Creativity in OR/MS: Creativity-Enhancing Strategies

In previous columns, I discussed important attributes that creative individuals possess and the internal and external blocks that prevent one from being creative. In this column, I focus on some of the fundamental strategies and techniques for enhancing creativity. Hadamard notes that Henri Poincaré observed that unconscious work is not possible or even fruitful, unless it is first preceded and then followed by a period of conscious work. Conscious methods for creativity are intended to guide the formation and flow of ideas in the mind. They act as seeding vehicles to provide us with new insights, and they hasten the creative thinking process and help us to overcome obstacles to creativity by focusing our thoughts and energies.