 225,000 Twitter followers. He is an Advisory Board Member for multiple startups; ATIF Angels Selection Committee; and Entrepreneur in Residence at ASU and Thunderbird School of Global Management. Follow Marty on Twitter @StartupPro or Circle him on Google+.

Related Posts

  • TwoThings You Can Do TODAY to Be More Creative at Work
  • 8 Tips for Right-Brain Entrepreneurs to Build Balance
  • How Creative Can You Be with a Franchise?

Primary Sidebar

Random

Reverse Scorpions

Apr 28, 2015 By Bob Burg

8 Ways to Improve Your Company in the Wake of the Great Resignation

Jul 25, 2022 By SmallBizClub

What’s the Difference Between an LLC and an LLP?

Jan 17, 2020 By 1800Accountant

5 Ways to Get It Done

Nov 29, 2016 By Drew McLellan

5 Stages of Disruption Denial Cause A Startup Dilemma

Jun 21, 2022 By Marty Zwilling

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy