Longitude Sound BytesEp 02: Sparking creativity through constraints | Vinita Israni – by Steven Feng (Listen)

Vinita Israni, user experience manager at Qantas Airlines, Sydney, Australia:

Hi. My name is Vinita Israni and I currently live in Sydney. I am a user experience manager at Qantas, which is an airline down in Australia.

So address the topic of creativity, I think one of the activities that we often think about when we are thinking about creativity is brainstorming. And we have this perception that crazier the ideas someone comes up with the more creative that person is. However, I really think that creativity is a skill that has to be both sharpened, but also encouraged.

And so, as part of this strategic initiatives within the team that I work on, I actually often run brainstorming sessions with different kinds of stakeholders many of which I never met. And so my goal as a facilitator is actually to be able to encourage creativity. So I think that starts with some of the ground rules that are even laid out before you walk into the room. One of the ground rules we lay out is called the beginners mindset, so this means that when you walk into a room you are allowed to ask questions of anything and everything, and that this is a judgment free zone. It is a safe space, where you can actually ask questions but it also allows people to be able to throw out those crazy and creative ideas.

Another thing to kind of think about is this concept of priming. So, the concept of priming in psychology is basically when you expose one thing to a person but it actually influences the way they think about something else.

So when you think about that in the context of brainstorming, I purposefully throw out these crazy provocations to generate crazy ideas but than that actually leads people to think of the problem entirely differently and maybe go a different way.

So some of the examples that I throw out are, for example, every idea must cost a million dollars to create, or that every idea must get you in trouble with your boss, or that every idea must involve fantasy or magic. And I know these sounds kind of silly but it really pushes people to think of things really differently. And so these function in some ways as constraints for generating ideas.

So, if you take a second, and think about a garden hose, so close your eyes and imagine that you are watering your potentially imaginary garden with this hose. Even when the hose is going out at full force the water only goes where you aim it, right? But the moment you put your finger on the hose nozzle the water sprays everywhere. Actually, doing potentially a better job about watering your garden. So the constraints work in the same way with creativity. Just as you put your finger on the hose, it functioned as a constraint, but distributes the water in different directions. And so when you have constraints, for example, these crazy provocations it may actually allow you to come up with more creative ideas. Your mind can go in a lot of different ways.

Another thing I just want to mention is that creativity is something that has to be practiced. It is really about developing the discipline to stretch that creative muscle every day. Many of the most creative people I know get up every day and have the same routine to be able to do certain exercises like a hundred days challenge with like different kinds of mediums, or going to, you know, whether that’s websites or getting external inspiration. And so, I mean in a very basic way, think about the way you get to work, the way you commute, what if you were only looking down the entire time or looking up the entire time, what would you notice differently, right? And you do that every single day. So that is, you know, a really simple exercise, but that might help you be more creative. And so when you build that into your daily routine or schedule, it stretches that creative muscle more regularly. And so, whether that is drawing or simply thinking of a new recipe, I really think creativity is something that could be cultivated and can take a lot of different forms.

Steven Feng, Longitude fellow, Rice University, Houston:

I personally find Vinita’s insights on creativity and brainstorming quite eye-opening. In particular, I appreciate her emphasizing that creativity is a skill that can be developed, especially because there seems to be sort of a defeatist attitude towards being creative, that certain individuals are gifted with their sense of creativity and others are doomed without any. As a STEM student, where creativity is perceived to not be as essential as it is in the arts, I must acknowledge that important discoveries can never be made if everyone thinks within rigid, pre-existing frameworks. And the more I witness my fellow students harness their innovative thinking to build socially impactful computer programs or write expertly thought out papers on statistical applications in criminal justice, the more I am inspired to work on my creative abilities and to think like them.

Vinita’s analysis on quote-on-quote, stretching the creative muscle resonated within me too. In high school, I used to daydream about marginal changes that would be disruptive to everyday life, like if every clock at school froze for a second at the start of the day or if I added the most minute amount of acid to my already-formulated solution. Pandering life’s supply of endless butterfly effects allowed me to appreciate the unappreciated and work my creative sense, but unfortunately I really stopped thinking about these things after I came to college. I’m glad to hear that professionals use similar techniques to sharpen their ingenuity, and I feel validated that my daydream’s were productive after all. Next time I hop on the lightrail, I’ll take a closer look around and see what I can zone in on.

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