The Creativity Imperative - TEDxIIT

The CreativityImperative

Tom TresserMarch 26, 2011

It starts with a single mom and a pad of paper in a café…

• Book sales (1-7) exceed 400 million copies worldwide (69 languages)

• #7 had 20 million print run, Amazon sold 2 million (50% boost in profits!)

• 1 million visitors to new Universal “Wizarding World” Orlando

• Revenues:

- Books = $9 billion

- Consumer products = $7 billion

- Movies = $6.3 billion (first 7 films, #8 due 7/11)

- DVDs = $2.7 billion

- Video games = $1.9 billion

- TV = $495 million

The magic of a great story!Shekels

Accummulus!

WHAT IS CREATIVITY

?

Creativity is when you

thinkdoor

make something new.

Tom’s simple definition

WHO IS CREATIVE?

Howard Gardner

John H. and Elisabeth A. HobbsProfessor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero.

http://www.howardgardner.com

Project Zero aims to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels.

http://www.pzweb.harvard.edu

HOWARD GARDNER’S 8 INTELLIGENCES

Linguistic

pitch, rhythm, timbre

awareness of others' feelings, emotions, goals, motivations

Intrapersonal

DO YOU SEE

YOURSELFON THIS

LIST?

Intelligence Core Operations

syntax, phonology, semantics, pragmatics

Musical

Logical-mathematical

number, categorization, relations

Spatial accurate mental visualization, mental transformation of images

Bodily-kinesthetic

control of one's own body, control in handling objects

Interpersonal

awareness of one's own feelings, emotions, goals, motivations

Naturalist recognition and classification of objects in the environment

Creativity & American Heritage

America, the Invented Country

The Power of words…

Thomas Paine – 1737 - 1809

The Power of words…

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A

situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at

hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all

Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.”

The invention of America

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.etc. etc.”

Tom Crafts reads the Declaration aloud in Boston - July 19, 1776

“The bells rang, the privateers fired the forts and batteries, the cannon were discharged, the platoons followed, and every face appeared joyful…After dinner the King’s Arms were taken down from the State House and every vestige of him from every place in which it appeared, and burnt…Thus ends royal Authority in this State…and all the people shall say Amen.” 

Abigail Adams letter to John describing Tom Crafts, a house painter, reading of the Declaration of Independence aloud on July 19, 1776 from small balcony in front of the Massachusetts State House, Boston.

U.S.A!U.S.A!

U.S.A! U.S.A!

VALUE OF CREATIVITY

?

Creativity is our promise

43,000,000 people in U.S. born abroad

Creativity is our promise

I.I. Rabi won the 1944 Nobel Physics Prize for his work on the Manhattan Project.

- born in Austria- came to America as infant - father worked making women’s blouses in a sweatshop - Rabi was a brilliant student, became a physicist- leading member of the Manhattan Project

On the occasion of the award a journalist asked, What did Rabi think of this great honor? “What do I think? I think that in the old country I would have been a tailor.”

- David Halberstam, “Defining a Nation – Our America and the Sources of its Strength,” 2003.

Since 1906, 309 U.S. citizens have been awarded Nobel Prizes.

82 were foreign-born (including Isidor Rabi).

The increasing value of creativity

Creative Economy Workforce According to Richard Florida

Super-Creative Core:• Computer and mathematical occupations• Architecture and engineering occupations• Life, physical, and social science occupations• Education, training, and library occupations• Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations 

Creative Professionals:• Managerial occupations• Business and financial operations occupations• Legal operations• Healthcare practitioners and technical operations• High-end sales and sales management

Rise of Creative Class

Creative Class =

* Super-Creatives,

15 million workers +

* Creativity pros,

23 million workers

38 million strong 30% U.S. work force

“The Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida

Size of U.S. Creative Economy Workforce

Source: Catalytix Consulting

Value of U.S. Copyright Industries 2007

Core Partial Support Independent

To create, produce, distribute, exhibit copyright materials

Some aspect of product qualifies for © protection

Distributes both © and non-© to business/ consumers

Produce, distribute equipment that used in creating, use of © materials

Books, periodicals, movies, music, broadcast, software, DVDs

Fabric, jewelry, toys, games,

furniture

Transporta-tion, communi-cation, whole-sale, retail(only partially counted)

Manufacturer, distrib,retail of CD players, TV, VCRs, PCs, blank discs, etc.

Value of U.S. Copyright Industries 2007

11% of GDP

What % of Illinois Workers Toil in the Creative Industries?

35%

Chicago Region Creative Workers

Super-Creatives = 467,760

Creative Pros = 834,080

Total = 32% of labor forceSource: Metro Chicago Information Center

Creativity Drives U.S. Social + Economic Progress

Jane AddamsJonas Salk

Creativity in business

Creativity can be applied to all types of business

THISBECAME THIS

How much value does Starbucks add?

Cost of coffee bean when harvested =

$0.50/lb.

Value realized by Starbucks from selling cup of coffee =

$230/lb.

AN INCREASE OF VALUE OF +46,000%

Creativity can be applied to all types of business

THISBECAME THIS

Creativity can be applied to all types of business

THIS BECAME THIS

http://innovateamerica.org

“Innovate America” – National Innovation Initiative Report, December 2004

REPORT SIGNED BY CEOS OF 11 MAJOR US COMPANIES AND PRESIDENTS OF 8 UNIVERSITIES!

-BellSouth, IBM, American Airlines, Advanced Micro Devices, Ab Initio, Verizon, Amgen, Dana, Morgan Stanley, GM, PepsiCo

- Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M, Columbia University, University of North Carolina, Stanford, Rensselaer, MIT, University of Michigan

PAGE 1:

“RESOLVED --

Innovation will be the single most important factor indetermining America’s success through the 21st century.”

Prosperity = Literacy + Open Minded Creativity + Innovation

Tom’s Unified Field Theory of Creativity

BUT…

Take the Pledge

“I hereby declare that I (say your name) as of Saturday, March 26, 2011, am a Creativity Champion and that I will stand up for creativity, innovation, new ideas and an open mind at home, at work and in my community.”

Tom Tressertom@tresser.com