HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVE IDENTITY AT WORK : integrating personal creativity within your... professional role

According to the World Economic Forum, creativity is considered to be the third-most-important skill for employees, behind complex problem-solving and critical thinking. This book will help you rethink your creativity and its value in the work life, giving you access to intellectual, emotional, and reputational benefits that were previously unattainable. Based on a collection of interviews and research, this book translates the latest findings on the creative beliefs, confidence, and mindset into digestible thoughts for experts with an itch for improvement and innovation in domains like technology, entrepreneurship, and education. It brings a new perspective to creativity by focusing on how individuals can understand their creativity and what the implications are on what they want to achieve. How to Develop Your Creative Identity at Work is based on the most recent creativity research, which analyzes how creativity plays an important part in the individual's sense of identity. What You'll Learn Understand how personal beliefs about the innate creativity are influenced by past experiences See how the creator's personality can be shaped through new habits of curiosity, emotional risk-taking and insight Establish a creative communication style that enables others to navigate smoothly through the challenging moments in a feedback conversation Become an ambitious person with a sense of meaning in the work you do Identify all the familiar and less familiar in-house creative experts Who This Book Is For The primary reader is a knowledgeable expert, in a creative or less creative role, who is curious to bring a better fit between their inner experiences and the external environment. The secondary audience are the experts in roles like learning and development, people and culture change, and team leads who are interested in facilitating a space where employees feel safe to share their original ideas and express their curiosity. Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: The Fit Between Your Creativity and Your Activities Chapter 1: Four Types of Creators When There’s Hope, There Are Opportunities to Craft Your Role As a Creator Chapter 2: Definitions of Personal Creativity The Outside-In View: How Researchers Study Creativity Creativity As a Type of Thinking Creativity As a Process Creativity As an Outcome The Inside-Out View: How Recognized Creators Talk About Their Creativity Chapter 3: For an Updated View on Your Creativity, Make the Implicit Biases Explicit Two Ways to Relate to Your Creativity When Trust in Your Creative Capacity Outlasts Authority Gender Stereotypes That Confuse You About the Roles That Suit Your Creativity Flexing Creativity Archetypes Touching Base with the Creativity Formed in School Years Opening Up to Your Inner Creative Diversity To Be Creative Is to Think Twice About What You Deem to Be an Appropriate Curiosity to Follow Chapter 4: Impulses to Create Four Possible Temptations Toward Creative Activities Explore Your Creative Drive by Harmonizing the Importance of Creativity for Your Sense of Well-Being and Your Work Role Narrative 1: Being a Conformist Narrative 2: You Feel Misunderstood Narrative 3: You Compare Your Creativity with Others’ Creativity Big-C Creativity Pro-C Creativity Little-c Creativity Mini-c Creativity Narrative 4: Creativity Achieved Chapter 5: Three Pathways to the Discovery of New Creative Impulses Emotional Availability Is Not Only for Artists Disrupt Your Patterns of Curiosities Childhood Activities Step Outside the Professional Sphere Use More of the Less Used Senses Take the Risk to Invest Time in Disruptive Activities What Will They Think of Me? When to Expect That Your Actions Will Get the Validation of Your Loved Ones Balance Your Long-Term Personal Benefits with Others’ Short-Term Benefits The Goal Is the Internal Shift Chapter 6: Toward the Workspaces Where New Curiosities Take You Summary of Part 1 Self-Exploration Exercises: Orienting Yourself to the Next Stage of Creative Self-Development Part II: Learn to Live Like a Creator Chapter 7: Allow Your Tiny Genius to Roam Outside Your Comfort Zone Chapter 8: Crossing Paths with a New Curiosity A New Creative Curiosity, a New Set of Skills to Master Chapter 9: Allow Yourself to Create for Different Audiences The Social Part of “I” Is in Unrest A Part of the “I” Is Collective Be Like a Genius; Know When to Be Flexible and When to Persevere The Flexibility to Make Room for New Curiosities The Perseverance to Create Four Personal Needs to Create The Love of Autonomy The Desire for Fairness The Need for Relatedness The Intention to Leave a Legacy of Personal Values Chapter 10: Committing to Your Creative Focus And They Lived Happily Through the Loops of Feedback Part 2 Summary – Learn to Live Like a Creator Part III: Priming Your Mind for Creative Insight Chapter 11: Why Habits of Inner Observation Strengthen the Identity As a Creator The Attraction Toward a Particular Domain Take the Creator in You for a Couple of Dates to Observe New Sensitivities Chapter 12: Follow Your Sense of Beauty Habit 1: The Discipline of Observing Your Sensitivities Habit 2: Question Your Interpretations Habit 3: Cultivate Your Intuition About What Questions to Focus On What Is Intuition and Why Is It Important? Optional Exercise 3: The Before and After Trust How to Discern Your Creative Intuition Chapter 13: Manage Your Mood to Follow Your Intuition Habit 4: Emotions, Moods, and Ensuing Stories Habit 5: Practice Gratitude – When Pleasantly and Unpleasantly Surprised Habit 6: The Ratio of Self-Judgement to Self-Compassion Chapter 14: What’s Next? Reassess the Creative Sensitivities That Will Drive You Toward the Next Project Part IV: Adopt a Creative Communication Style in Feedback Conversations Chapter 15: The Three Principles of a Creative Communication Style When and With Whom to Talk About Your Ideas Become a Participative Storyteller The Creative Integrity Mindset Chapter 16: Talking With Humor What Is Humor? What Creates Humor? When Do People Laugh Best? The Benefits of Positive Humor in Work Contexts Chapter 17: Leading Feedback Conversations With Improvised Humor Becoming the Person With a Tinge of Humor Step 1: Get into a Playful State of Mind Step 2: Get Ready to Make Room for a Witty Comment Step 3: Get Flexible to Adapt to an Appropriate Style of Humor Maintain the Interlocutor’s Sense of Status by Carefully Curating the Content of the Jokes Practice the Sense of Humor That Fuels People’s Creativity Is This a Good Moment for Improvised Humor? How to Manage the Situations When the Interlocutor Is Not Amused Chapter 18: Listen for Inspiration What Is an Attitude of Inspiration? Use Analogies to Sort Out Difficult Concepts and Ideas Choose Familiar Models of Reference Check the Internal Consistency of A and B Ensure That the Comparison Between A and B Is Valid Chapter 19: Listen for Imagination What Is Imagination? Is Imagination the Same As Fantasy? Three Imagination Activities That Lead to New Ideas Daydreaming Mind Wandering Perspective-taking Conversed Imagination The Time Perspective Engage in Role-Play Contrasting Beliefs Falsifying Constraints The Humor of an Imagination Gap Can Save the Conversation Part 4 Summary Conclusions The Evolving Creator – Mind the Insight and Get to Work Without an Audience, There’s No Purpose to Create Anything Index