IPR Trustee Rob Flaherty turned my attention to Jonah Lehrer about a year ago. Lehrer, the author of “How We Decide” and “Imagine: How Creativity Works” (due out next week), writes about neuroscience. Last weekend, his essay in The Wall Street Journal hinted at what’s to come in the new book.
Creativity is a skill, says Lehrer, and one that anyone can learn. Some creative challenges require a burst of insight, some a slog. Fortunately, numerous studies show that the human brain is remarkably good at figuring out what kind of creativity is needed.
If you suspect you can find the answer by continuing to think about it, you’re probably right. Somehow the mind knows when it’s getting warmer, even if it hasn’t found the answer yet.
On the other hand, says Lehrer, “If there is no feeling of knowing, the most productive thing we can do is forget about work for a while.” Insight happens.
Either of these approaches – nose to the grindstone or letting in distraction– assumes that the creative answer is already in your head. If not, volume and diversity of new information may help when the solution requires a mental restructuring. Deep expertise can work against you. Get-out-of-your-rut approaches work for you.
Lehrer illustrates with memorable examples. But experienced and successful public relations practitioners can surely provide their own examples. In any case, a little neuroscience may help us be more confident in our creativity skills – and allow us to stimulate those skills on demand.
Frank Ovaitt is President and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations.
So interesting this reaserch. I’d like to have details about it. I’ll check if we’ve got his book in Brazil.
Such a beautiful information. I will read your book.
Couldn’t agree more, Lou. And even more, the neuroscience of what changes minds and drives decisions. You’d be a great leader of that effort!
Fascinating topic. As PR professionals become less consumed by corporate “speak” and actual objective observation and interaction, creativity will enter. There was a time creativity was believed to show a bias in PR. The profession prided itself on reporting “just the fax.” My perceptions is the 24-hour news cycle destroyed that skill. MC
A number of years ago I developed and taught a senior seminar to our undergraduate students in PR on creativity in our field. Students lined up at the door to get into the class and it it was a roaring success. They were hungry for opportunities to see how they could find creative outlets within their chosen field of practice. They were disabused of the notion that the traditional ‘creatives’ (designers, photographers etc) were the only ones who are able to apply their significant creative abilities — I was able to guide them to see that strategic public relations is one fo the areas where creativity is fundamental to success. I’ve taught it twice now and I recieve emails from former studnets saying that it was one of the most memorable & valuable courses they took. BTW I asked them to read Andy Green’s very good book “Creativity in Public Relatiosn” (London: Kogan Page), among other authors such as Twyla Tharp (yes, that Twyla Tharp). Patricia J. Parsons, Professor, Dept. of Communication Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada
Excellent information. But, it just touches the surface of a subject not well enough studied by the public relations industry. The kind of creativity that propels and inspires the PR practitioner is very different than the kind of creativity seen through an artist painting a canvass. We need to know way more about those differences, and how to take advantage of opportunities.