Out of Our Minds - Ken Robinson

How many times have you felt non-creative or frustrated at not solving a problem? Creativity is sometimes dead inside us and often because of our learning system. Due to this situation, Ken Robinson wrote the book “Out of Our Minds” to explain and help you change your mindset about creativity.

With that, I bet you are wondering how to get it back and have a creative and innovative vision for the business. It can be achieved by some mental techniques and skills developed by him, such as believing in yourself.

We have separated all the main topics from the book in 5 overviews, by this way it is easier to comprehend Ken’s teachings.

Got interested to learn all these creativity techniques to become the difference in your environment? Stay with us in this summary and discover how!

The book “Out of Our Minds”

First published in 2017, “Out of Our Minds: The Power of Being Creative” is a work of Ken Robinson, which has 268 pages and 10 chapters. The main purpose of the book is to present ways to keep our creativity alive.

It shows how important creativity is and how we can turn people to do good work in all organizations, leaving the current educational model behind and unleashing the power of our individual creativity.

Who is Ken Robinson?

Ken Robinson was born in the UK and is considered a reference in developing creativity, innovation, and people management.

During his career, he has been a professor of arts education at a university in the United Kingdom. In addition, several titles and honors have been awarded, among them the knight ordination by Queen Elizabeth II, thanks to his artistic services.

Ken is also the author of the book “The Key Element” and keynote speaker at TED's “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” where it has had over 57 million views.

To whom is the book “Out of Our Minds” indicated?

The book's content  is ideal for professionals in the field of licensing, as well as people management and leaders. The skills covered in this book will allow you and others to be the difference and impact on the population.

After all, imagination is crucial for everybody today. To make the difference we must use our brain to create new ideas and by this way, stand out in the market.

What can I learn from “Out of Our Minds”?

From the content offered in the book, we have put together the best strategies for you to develop skills such as imagination, creativity, and innovation.

• Everyone has creative abilities, just have to develop them;
• The capacity for innovation, creativity, and imagination will be fundamental to face future challenges;
• Creativity means coming up with unique ideas that are worthwhile;
• Everyone has a different way of developing these capabilities;
• Current teaching programs are not designed to develop your creativity;
• Emotional intelligence is so important as IQ;
• The best way to develop creativity is through execution.

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Everyone is creative

The book “Out of Our Minds” begins explaining that the current education system and training are outdated and do not develop the essential skills for today.

Thus, the current market is looking for creative people, effective communication and who adapt to change.

According to Ken Robinson, we are born with natural talents, but few discover what they are and how to develop them.

Thus, it can be concluded that everybody has creative ability, the challenge is to develop them because it requires a lot of discipline and work.

But after all, since we're talking so much about creativity, do you know what this is?

Well, Ken Robinson says that it can be understood as the process of developing original ideas that have value and innovation, putting those ideas into practice.

Revolution

Nowadays, change has been happening at a rapid pace. The author makes a timeline, reviewing the milestones in the history of transformative inventions. With each passing day a new technology arises. What was impossible yesterday is today's reality, which consequently enables creative work.

By 2050 it is estimated that the world's population would be around 10 billion, making it a threat to the planet's resources. In this way, the capacity for innovation, creativity, and imagination will be fundamental to face the challenges.

"The more complex the world becomes, the more creative we need to be to meet its challenges."

According to the author, the only way to realize this revolution and create a prepared society is through education.

Educational System

Until recently, few people had a degree, and at that time it was a guarantee of good jobs. But today the scenario is different, we have many graduates and a great difficulty in finding jobs.

Ken Robinson explains that current teaching programs are not designed to develop you. And today the market is looking for much more than a degree, yet it is looking for people with the skills to innovate, the power of communication, teamwork, self-confidence and who are adaptable to change.

Your Mind

It has been during the last few years that we have gained a deeper understanding of the brain. And one thing is fact and indispensable: our mind is diverse, dynamic and distinct!

Each of us has a way of processing information and leaving with different impressions. Thus, the author says that there is no such thing as intelligent or unintelligent, we are all intelligent and have innate talents, but each person has a different way of awakening them.

Given this, one of the causes that lead to this inability of developing through current education is due to the equal treatment offered at schools.

Be creative

It is possible to develop the starting point of creativity in various ways. It cannot just be at the level of thought and imagination.

Creativity also involves execution, as this will judge whether your original idea has value or not. Also, it is good to make clear that the process of creativity never comes through completely, most of the time there will be frustrations, revisions and new increments.

Ken Robinson states that emotional Intelligence is as important as IQ because it involves the process of knowing yourself and others, and controlling feelings. After all, the control of thought and feeling are one of the pillars of creativity.

If you're a leader, you don't need to get creative by all means, the process is simpler than you might think. You just have to develop the creative activities in each of your employees.

A good way to do this is:

By personal means

• Support and develop projects that advance creativity and teamwork;
• Make management listen to your ideas and value it, it increases the yield on your work;
• Take risks and explore your skills. This will promote new connections and incentives.

Through groups

• Have a diverse team with different ideas, backgrounds, and experiences;
• Creativity is a lengthy process, so let ideas flow and pursue evolution;
• Keep in mind that you can make mistakes. Be patient!

Through cultures

• Have a creative infrastructure that generates interaction with employees;
• Generate frequent opportunities for personal engagement and development.

Books about creativity and innovation

Ed Catmull, author of the book “Creativity, Inc.”, advises: always give people more preference than ideas, as creative people create good ideas, but good ideas can be destroyed by bad teams.

Author Daniel Goleman of the book “Emotional Intelligence” explains that IQ contributes only 20% to our success in life. The rest is the result of emotional intelligence, which includes factors such as the ability to be motivated, persistence, impulse control, mood regulation, empathy, and hope.

Lastly, in “Steal Like an Artist”, the author Austin Kleon tells how you can do something authentic based on the ideas of those who inspire you. You can stimulate your creativity by stepping out of your comfort zone and surrounding yourself with people who support and add to your creative process.

How can I apply the ideas from “Out of Our Minds”?

The first step in developing your creativity is to accept that you are creative and just need to discover it.

In addition to all the tips presented, in order to unleash the power of creativity in others, you need to follow the topics below:

• Customize learning as much as you can;
• Make a detailed and personal assessment;
• Keep in mind that we do not need loads of knowledge, just a “fuse” for takeoff.

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