unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc 371. The Invention of Creativity feat. Samuel Franklin
The word “creativity” as we understand it today didn’t become popular until the mid-20th century. So, what changed around 1950 that led to this mainstreaming of creative thought? And how was creativity described before that?
Samuel Franklin at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands charts the recent history of creativity in his book, The Cult of Creativity.
He and Greg discuss how the meaning of the word “creativity” has shifted over time, the invention of brainstorming, and why engineers and scientists of the mid-20th century were drawn to creative thinking.
*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*
Episode Quotes:
Creativity as a cognitive ability and natural human process
11:48: When we want a creative job, it's often because it's something that we think is going to allow us to become our truest selves but also make a living creating economically valuable novelty. It was this thing that allowed people to have it both ways, to see economic and psychological goods as being aligned.
Creativity's constellation of concepts
03:32: Creativity isn't necessarily a totally new concept. It's a new term that allows us to pull together a constellation of different concepts, connotations, and vibes that allow us to say new things. So in that sense, it is a new concept because it's a new handle. So I think what it does is allow us to name some theoretical attribute that is a human attribute.
On individualism versus group work
26:41: The debate in business seemed to be: when you're trying to come up with something new or trying to solve a problem, should you get people together to do it? Or should you send people off on their own to do it? This is a debate that is perennial. It goes on to this day. There are people who have methods that are elaborations of brainstorming, improvements to brainstorming that they swear are good for group work, and I'm sure they do serve their purposes quite well, given the right context. And then there's people who just swear that there's no way to do it. I don't think we'll ever resolve it. I think that it's probably all about context.
Changing the way we view creativity
47:55: We see creativity as a psychological thing—something that happens in the realm of brain work. And so I think that when we say that we should all be teaching our kids creativity, maybe that could be a good thing. It could result in educational policies that I like. But what it also does is it expects all of those kids to go on and be entrepreneurs and tech people. And I don't necessarily think that's what we should be training our kids from. Not because I want them all to be working in factories, but because I think that's not the role that education should serve.
Show Links:
Recommended Resources:
- Joseph Schumpeter
- William White
- Harry Braverman
- Scientific management and Taylorism
- Applied Imagination: Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking by Alex Osborn
- Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
- Abraham Maslow
Guest Profile:
- Faculty Profile at Delft University
- Samuel W. Franklin on LinkedIn
- Samuel W. Franklin on X
His Work:
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