by Rohit Talwar, futurist - We firmly believe that a key part of good futures and strategy work is the use of creative approaches to envisage alternative solutions to current challenges and future opportunities. So we are delighted to tell you about ‘The Truth About Creativity’ by Patrick Harris - one of Fast Future’s consulting associates and a good friend of the firm. The book has been receiving excellent reviews as a practical resource for those looking for a creative spark. Rather than doing a standard review, we decided to make Patrick do all the work and share some of the key insights from the book. Here’s what he had to say when FutureScape (FS) interviewed him.

FS: What's the basic premise of the book and who are your target audience?

Patrick: The book is about helping people and organisations to apply creativity practically. It is intended for anyone who wants to see their organisation, or themselves, make more use of creative skills. Not so long ago, I operated a strategic think tank for Orange and they called me Director of Creaticity. It was a cool job, yes, but during that time, I looked for a helpful handbook on creativity. I didn’t find what I needed, so I wrote my own.

FS: What are the fundamentals that you are communicating in the book?

Patrick: The book has 46 separate truths to explore and each is about 1,000 words in length. They are equally accessible and can be read in any order – because what is critical to one person may not be as important to another. I’ve arranged the truths so that they cover six key areas:

  * Creative potential
  * Creative characteristics
  * Putting creativity to work
  * Traits of creative teams
  * Creative space
  * Creative success.



FS: Our newsletter is aimed at those with an interest in futures and strategy. What role can creativity play in their futures and strategic thinking processes?

Patrick: Creativity helps to unlock and broaden our sometimes narrow view of issues and problems in business. Creativity is one of the tools that can help us to make sense of the world, particularly when our world looks to be increasingly more connected and requires solutions that deal with complex issues. Creativity is also important to individuals who undertake strategy and futures journeys. It can reveal personal insights, intent and influences along the way.

FS: What do you see as key factors in unlocking an individual's creativity?

Patrick: Some things are more straightforward than others – like temporarily leaving your ‘traditional’ thinking style, reading more widely and setting aside time for creative thinking. In these examples, it may be that someone just needs reminders on how to turn these aims into realities. Other factors may need more invested time, like discovering your own guiding principles, applying techniques other than brainstorming and nurturing good listening skills.

FS: Would you say that creativity and innovation are part of the cause of the current financial crisis and if so, is there a role for creativity in devising new financial management models or should we be more focused on minimising risk - can the two go hand in hand?

Patrick: No, creativity did not cause this current financial crisis. A more correct statement would be that short-termism and undying belief in the system caused this crisis. Alan Greenspan said as much when in September 2009, he hinted that more financial crises would occur in the future. He said that the fundamental source for all financial crises is "The unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue."

I definitely think that we will need to be creative in the management models that we design for the future. By being creative, what I mean is that there will be processes applied that produce successful, workable outcomes. Many of the issues that the world faces – climate change, energy shortages, soaring population, access to basic natural resources, etc – are much more than financial issues. We simply cannot solve them by measuring cost alone. And where we do apply cost measures, they may well be very different from those that have gone before, such as carbon trading and offsets.

To learn more about the book go to www.thoughtengine.co.uk/truth
Click here to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk