Jonathan Feinstein: The Context of Creativity

We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Jonathan Feinstein, professor at the Yale School of Management and author of Creativity in Large-Scale Contexts: Guiding Creative Engagement and Exploration. 

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Our interest in creativity is broader than the context of the creative professions like art, design, and music. We see creativity as the foundation of how we move ahead as a species including our culture, science, and innovation. We’re interested in the huge combinatorial space of creativity, linked together by complex networks. And that interest led us to Jonathan.

Through his research and interviews with a wide range of creative individuals, from artists and writers to scientists and entrepreneurs, Jonathan has developed a framework for understanding the creative process as an unfolding journey over time. He introduces key concepts such as guiding conceptions, guiding principles, and the notion of finding "golden seeds" amidst the vast landscape of information and experiences that shape our creative context.

By looking at creativity mathematically, Jonathan has exposed the tremendous beauty of the creative process as being intuitive, exploratory, and supported by math and machines, and knowledge and structure. He shows how creativity is much broader and more interesting than the stereotypical idea of creativity as simply a singular lightbulb moment.

In our conversation, we explore some of the most surprising and counterintuitive findings from Jonathan's work, how his ideas challenge conventional wisdom about creativity, and the implications for individuals and organizations seeking to innovate in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Let’s dive into our conversation with Jonathan Feinstein.

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Thanks to Jonathan Coulton for our music