David Kelley, IDEO

David Kelley, IDEO

David Kelley talks about "creative confidence" in this famous TED video. 

His point, in essence, is that creativity is not the domain of only a chosen few. 

Most people think that they aren't the creative type and shy away from tasks they deem requiring creativity because they fear that they can't do something creative. But he argues that, through a series of small successes of creative experience, people can transform themselves into the people who have the "creative confidence."  

It might not be accurate to say and it might be misleading to say that people can transform into a creative type because saying so suggests that people are not creative in the first place but can become creative through Kelley's process. 

Kelley's point is that people are naturally creative but they lose the "creative confidence" to be creative, somewhere along their life, most probably during early childhood. So it would be more accurate to say that people need to regain the "creative confidence" that they have lost than to say that people can change to have the "creative confidence".

How does one lose the "creative confidence?" Kelley gives an example of 3rd grader Brian. 3rd grader Brian was making a horse out of the clay and one of the girls who was nearby commented, "that's terrible. that doesn't look anything like a horse." and that discouraged Brian to make a horse ever again.

I had a fresh perspective on this issue because of my recent Junior Achievement(JA) volunteer activity. I taught 2nd graders as a JA volunteer and I was struck by how these 2nd graders were willing to raise their hands in every single opportunity they could get. When I posed a question or asked for a volunteer, all 24 hands of 24 students in the class would go up, wanting to participate and wanting to give his or her answer. I noticed that these kids weren't afraid to give a wrong answer and they weren't afraid to fail. I would say that these kids still have a "creative confidence." I talked to other JA volunteers who taught 4th and 5th graders and their willingness to raise hand or participate in class were quite different, more subdued. I think it's safe for me to conclude that some of these kids have lost their "creative confidence" as they advanced to 4th and 5th grade.

I presume that more of these kids will lose the "creative confidence" as they grow older. They will get more bruises and get hurt over the course of their lives by not-very-thoughtful people who hurt them with their words, put them down, and says things like “that’s terrible" or "that's stupid idea.” This is a sad reality and we need people to grow up with "creative confidence" somehow intact. 

Accomplishing this is a tall order for society and if accomplished, our workforce would have more people with "creative confidence" and would be better off as a result. In the meantime, intermediary solution for companies is to recognize that employees in your workplace are naturally creative and set up a corporate culture to help them regain their creativity and unleash their creativity.