Creative Disobedience: How, When, & Why to Break the Rules, from #lkna13

1. Andrea Kuszewski
@AndreaKuszewski
Creative Disobedience
How,When, andWhy to Break the Rules
April 29, 2013

2. Creative Disobedience
In this age of innovation, even more important than being an effective
problem solver, is being a problem finder. It’s one thing to look at a prob-
lem and be able to generate a solution; it is another thing to be able to
look at an ambiguous situation, and decide if there is a problem that
needs to be solved.
That’s a skill that isn’t really targeted by traditional teaching methods, and
in fact, it is often discouraged. In order to teach problem finding, more cre-
ative methods must be utilized. Rule-breaking , to an extent, should be tol-
erated and encouraged, and yes—even taught.
“
“
Andrea Kuszewski, “The Educational Value of Creative Disobedience”, Scientific American, 2011

3. Creative Disobedience
What is Creativity?

4. Creative Disobedience

5. Creative Disobedience
FAIL

6. • Thinking with BOTH sides of your brain
• Switching back and forth between conventional and unconventional thinking
• Making remote associations between concepts
• ‘Zooming in and zooming out’of information, from convergent to divergent
• Constantly weeding out & checking for relevance and usefulness of the ideas
Creative Cognition is:
Creative Disobedience

7. Creative Disobedience
Creativity is:
An original, novel solution that is both useful and
appropriate given the context, environment, and
the task at hand

8. Creative Disobedience
By definition,
creativity involves breaking rules.
This can cause problems.

9. Creative Disobedience
By definition,
creativity involves breaking rules.
This can cause problems.
(because we want to live)

10. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity

11. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity
• High creativity: determined, independent, individualistic

12. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity
• High creativity: determined, independent, individualistic
• Low creativity: responsible, sincere, reliable, dependable, clear-thinking, tol-
erant, understanding, peaceable, good-natured, steady, practical, and logical

13. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity
• High creativity: determined, independent, individualistic
• Low creativity: responsible, sincere, reliable, dependable, clear-thinking, tol-
erant, understanding, peaceable, good-natured, steady, practical, and logical
• Asked teachers to rates students from favorite to least favorite, based on
those characteristics

14. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity
• High creativity: determined, independent, individualistic
• Low creativity: responsible, sincere, reliable, dependable, clear-thinking, tol-
erant, understanding, peaceable, good-natured, steady, practical, and logical
• Asked teachers to rates students from favorite to least favorite, based on
those characteristics
• The students rated as least favorite by teachers were also rated as most
creative

15. Creative Disobedience
“Creativity: An Asset or a Burden in the Classroom?”
Westby & Dawson (1995)
• Asked teachers to identify personality characteristics associated with cre-
ativity
• High creativity: determined, independent, individualistic
• Low creativity: responsible, sincere, reliable, dependable, clear-thinking, tol-
erant, understanding, peaceable, good-natured, steady, practical, and logical
• Asked teachers to rates students from favorite to least favorite, based on
those characteristics
• The students rated as least favorite by teachers were also rated as most
creative
• Teachers like the students who followed the outline and didn’t break rules

16. Creative Disobedience
Even when people say they want
creativity,
often they reject it in practice.

17. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty

18. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty
• “...effective creative problem solving includes both generating many novel options and subsequently reducing
uncertainty by identifying the single best option from the set.” (Cropley, 2006)

19. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty
• “...effective creative problem solving includes both generating many novel options and subsequently reducing
uncertainty by identifying the single best option from the set.” (Cropley, 2006)
• Identifying the optimal solution may prime an uncertainty reduction motive or intolerance for uncertainty, and
thereby evoke the creativity bias

20. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty
• “...effective creative problem solving includes both generating many novel options and subsequently reducing
uncertainty by identifying the single best option from the set.” (Cropley, 2006)
• Identifying the optimal solution may prime an uncertainty reduction motive or intolerance for uncertainty, and
thereby evoke the creativity bias
• People seek to avoid and diminish uncertainty: Kill the creative idea

21. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty
• “...effective creative problem solving includes both generating many novel options and subsequently reducing
uncertainty by identifying the single best option from the set.” (Cropley, 2006)
• Identifying the optimal solution may prime an uncertainty reduction motive or intolerance for uncertainty, and
thereby evoke the creativity bias
• People seek to avoid and diminish uncertainty: Kill the creative idea
• By requiring gate-keepers to identify the single“best”and most“accurate”idea, you are promoting that uncer-
tainty, thereby creating an unacknowledged aversion to creativity.

22. Creative Disobedience
“The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject
Creative Ideas” Meuller, et al (2011)
• There is a bias against creativity, fueled by uncertainty
• “...effective creative problem solving includes both generating many novel options and subsequently reducing
uncertainty by identifying the single best option from the set.” (Cropley, 2006)
• Identifying the optimal solution may prime an uncertainty reduction motive or intolerance for uncertainty, and
thereby evoke the creativity bias
• People seek to avoid and diminish uncertainty: Kill the creative idea
• By requiring gate-keepers to identify the single“best”and most“accurate”idea, you are promoting that uncer-
tainty, thereby creating an unacknowledged aversion to creativity.
There is always more than one good solution to a problem,
but the value varies depending on context

23. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

24. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

25. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

26. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

27. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

28. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

29. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

30. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
7. Reinitiation
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

31. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
7. Reinitiation
8. Integration
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

32. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
7. Reinitiation
8. Integration
Accept current paradigms and attempt to extend them
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

33. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
7. Reinitiation
8. Integration
Reject current paradigms and attempt to replace them
Accept current paradigms and attempt to extend them
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

34. Creative Disobedience
The 8 Types of Creative Contributions
1. Replication
2. Redefinition
3. Forward incrementation
4. Advanced forward incrementation
5. Redirection
6. Reconstruction/redirection
7. Reinitiation
8. Integration Merges disparate current paradigms
Reject current paradigms and attempt to replace them
Accept current paradigms and attempt to extend them
Robert Sternberg, “Handbook of Creativity”, 1999

35. Creative Disobedience
How to Teach and Encourage Creativity
(and when not to)

36. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children

37. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children
• When children were given a problem and told to figure out how something works, they were able
to generate the most intelligent solutions through experimentation.

38. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children
• When children were given a problem and told to figure out how something works, they were able
to generate the most intelligent solutions through experimentation.
• When they were shown a working sequence (one of many), they imitated that solution, and then
stopped looking for a more intelligent solution.

39. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children
• When children were given a problem and told to figure out how something works, they were able
to generate the most intelligent solutions through experimentation.
• When they were shown a working sequence (one of many), they imitated that solution, and then
stopped looking for a more intelligent solution.
Take-home points?

40. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children
• When children were given a problem and told to figure out how something works, they were able
to generate the most intelligent solutions through experimentation.
• When they were shown a working sequence (one of many), they imitated that solution, and then
stopped looking for a more intelligent solution.
Take-home points?
Encouraging critical thinking and finding more than one correct solution
to a given problem helps to develop creativity
1

41. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : THE EARLY YEARS
Psychology researcher Allison Gopnik: Creative behavior in young children
• When children were given a problem and told to figure out how something works, they were able
to generate the most intelligent solutions through experimentation.
• When they were shown a working sequence (one of many), they imitated that solution, and then
stopped looking for a more intelligent solution.
Take-home points?
Encouraging critical thinking and finding more than one correct solution
to a given problem helps to develop creativity
Encouraging one to‘follow the outline’prevents deep understanding of
the problem, and decreases ability to creativly problem-solve
1
2

42. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

43. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

44. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines

45. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines
• Keep the integrity of the fundamental pillars of therapeutic goals, & understand WHY

46. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines
• Keep the integrity of the fundamental pillars of therapeutic goals, & understand WHY
• You have room to be creative within each step of the treatment plan, given those fundamental core
pillars are kept intact and met, and making progress towards overall goal

47. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines
• Keep the integrity of the fundamental pillars of therapeutic goals, & understand WHY
• You have room to be creative within each step of the treatment plan, given those fundamental core
pillars are kept intact and met, and making progress towards overall goal
• Modifying one step may make that particular stage‘less efficient’, but make exponentially increase
progress towards later goal

48. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines
• Keep the integrity of the fundamental pillars of therapeutic goals, & understand WHY
• You have room to be creative within each step of the treatment plan, given those fundamental core
pillars are kept intact and met, and making progress towards overall goal
• Modifying one step may make that particular stage‘less efficient’, but make exponentially increase
progress towards later goal
• Individual workers may need to make adjustments to their own timelines, to better meet end goal

49. Creative Disobedience
TEACHING CREATIVITY : IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Training Behavior Therapists for treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Teach them to ask and answer questions, not memorize outlines
• Keep the integrity of the fundamental pillars of therapeutic goals, & understand WHY
• You have room to be creative within each step of the treatment plan, given those fundamental core
pillars are kept intact and met, and making progress towards overall goal
• Modifying one step may make that particular stage‘less efficient’, but make exponentially increase
progress towards later goal
• Individual workers may need to make adjustments to their own timelines, to better meet end goal
The result?
Autonomy, while consistently meeting the therapeutic goals

50. Creative Disobedience
Training people to ask questions and think about problems
before they receive a solution encourages and teaches creative
thinking, to produce better innovators, problem solvers, &
problem finders.
Main message:

51. Creative Disobedience
Does this method make
progress toward the overall
goal?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
About the
same
More
progress
Good idea
to do it.
Less progress
Can this method
scale up?
Will others be required to
learn this?
Don’t do this.
Does this method maintain
the integrity of the funda-
mental pillars of the project?
Does this method
make the current step
more efficient?
a how-to guide to Creative Disobedience

52. Creative Disobedience
HOW TO ENCOURAGE A CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

53. Creative Disobedience
HOW TO ENCOURAGE A CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Give them some space
Deadlines are important, but hourly check-ups are not. Creativity involves linking concepts, which
means holding several things in your working memory -- a balance that can be disrupted easily, so a
buffer against distractions are essential.
1

54. Creative Disobedience
HOW TO ENCOURAGE A CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Give them some space
Deadlines are important, but hourly check-ups are not. Creativity involves linking concepts, which
means holding several things in your working memory -- a balance that can be disrupted easily, so a
buffer against distractions are essential.
Don’t micromanage
Allow free time for employees to work on anything they want; intrinsic motivation (working on some-
thing just because it’s interesting) leads to creativity.
1
2

55. Creative Disobedience
HOW TO ENCOURAGE A CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Give them some space
Deadlines are important, but hourly check-ups are not. Creativity involves linking concepts, which
means holding several things in your working memory -- a balance that can be disrupted easily, so a
buffer against distractions are essential.
Don’t micromanage
Allow free time for employees to work on anything they want; intrinsic motivation (working on some-
thing just because it’s interesting) leads to creativity.
Open your mind
Getting stuck in a hyper-focused, linear thinking pattern can stall finding a creative solution. Take
breaks when working, just to think about nothing.
1
2
3

56. Creative Disobedience
HOW TO ENCOURAGE A CREATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Give them some space
Deadlines are important, but hourly check-ups are not. Creativity involves linking concepts, which
means holding several things in your working memory -- a balance that can be disrupted easily, so a
buffer against distractions are essential.
Don’t micromanage
Allow free time for employees to work on anything they want; intrinsic motivation (working on some-
thing just because it’s interesting) leads to creativity.
Open your mind
Getting stuck in a hyper-focused, linear thinking pattern can stall finding a creative solution. Take
breaks when working, just to think about nothing.
Tolerate creativity
Reward creative thinking, not with financial incentives, which, alone, have been shown to decrease
creativity, but by promoting the conditions that permit it. Tolerate the occasional failure and allow
rules to be broken when there is a social benefit.
1
2
3
4

57. Creative Disobedience
Thank you!
Andrea Kuszewski
@AndreaKuszewski