4. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
Recombinant Conceptualisation
• adapting,
• combining,
• modifying,
• minimising,
• maximising
• or substituting
existing elements into something new
5. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
Recombinant Conceptualisation
Radio + Toaster = Toaster-radio
•Taken for granted elements that can be
transformed into novelty
6. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
Recombinant Conceptualisation
•Taken for granted elements that can be
transformed into novelty
Playground + Men = Men’s playground
13. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
Transitional objects
•our first experience of symbols.
• our first use of ambiguity.
14. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
neurotic-
defensiveness
innovation
Disorder creativity Order
genius
psychosis
insanity
chaos cognitive entropy
boundary
15. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world
to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the
unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw
19. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
quot;When I woke up just
after dawn on
September 28, 1928, I
certainly didn't plan to
revolutionize all
medicine by discovering
the world's first
antibiotic, or bacteria
killer,quot; Fleming would
later say, quot;But I guess
that was exactly what I
did.quot;
- Alexander Fleming
20. Creativity, Innovation and Ants
Recombinant Conceptualisation
+
What have these two thing got in common?
28. Complex adaptive systems
The domain of evolution
Complex adaptive systems contain a great number of
interacting elements or agents... ...that interact with
each other according to sets of rules... ...that might
small changes in the basic conditions, but which can
produce profound and unpredictable changes to the
whole system......requiring robust systems to have built-
in redundancy, making fail possible without destabilizing
the whole system.
35. Cells;
•Should be allowed time on a regular basis to come together
to consider issues germane to the organisation in the most
creative ways possible
•Should be materially rewarded for their work.
•Should be free to work in any way they see fit, and be
allowed total freedom from any outside interference
•The problems they look at should be high level issues, with
the attendant responsibilities that entails
•They should be encouraged to be as creative as they wish,
even if their ideas look hopelessly naïve or unworkable.
•It should be a “safe-fail” environment, as opposed to a “fail-
safe” one.
•The cells only report to management if consensus is reached
about an idea or process, or at the completion of the cells
work life.
36. But there are some very strict rules:
• The cells can not comprise more that 7 people, and
ideally not more than 5.
• They are only allowed to communicate their work to 2
other cells, and only then if doing so involves the sharing of
information likely to assist the other cells with their own
creative issues
• Members of each cell should have diverse interests,
and should not be friends or close working colleagues
• Each cell should have a limited life, disbanding after a
period of 3 to 6 months, with the members going into new
cells, comprised of people who are not close friends or
colleagues.