It’s a question I often get asked when I tell people what I do for a living. Really? Surely it’s someone’s talent, their imagination, their drive. And yes, all of this is true. ‘Creative people’ have an ability to engage a part of their brain (now identified as behind our right ear!) to imagine new ideas or concepts.
But it is also true that these skills can be learnt.
Using techniques based on 70 years of research from New York State University and application over a decade at the BBC, with What If?, with DR (makers of The Killing & Borgen), Sky, Fremantle, etc, I have numerous examples of how ‘organised’ creativity can help discover new ground-breaking ideas. Of course, once you have the idea it is only the start, it takes courage and effort to recognise and act on it. I love my poets and this quote by Vachel Lindsay reminds me every day that I have the responsibility to act on my ideas.
“You can’t crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them” Vachel Lindsay
So don’t ignore your ideas, dreams, or goals. And notice that none of us are alone in taking our ideas to action; look around you where you will find a whole network of peers, like-minded souls and experts able to help.