It's not listed on any balance sheet. But it can be one of a business's most valuable assets.

It's creativity. Using it, an attorney structures a brilliant new kind of deal. An accountant finds a new (perfectly legal) way to reduce a client's taxes. An executive develops a unique strategy to beat out the competition.

And yet with all the power creativity has to build businesses, win raises and earn promotions, many people don't call on theirs as well as they could. They suffer from the common "Either-you-have-it-or-you-don't. And-I-don't!" syndrome. But the truth is that, like a muscle, our creativity is already within us just waiting to be tapped and strengthened.

My partner, Deborah Rodney, and I have proven it to dozens of businesspeople. In the Creativity Seminar that we've given to networking and business groups across Los Angeles, members have experienced the fun and exhilaration of discovering a creativity they never knew they had. By following some simple rules and participating in a series of mind-stretching exercises, they've awakened a part of them they weren't quite sure they had but that's been there all along.

Magical mystical creativity

First of all, let's get something out of the way: there's nothing mysterious about creativity. Some of the people who make their livings being overtly creative---artists, writers, poets, composers, et.al. --- encourage others to view creativity with some kind of distant, unreachable awe. However, speaking uncreatively, that's baloney.

Synonyms for creativity abound: unique, individual, new, innovative, original, to toss out just a few. Examples of everyday creativity are just as easy to find: the simple story you ad lib to lull your three-year-old to sleep or the cock-and-bull story you cook up for your client to explain why you missed that deadline. You're being creative all the time; you're just not giving yourself credit for it. Now take that same originality, strengthen it, and then focus it positively in your work and you're using what we call Constructive Creativity.

Constructive Creativity

There are a number of ways to bring out and strengthen your creativity. Here are a few of those we use in our Creativity Seminar that our audiences tell us are very helpful.

The Mind as a Muscle

The mind is just like a muscle---it's a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. To tap your creativity you have to get your mind in shape and then keep it that way. One of the best, and to me, most enjoyable, ways is to do puzzles of any kind. Personally I enjoy Games Magazine. Every issue has a wide variety of word and visual games at all levels of difficulty. They don't have to be especially hard. Choose whatever strikes your fancy and do a few on a daily basis. (If your boss catches you, tell her I said it's okay.) The brainpower you exercise will carry over to your thinking at work.

Get Outa Here!

A recent survey asked people where they felt they were most creative. The most popular place: in the bath or shower. ("While driving a car" and "in the bathroom" ranked second and third.) Interestingly, "in my office" didn't even make the top 10. The moral is clear. If you want to spread your creative wings, a change of venue is a good idea. It could be as close as your conference room, a trip to the local Starbuck's or an offsite meeting place if you're creating with a group. Try it: it really works.

It's safe to be stupid

Brainstorming in a group can be incredibly productive--or a flagrant flop. It all hinges on one key factor: how safe we feel voicing our ideas. In brainstorming, criticism and creativity can't coexist. When somebody's contributing ideas---daring to expose their thinking--- a simple "That's silly" can be enough to stifle their creativity for the session--or even longer.

Let your mind run wild and when the ideas start flowing, welcome every one and write it down, no matter how silly, outrageous, undoable or expensive you might think it is. There's plenty of time later to winnow out the ideas that have the best chance of success but during the brainstorming session treat every single one of them as a winner. At The Next Level, we have a sign we put up during our brainstorming sessions that reads, "It's safe to be stupid."

Welcome every idea like a newborn baby. You never know what it can grow into.

The role of rest

"I can get by on four hours sleep" is a normal macho claim. Not true. If you don't get enough sleep before a creative session, your eyes may be open for business but all your brain cells aren't. One study found that every hour of sleep less than eight we get is equivalent to having one alcoholic drink. Enough said.


Do these tips for freeing your creativity really work? We use them (and others along with mindstretching exercises) in our Creativity Seminar and the feedback has been phenomenal. An attorney invited us to give the seminar at a retreat for the Board of Governors of a major national non-profit. Later he told us that they used these techniques in breakout sessions following the seminar and they were the most productive meetings they ever had.

Try these out yourself. You'll find that expanding your creativity is a lot of fun. And it's even more so when you find that it also expands your income.

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