David Cox is a creative business consultant who, since the 1970s, has created, acquired and sold numerous successful businesses. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing as well as a Chartered Practitioner of NLP. David began his education in Fine Art, where he cultivated his interest in creativity. He also trained as a clinical psychologist before turning to marketing, when he founded the UK's first youth marketing consultancy.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You're Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book Is Organised 3

Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity 3

Part II: Preparing Yourself: Creating Your Creative Mindset 4

Part III: Getting Creative - The Practical Stuff 4

Part IV: Applying Creativity to Your Life 4

Part V: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity 7

Chapter 1: So What Is Creativity? 9

Seeing Creativity Everywhere 9

Spotting obvious signs of creativity 10

Noticing less obvious signs of creativity 11

Finding Curious Ways to Fulfil Your Curiosity 12

Reconciling paradoxes and juxtapositions 13

Combining the familiar and the strange 13

Entwining the tangible and the elusive 14

Experiencing the seductive and the scary 14

Adapting Strategies to Help You Survive in the Creative World 15

Emulating child's play 16

Recognising creativity as a necessity - not a luxury 16

Appreciating creativity as your lifeblood 17

Getting into a Creative Frame of Mind 18

Converging and diverging 18

Storming ahead 19

Being physically passive but mentally active 20

Being physically active and mentally alert 20

Programming Yourself for Creativity with Neuro-linguistic Programming 21

Fighting through Uncreative Times 24

Being stuck 25

Getting unstuck 26

Chapter 2: Living in a World of Creativity 27

Searching for Spiritual Expression 28

Embodying spirituality and knowledge in architecture 28

Connecting body, mind and spirit 29

Meeting the Muses 29

Musing with Greeks and Romans 30

Meeting modern muses 31

Finding your own muse 31

Tuning In with Music and Creativity 32

Challenging the Status Quo with Creative Thinking 35

Playing a revolutionary role 35

Working within the system 36

Creating political art 37

Connecting Religion, Politics and Creativity 38

Pomp and propaganda 38

Nudge - when politicians get ideas 39

Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Creativity 43

Limiting beliefs 43

Generating energy and ignoring burn-out 45

Melding creativity and personality 46

Chapter 3: Exploring the Creative Mindset 49

Being Creative - All the Time 50

Realising that you can't not be creative 50

Exhibiting everyday creativity 51

Knowing creativity when you see it 51

Having the creative touch 52

Knowing the Moment versus Knowing the Outcome 53

A change is as good as a rest 53

And a rest is as good as a change 54

Exploring Different States of Consciousness 54

Memories, dreams and reflections 54

Daydreams, sleep and meditation 56

Being wide awake and curious 58

Altered states - sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll 59

Exploring the subconscious 60

Understanding Different People and Different Kinds of Creativity 62

Jung's theories and the foundations of modern personality assessment 62

Convergent and divergent thinking 66

Gender 66

Age 67

Creativity across cultures 67

Beyond the five senses 69

Part II: Preparing Yourself: Creating Your Creative Mindset 71

Chapter 4: Preparing to Be Creative 73

Understanding the Creative Process 74

Opening up to ideas and originality 74

Closing down to solve a problem 74

Changing your mind for a different perspective 75

Capturing Your First Ideas 75

Getting into the Right Space - Mentally and Physically 76

Getting in the mood 76

Setting the scene 77

Flying Solo versus Working in Teams 83

Working alone 84

Working together 84

Having it both ways 86

Assessing Outcomes 87

Did it work? 89

What to do next 91

Chapter 5: Committing to Creativity 93

Creating Continuously - Keeping the Tap Running 94

Being creative for a living 94

Stressing about creativity 95

Achieving the magic 10,000 hours 96

Preparing for good results 96

Living Like Leonardo - Working with Creative Continuity 97

Being insatiably curious - curiosità 98

Testing knowledge through experience - demostrazione 101

Refining the senses - sensazione 103

Embracing ambiguity - sfumato 105

Balancing art and science - arte/scienza 106

Cultivating the finer aspects of life - corporalita 107

Connecting everything - connessione 109

Experiencing a Creative Burst 110

Lighting up - the light bulb effect 110

Exploding with creativity 111

Finding Your Own Creative Style 112

Part III: Getting Creative - The Practical Stuff 113

Chapter 6: Changing Your Mind with Creative Thinking 115

Discovering Ways of Changing Your Mind 116

Getting to Grips with Mind Mapping 118

Designing a mind map 119

Employing Table Games 122

Building with Matchbox and other games 122

Using creativity cards 124

Playing with Language 125

Harnessing the power of metaphor 125

Talking about narrative and trance 127

Finding a way into trance states 131

Using Random Input 133

Playing word games 133

Making complexity simple 135

Transforming language 135

Visualising Success 136

Putting visualisation to work with image streaming 137

Discovering other creative visualisation techniques 138

Chapter 7: Opening Your Mind with Creative Thinking Techniques 141

Generating Ideas with Brainstorming 142

Processing the rules 143

Brainstorming the right way 144

Making refinements for better brainstorming 146

Signing Up To Synectics 150

Inventing a prototype for brainstorming 151

Referring, reflecting and reconstructing 152

Tooling Up with SCAMPER 157

Working with a handy toolbox 157

Using Thinkertoys - a bigger toolbox 160

Thinking Laterally 160

Introducing Parallel Thinking 161

Provoking Provocative Operation 163

Wearing the Six Thinking Hats 164

Chapter 8: Closing In on the Answer: Creative Problem-Solving 169

Working Creatively to Find a Solution 169

Using the Disney Model - Being in Character 170

The dreamer 173

The realist 174

The critic 175

Trusting Young's Five-Step Technique 176

Using the Whole Brain with Herrmann's Model 179

Listing dominant types 181

Seeing HBDI in action 182

Putting the Whole Brain Model to work 185

Chapter 9: Playing Creatively 189

Provoking New Ideas with Thought Experiments 190

Drawing and Doodling 192

Drawing on the right side of the brain 192

Seeing passively and actively looking 194

Building a visual vocabulary by asking questions 195

Working with SQVID 199

Playing with paint 203

Playing with Role Play 204

Walking a mile in their shoes 205

Evaluating role play 205

Keeping and Breaking Rules 206

Thinking in and out of the box 207

Encountering blue skies, clouds and storms 208

Choosing chance 209

Having Whole-Body Experiences - Indoors and Out 211

Creating Movement When You Get Stuck 213

Part IV: Applying Creativity to Your Life 215

Chapter 10: Living the Creative Life 217

Living the Benefits of a Creative Life 217

Improving your health 218

Managing stress 219

Living a long life 222

Getting good sleep 222

Measuring wealth 225

Celebrating the Creative Power of Happiness 227

Searching for happiness 227

Failing happily for success 228

Joining the club - happiness is catching on 230

Getting a Sense of Humour 230

Taking humour seriously 231

Laughing at an important subject - deflating the balloon 232

Enjoying humour and creativity together 232

Experiencing Wellbeing 233

Ascending Maslow's hierarchy of needs 233

Feeling good about yourself 235

Creating a healthy brain 237

Chapter 11: Children and Creativity 239

Looking Inside Children's Creative Minds 239

Blooming buzzing confusion 240

Modelling mastery 241

Becoming competent 242

Considering what babies do because they don't know better 244

Playing as a learning method 244

Developing patterns and habits 246

Showing acquired skills through drawing 247

Observing How Education Influences Creativity 251

Debating the purpose of education 252

Balancing rigid and relaxed teaching 252

Applying Creative Thinking Lessons in Daily Life 253

Fostering creativity 253

Getting culture into the bloodstream 254

Partnering with modern technology 255

Chapter 12: Working Creatively 257

Looking at Creative Industries and the Bottom Line 258

Auditing creative business 258

Driving business through the creative engine 259

Moving creativity from back room to front office 260

Generating Ideas that Make Money 261

Putting a premium on creativity 261

Owning ideas that change the world 262

Protecting the Creative Franchise 262

Where there's a hit there's a writ 263

Engaging in the eternal battle between artist and producer 264

Instilling Creativity in Companies Large and Small...