Creative Thinking

Our brains evolved to think. Regardless of our background or circumstances, each of us is a thinker. Our thoughts drive our emotions, decisions, actions, and behaviour. We share, conceal, act on, and trade thoughts with others, learning from them.

Critical thinking is a way of thinking. Our brains do a great job of dissecting and understanding information. But what of the information we don’t have? It’s hard to work on something that isn’t there.

Introducing … creative thinking, where we turn ordinary thoughts into extraordinary ideas. Where wild concepts and logic come together to create something truly innovative. As humans, we are constantly creating and developing.

No other animal can turn a written recipe into a cake or loaf of bread. No other animal can read a page of dots and lines to produce music that tugs at emotions.

Many of my students seemed perplexed by the creative process. Their most common response was, ‘I can’t draw, I can’t paint, I can’t play a musical instrument.’

Creativity is drawing, painting and playing, and it’s everything else. That blank screen asking for an opening email sentence, that phone call where you complain about a service, that meeting where you ask your team for help. All require creative thought.

Which comes first, critical or creative thinking? They run together in a beautiful dance of cognitive abilities. Critical thinking requires analysis, while creative thinking uses analysis to design solutions—the two work together, building, re-designing, and experimenting.

Next up: three ways to think creatively.