Are you creative?

It’s a funny question to ask, isn’t it? In my experience, people usually answer this question without thinking too much about it. Yes, I’m creative. No, I’m not creative. It took me a long time to get to this point, but I do think that everyone is creative. Very creative. And, I do believe what David Burkus has to say about the notion of confirmation bias, when he opens this fantastic talk that he gave at Google recently. If we believe a story that we tell ourselves (regardless of how true or untrue it is), we tend to find all kinds of supporting data to reinforce this belief, even if it isn’t really true or based on facts.

We do this all of the time. We do this to ourselves.

Think about something you like, and then start peeling away at those layers. Why do you like it? When did you first start liking things like this? What attracts you to it? Are these positive or negative things? Here’s a bigger question: how do we really know if we’re creative? Where do the best ideas come from? Well, in David’s latest book, The Myths of Creativity – The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas, the Harvard Business Review, Forbes and 99U writer, helps all of us look beyond the commonly held beliefs (…or myths) about creativity and the moments when we capture them. As you can well imagine, David has many powerful and intelligent strategies that will debunk these myths, and the facts are very impressive.

This is a pretty eye-opening presentation, so sit back and keep a Moleskine nearby…