The answers to these questions are complex, but worth pur-
suing further. By exploring them, we may be able to understand
more about the close connection between learning and creativity.
Knowing how to harness your own creativity is one of the most
important aspects of learning to learn. For in these “aha!”
moments, there is no doubt that your mind is fully powered up and
somehow operating in another gear.
Creativity has only recently begun to be seen as part of learn-
ing. The kind of learning valued in IQ tests held sway in schools
and colleges for much of the twentieth century; to a large extent it
still does. In this view of education, creativity is consigned to art,
design, and music. Very little connection is made between the kind
of innovation and entrepreneurial thought that is needed in busi-
ness and the approach to learning being adopted by schools.
The omission of creativity from the school curriculum had
become so serious that one of the first acts of the Blair government
after it came to power in Britain in 1997 was to set up a national
advisory committee on creative and cultural education. As one of
the members of this committee, Professor Susan Greenfield, puts it:Original thought and respect for originality of others must surely lie at the
heart, not just of creativity, but also individuality—our only chance of
twenty-first-century escape from zombie-ness.In too many schools and in too many tests, there is one right
answer to every question or problem. In life, especially in a world
of rapid change, there is rarely one simple answer. There are nor-
mally too many complex issues for a single point of view to suffice.
And this is quite apart from the fact that we know that human
beings have many more intelligences than the linguistic and math-
ematical elements traditionally associated with IQ.
Some people talk of a separate creative intelligence, but this
misses the point. It suggests that creativity is an isolated aspect of
the way we act. I am convinced that it is a much more pervasive
attribute, an attitude of mind that can be applied to all we do.
Creativity is increasingly being sought after as a key aspect of
the way you learn and perform. As the authoritative Alan148 Power Up Your Mind