The Creativity Challenge

Book excerpt: American creativity has steadily declined since 1990. That disturbing trend recently came to light through the work of leading educational psychologist KH Kim, a recognized expert in creativity assessment. In this insightful and inspiring book, Kim discovers the causes of the decrease in creativity and proposes methods of recapturing American creativity in education, in industry, and throughout every sector of society. Through the life stories of innovators, Kim debunks the assumption that creative people must be born with innate talents. She shows how parents, educational methods, and cultures shaped innovators' creative expression. As her research clearly indicates, cultural climates and attitudes (including over-reliance on standardized testing) often work against innovation unless creativity is deliberately grown and developed. Culminating over twenty years of extensive research, Kim has devised original models to identify creativity in people and organizations and help it to blossom. Gardening metaphors illustrate simple but powerful steps to transform creative potential into innovation. She emphasizes practical steps to cultivate creative climates (environment) in schools, in homes, and at work; nurture creative attitudes (personality) toward learning, work, and life; and apply creative thinking skills. Kim's models for creativity are complemented with evidence-based methods to learn and practice creative skills in everyday life.