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The 6 Key Mindsets Behind Creative Thinking
Would you like to become a more creative entrepreneur or leader? Professor Michael A. Roberto teaches leadership, business strategy and managerial decision-making at Bryant University in Rhode Island as well as for The Great Courses.
He’s also the author of several best-selling books.
In his latest work, Unlocking Creativity, Roberto proposes six mindsets that can help entrepreneurs and business leaders spark creative thinking.
1. The Linear Mindset
Many executives and leaders try to solve problems or plan for the coming year linearly, for example by revenue, target or calendar event.
Roberto explains,
“The creative process is fundamentally non-linear. It involves a lot of iteration, experimentation, a lot of feedback loops. And we hate to iterate. We like the linear process; many managers do.”
For example, in 2008 Dropbox created a three-minute demo video of its proposed file-sharing service. Thanks to this viral video, more than 75,000 people opted in to its waiting list.