Cultivating creativity

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines creativity as the ability to make new things or think of new ideas. But it’s so much more than that- it cannot be captured or bought but is incredibly valuable. Creativity is a serious asset for businesses as well. Previously assumed whimsical and out of reach of those not born with it, researchers are finding evidence that suggests that it can be developed- through practice and expertise.

Our guests are two eminent scholars, Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and Dr. K. Anders Ericsson. Professor Csíkszentmihályi is the founder and co-director of the Quality of Life Research Center (QLRC). The QLRC is a non-profit research institute that studies positive psychology and Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He is also the author of several academic papers and books, including Creativity: the Psychology of Discovery and Invention and Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Professor Ericsson is the Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University who is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading theoretical and experimental researchers on expertise. He is the the editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, and the author of several books including The Road To Excellence: The Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games and He is also known for his theory of Deliberate Practice, Theory of Skilled Memory and the “10,000 hour” theory, which was famously misrepresented by Malcom Gladwell.