Our report on Jamie Anderson's talks "Creative thinking" at USI 2015

Think better to create better. For Jamie Anderson, an Australian management guru (Financial Times), our creativity rises and falls throughout our lifespan. Through several interactive workshops and an inspiring show, he reminds us how important it is to reanimate it before it's too late, whatever our age.

Rethink our way of thinking

For years, Jamie Anderson has been studying the relation between innovation and individuals, and is currently examining our stance towards creation: what does it take for an individual to begin innovating? The question is not to know what we can create for the future, but how to get there. "I think that the digital age is not only linked to technology, but also to our mindset. "

The studies are clear: "we have lost contact with our inner creative beings". From the age of 12, only 40% of children think creatively. Once over 30, the creative capacity has dropped to between 2 and 3%. In other words, we have a problem. We have to learn how to rethink our way of thinking. This is known as metacognition: cognition on cognition, thinking about thinking. We could actually forget the linear mindset we have adopted over the years to come back to how we thought naturally when younger: expressive and inventive thinking. We would then cease thinking that for any given problem there is only one solution. We would think better, differently, and together.

The key to creative thinking

To do so, Jamie Anderson says we have to slow down. It is scientifically proven: "when you're under pressure, your brain starts thinking linearly". You therefore have to take care of yourself to take care of inspiration, and always leave room for questioning everything. For example putting aside one's ego... and becoming a boss with a receptive ear, even when listening to a trainee, someone capable of also coming up with good ideas! To begin, he invites us to ponder the three main areas which foster, or hinder, creative thought:

• Education

According to him, "the western educational system squashes creativity. " It was designed for an industrial economy where one solves EITHER complicated OR simple problems, but such behavior is not adapted to the digital age. We have to rethink it and perhaps go back to school throughout our lives.

• Experience

In the complex world we live in, it is important to have the courage to question one's own existence.

• The environment

Creative people are those who wander off the beaten path. They first think about how to think before thinking, and are the reverse of the mindset of many bosses today. It is not by chance that the most creative have gone into business...