Carl Nordgren - Becoming a Creative Genius {again}

Title Page

CARL NORDGREN

Copyright

Copyright 2016, by Carl Nordgren

Becoming a Creative Genius {again}

Carl Nordgren

www.creativepopulist.com

carl@creativepopulist.com

Published 2016, by Torchflame Books
an Imprint of Light Messages

www.lightmessages.com

Durham, NC 27713 USA

SAN: 920-9298

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61153-216-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61153-217-3

Cover design and layout by Kevin Qian

www.qbranding.com

kevin@qbranding.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Praise for
Becoming a Creative Genius {again}

Becoming a Creative Genius {again} is a great guide for all of us to reclaim the creativity that we all had as kids before conformity, peer pressure, and following too many well-worn paths stripped it all away from us. Its still there though, and this book helps you rediscover the joy of being creative and leveraging it to bring you happiness and success. George L. Grody - Visiting Professor Duke University, Procter & Gamble (retired)

Becoming a Creative Genius {again} is important. It reminds us of the inherent ability each of us had as children to imagine, play and create. More importantly, it provides numerous lessons and exercises to help us rediscover and rekindle those likely now underutilized characteristics. In todays dynamic world, our creativity is critical to thriving and contributing. Read this book and rediscover your creative genius {again}. Tom Triumph, CEO of Orbital Environments, with clients like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and NASA

Carl Nordgren, our dad, has been one of our greatest teachers. Learning and living this work our whole lives has inspired us, challenged us, and lent imagination and success to our adventures, art, and businesses. The book provides you with a perspective thats simultaneously wise and enthusiastic, a guidebook by an experienced entrepreneur who values big ideas and the power of storytelling. Krista Anne Nordgren, designer, technologist; Brita Nordgren Wolf, artist, mama, maker; Sarah Rose Nordgren, writer, professor.

Dedication

All my work is dedicated to my wife Marie, one of the most creative entrepreneurs I know.

My dad had a very creative business career, forging big changes in major business categories three or four times. I watched and learned without realizing how much. Thanks Dad, for show and tell. And especially for the show.

Thanks Kevin, time and again, thanks.

And to JP, a wonderfully creative young man, forever more.

THE GOOD NEWS

Ive got good news that I can help you turn into great news.

The good news is that there is a 98 out of a 100 chance that you were born a creative genius.

Thats what the research shows.

98% of you born creative genius!

Pretty good odds in your favor, eh?

And the great news is that even if your creatively entrepreneurial qualities have been stunted from lack of usethat same research discovered that by the time were in our early 30s, only 2% of us are still performing at a creative genius levelwell, Im telling you that they havent gone away.

With your intentional practice and this books support and guidance your creatively entrepreneurial talents and abilities will begin to grow today and they will improve steadily as you use them, to serve you in many ways.

So, if your goal is to become the most creatively entrepreneurial version of yourself you can beand what the heck, why not go bold and fully reclaim your creative genius, it is your natural birthrightthen this book is for you.

A Bias for Action is one of the core creative principles informing this book; well talk about its importance throughout and youll be urged to apply your bias for action regularly and immediately, so go ahead and demonstrate it now...

By putting the book down.

And as you think about the idea that being creative and entrepreneurial is core to the human condition, go find evidence in support of it.

And as you do, know you are beginning to work for your creatively entrepreneurial growth.

BORN GENIUSES

Our natural creative genius looks something like this:

When we were young we taught ourselves through the application of tireless curiosity and vigorous and vivid imaginations.

We taught ourselves as we associated ideas or objects we already knew about to create new insights or things we didnt know about.

We didnt just pay attention; we invested our attention in the worlds offerings and challenges.

When we were very young we exhausted our parents by being creatively entrepreneurial in nearly each inch and just about every minute of our daily lives; we actively created.

Know this: You were a creative genius then, and you delighted in exploring the world through that genius.

Remember?

THE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

In the 1960s, back in our wonderfully heroic days of space exploration, NASA knew they would be more successful if they hired more creatively entrepreneurial scientists and engineers. They hired George Land to develop an assessment tool that would measure creative and innovative thinking, and planned to use it during their recruitment processes to identify the best divergent thinkersdivergent thinking is the ability to generate a larger number and a greater variety of options when solving creative problems; divergent thinking is widely appreciated as a core creative cognitive process.

And theres a bunch of ways to measure divergent thinking accurately enough for researchers to be confident in their researched conclusions about it.

When NASA first used the tool to assess those currently working there they were delighted with the results: those known to be most creatively entrepreneurial did the best, and the rest of the results nicely validated what was known about the creative qualities of others. Land was intrigued, and curious, and he decided to use the same tool to assess a representative sample of 1,600 children. They used NASAs grading scale and found that 98% of these kids scored at a genius level. The researchers measured the participants at regular intervals and the test scores rapid retreat as the children grew led the researchers to conclude that non-creative behavior is learned, first and foremost in school.

They concluded being a creative genius defines the human condition.

MY OWN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

After decades of working as an entrepreneur and creative professional I began teaching courses in creativity and entrepreneurship at Duke University; between 2002 and 2016 I taught over 3,500 students. While Duke Undergrads are in fact extraordinarily successful at accomplishing the challenges school has traditionally, conventionally, been offering, like the rest of us most of them have lost creative genius.