How does an entrepreneur increase personal creativity? Creativity is important in solving the diverse problems encountered by entrepreneurs. A recent article by Roger Firestien of Buffalo State University provides some interesting ideas about how to harness the creative power of your entrepreneurial team.

According to Firestien, a recent study of the creative capabilities of scientists revealed that they could be separated into three groups according to their creative output.

The first group, called "innovative," was highly productive and had significantly greater creative output (patents and other creative work) than the others. The second group of scientists, labeled "productive," was found to be technically proficient and generally good at their jobs as measured by assessments from peers and supervisors. The third group was below the others in both productivity and proficiency. They were generally not competent and were called "slugs."

What was the difference? Firestien said researchers eventually were able to distinguish the three groups based upon differences in their reading habits. The "innovative" group read in a variety of fields, from science fiction to technical journals to adventure novels to biographies. The "productive" group read mostly within their own field, while the "slugs" hardly read at all.

We can understand these differences by considering how the brain circulates information. The storage facilities of the brain can be compared to the drawers of a filing cabinet. For example, one drawer might be business and another might be family and another might be chemistry (from when you took that in college). Within each of these files are several folders that are related to the general heading, such as finance, accounting and leadership. When we read, our brains file new information in the proper drawer. This is called linear thinking.

Those who read widely are filing new information all the time and, as a result, are also creating a storehouse of information that can be accessed when needed. Creative people are able to mentally leap from one file drawer to another, thus developing relationships in their mind that can help to solve problems in one area by creatively linking to another. When we think in analogies or metaphors we are doing this same kind of lateral thinking.

Firestien suggests that the "innovative" group had a much better storehouse of information from which to generate new concepts and probably had a greater ability to think laterally. The diversity of information facilitates innovative thinking and problem solving.

Groups that are trying to solve difficult problems often reap the benefits of diversity among group members. For example, I know of a group of engineers who were trying to solve a challenging problem. They tried using good engineering practices and were not able to do it. They called in a chemist who tried to solve it as a chemistry problem and could not do it. Finally they called in a group of scientists from many different disciplines and the problem was solved. Diversity was the answer because the shared experience of the group allowed many different file drawers to be accessed.

As an entrepreneur you have very complex and multi-faceted problems to solve. You will need ideas from a wide spectrum of disciplines. Even if your problems are narrow in scope, the ability to think laterally as well as linearly will give you an advantage over the competition because it will make you more of an innovator.

And less of a slug.