Creativity is one of the most mysterious processes undertaken by the human brain. Despite its having been studied by everyone from philosophers to neuro-scientists, we are still not much closer to understanding what it is or how it works.

Businesses are constant-ly looking to hire creative people, not just for activities such as research and development and innovation, but as thinkers and problem solvers who can unravel the complexities of everyday management. But as a consequence of this lack of understanding of what creativity is, businesses then struggle to manage them effectively. Much of their energy and output is wasted.

According to David Burkus in his book The Myths of Creativity, a mythology has grown up around the subject of creativity. He traces the origins of this mythologising right back to the ancient Greeks, who believed that creativity had a divine source and was granted to only a few individuals whom the gods favoured. These divinely inspired people became society’s “creatives” and were admired by the rest as heroes.