TED Talks, magazine articles, self-help seminars and a plethora of books all dedicated to the art of making us more creative have become prominent features of the online media landscape. Any amalgam of the search terms ‘creativity’, ‘help’, ‘idea’, etc. will produce a long list of tutorials and primer material claiming to provide the map to becoming more creative. As the industry of creativity has grown, so have certain fallacies, misinterpretations and outright lies surrounding its study. This week’s Wrap highlights three articles that take a critical look at some consequences of this bloated industry.
Salon
Does it seem like the same parables of creativity are cited over and over again? Thomas
Frank takes a look at oft repeated mantras of creative convention-breaking and asks why, in a genre characterized by creativity, is there such a lack of creative, fresh content?
Busted: 10 Myths About Creativity
Inc.
Professor David Burkus recently released a book detailing some of the misconceptions people have regarding creativity. Christina Desmarais’ article gives a bite-size run-down of the ten myths Burkus identified.
Plagiarism, more fake interviews in Jonah Lehrer’s books
Poynter
Former New Yorker contributor and author, Jonah Lehrer was a celebrated writer on creativity until many of his supporting facts were found to be contrived and some purely fictitious. Ironically, Lehrer’s inability to break the conventions of his genre by finding new source material was his undoing.
These stories show an entire genre of ‘creative study’ that has ironically fallen into the habit of recycling the same, worn out stories; the popularity of these stories has bred complacency. This is a reminder that communicators must constantly reassess their strategies, even if the methods have been successful. JFK said, “The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining”. Just because something works today, doesn’t mean it will continue to do so indefinitely and a change ahead of the curve is better than falling behind.
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Joe Ducar is a public relations intern for WordWrite Communications.
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