It is a universally sought-after quality, including in engineering and taxation. It allows us to design solutions that are both innovative and useful. And, contrary to popular belief, it can be cultivated rather than inherited. Anne-Laure Sellier (H.95) helps you to reveal your creative spirit.

Diversify the viewpoints

Avoid forming a group.

Allow yourself to see yourself as creative

When asked, one third to half of my students say they are not creative. Some think they are, but only in certain areas such as music or cooking, without really being able to export this to their professional lives. This prejudice may come from their education, their history, the corporate culture in which they work. In reality, everyone should be able to allow themselves to be creative because everyone is capable of being creative if they decide to. Trust yourself, don’t be afraid to step outside the box. You are not immune to a good idea.

To think creatively, think alone

Did you think you could boost your creativity by working with others? It has long been proven that brainstorming compromises creativity for a variety of reasons, for example because you choose to be carried along by the group, because a leader takes over, or because you find it difficult to really detach yourself from the ideas put forward by others. Creativity takes practice, like a musical instrument. And it is best practised alone. It is the best way to get truly new ideas to emerge freely from your mind.

Set constraints for yourself

I have sometimes asked a class to write a poem. Without any other indication. Most of the time nothing comes of it. Then I ask them to write a four-line poem, with a medical term, an i-rhyme and no a, and I get surprisingly good texts. The constraint, whether it be of setting, time or resources, is playful, it constitutes a challenge to be taken up, shatters the anxiety of the blank page and allows the creative process to get underway.

Try the subtraction rule

When designing an innovative product, there is a natural tendency to want to add new features. Reverse the process. Instead, try to redesign an existing product by removing one of its features. Sometimes it is amazing how you can create value in this way. An Israeli company has designed a phone that does not have a calling function for pre-teens: it does not allow them to call their friends but only to be reached by their parents.

Dare to make unlikely connections

To be creative, do not hesitate to mix concepts, to combine universes, to combine principles that seem to have nothing in common. From this mixture of genres and the crossing of ideas, a new and original solution may emerge. In this respect, nourishing your curiosity and cultivating a certain open-mindedness will allow you to develop your creative potential, to connect various spheres and to give birth to even more possibilities.

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