The LEGO SERIOUS PLAY community has a long, collaborative history with Dr. Keith Sawyer, one of the world’s leading experts on creativity, art and design.

Our mutual admiration began with Sawyer’s book “Group Genius, the Creative Power of Collaboration”. This landmark book debunks the myth of the “lone genius”. Throughout history, the truth of our most innovative creations and inventions are stories of “group genius”, and this becomes truer every year as teams become larger and more complex. LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) was developed based on an understanding of the creative power of combining and integrating the best thinking of a number of people.

Another of Sawyer’s books, “Zig Zag”, became the inspiration for a series of specialized LSP workshops. In my exclusive interview with Sawyer, he shared that at least two of the eight creativity steps he outlines in “Zig Zag” will resonate with LSP users. The two steps he highlighted were Play, for obvious reasons, and Make based on the well documented research on how making ideas concrete greatly contributes to successful creative processes.

The Emotions and Mindsets of Creativity

It should come as no surprise that I subscribe to Sawyer’s newsletter and podcast, both circulated as “The Science of Creativity by Dr. Keith Sawyer”. A recent issue highlighted an interview with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, author of “The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action”. What interests Sawyer about Pringle’s book is that instead of focusing on the cognitive side of creativity as his books, and most other creativity books do, this book focuses on the emotions and mindsets of creativity.

Pringle speaks of the creative process being an emotional roller coaster and our creative potential is optimized by “aligning” with the power of emotions. With practice, we can train ourselves to become more aware of our emotional states and use this self-knowledge to advance the creative journey. She gives the example of matching mood to task, of using high-energy cycles to brainstorm and be expansive, when feeling more subdued use these cycles to refine ideas and problem solve.

Making Emotions Tangible

Best Regards

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