Questions for Active Reading p.108

1. In your own words, describe the "6 Myths of Creativity".

The first myth is that creativity comes from creative people, but in fact anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work. The second myth is that people get creative by getting money. The truth is that people working and thinking of money at the same time is doing very little creative thinking. The third myth is that time pressure fuels creativity. The truth is that people were least creative when fighting the clock. The fourth myth is that people are more creative when they're sad or angry. The truth is that the happiest people comes up with the best ideas. The fifth myth is that internal competition fosters innovation. The truth is that people are more creative when they compete in a work group instead of collaborate. The sixth myth is that downsizing and restructuring foster creativity. The truth is that creativity suffers greatly during a downsizing.

2. How did Teresa Amabile, the Harvard Business School professor who studies creativity in the workplace, design her reserch? What kinds of information was she looking for? What seems especially surprising or interesting about her approach to reserch?

She collected daily journals from a lot of people who worked on creative projects, but she didn't tell them that she was focusing on creativity. Then she coded the e-mails for creativity by looking for moments when people struggled with a problem or came up with a new idea. One thing that seems surpsrising is that the study overturned some long-held beliefs about innovation in the workplace.

3. Who is the audience for Bill Breen's article? How can you tell?

I would say that the audience is people who work and people who are having their own businesses. People how want's to be more creative in doing their jobs and people who are owing a business and want their workers to get better and be more creative.