The Creative Mind, Visionary Mindset

RK Sharma | Blog | April 8, 2025

Table of Contents

Ever wonder what sparks creativity in people? Do they see things in some other dimensions? Do things or situations appear to them differently? Is it something in their genes? Is it a trait that everyone—not just creative “geniuses” like Picasso and Steve Jobs—possesses in some capacity?

Can anybody be creative? Is it all about having a different mindset? In this blog, we’ll explore what creativity is. We’ll explore the mindset needed to be creative. And how companies can foster innovation.

Key Learnings

Creativity is a skill, not just an innate talent—it can be developed.
Brain networks play a crucial role in creative thinking.
Curiosity, patience, and relaxation fuel creativity.
Collaboration enhances innovation, as ideas flourish in shared environments.

Everyday Creativity in the Workplace

Creativity is not just your ability to draw a picture or design a product. We all need to think creatively in our daily lives, like figuring out dinner with leftovers or making old clothes trendy.

Creativity is an amazing concept and a means which refers to the coming of new ideas or solutions. In general, the term creativity refers to a richness of ideas and originality of thinking.

(Source: PMC)

Did You Know?

Creativity activates the brain’s default, executive, and salience networks. This lets people think both freely and analytically.

The Origins of Creativity

Creativity doesn’t come from nothing. All new ideas, products, art and music pieces, and works of literature owe their origin to ideas or products already in existence. Often these previous ideas and art forms directly inspire the future creator and innovator.

Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Even geniuses build on existing ideas.

Mindset is one of those conditions that make creative and innovative thought and behaviour more likely in some people and less likely in others.

Brain Networks & Creativity

Psychology and neuroscience researchers have started to identify thinking processes and brain regions involved with creativity. Recent research suggests that creativity involves a complex interplay between spontaneous and controlled thinking – the ability to both spontaneously brainstorm ideas and deliberately evaluate them to determine whether they’ll actually work.

The default network (DMN) is a set of brain regions that activate when people are engaged in spontaneous thinking, such as mind-wandering, daydreaming, and imagining. This network may play a key role in idea generation or brainstorming—thinking of several possible solutions to a problem.

The executive control network (ENC) is a set of regions that activate when people need to focus or control their thought processes. This network may play a key role in idea evaluation or determining whether brainstormed ideas will actually work and modifying them to fit the creative goal.

The salience network is a set of regions that acts as a switching mechanism between the default and executive networks. This network may play a key role in alternating between idea generation and idea evaluation.

The Creative Brain’s Unique Wiring

An interesting feature of these three networks is that they typically don’t get activated at the same time. For example, when the executive network is activated, the default network is usually deactivated. The results suggest that creative people are better able to co-activate brain networks that usually work separately.

The research shows that the creative brain is “wired” differently and that creative people are better able to engage brain systems that don’t typically work together. Future research is needed to determine whether these networks are malleable or relatively fixed. Is it possible to boost general creative thinking ability by modifying network connections? Can a creative mindset be developed?

(Source: PMC)

Did You Know?

REM sleep boosts problem-solving and creative thinking.

Historical Insights: How Great Minds Innovated

Creativity has shaped history. Once, a distinguished visitor to Henry Ford’s auto plants met him after an exhaustive tour of the factory. The visitor was lost in wonder and admiration.

‘It seems almost impossible, Mr Ford,’ he told the industrialist, ‘that a man, starting 25 years ago with practically nothing, could accomplish all this.’

Ford replied, ‘But that’s hardly correct. Every man starts with all there is. Everything is here – the essence and substance of all there is.’ The potential materials – the elements, constituents, or substances of which something can be made or composed – are all here in our universe.

The same principle holds good in creative thinking as in creativity in general. Our creative imaginations must have something to work on. We do not form new ideas out of anything.

The Creative Mindset: Key Traits & Development

The creative mindset sees possibilities or connections that are invisible to less creative minds. You do not have to conjure up new ideas from the air. Your task as a creative thinker is to combine ideas or elements that already exist. If the result is an unlikely but valuable combination of ideas out of thin air that were not thought to be linked, then you will be seen as a creative thinker.

Many believe that creativity is a sudden “Eureka!” moment, but in reality, it often requires years of hard work, patience, and exploration.

1. Curiosity: The Spark of Innovation

Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions:

A conservative tendency, made up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandisement, and saving energy.
An expansive tendency made up of instincts for exploring, for enjoying novelty and risk—the curiosity that leads to creativity—belongs to this set.

We need both of these programmes. But whereas the first tendency requires little encouragement or support from outside to motivate behaviour, the second can wither if it is not cultivated. If too few opportunities for curiosity are available, if too many obstacles are placed in the way of risk and exploration, the motivation to engage in creative behaviour is easily extinguished. At this point, let’s discuss how we can develop a creative mindset.

When was the last time you felt curious about something? What are you curious about? Are there topics, subjects, jobs, or ideas you think are a little interesting? Are there times when you watch something on the telly or hear someone talk about a subject and you light up?

You don’t have to change everything about your life to lead with curiosity. Next time you speak to someone, you can simply ask them to tell you more about themselves. Being genuinely curious about people, places, situations, phenomena, and many more helps us to delve more into it. The next time you meet someone new, ask them about their experiences—you never know what insights you might gain!

2. The Role of Patience & Relaxation

Allow insights to come to you without forcing them or editing them. Creativity is chaotic, messy, and unorganised. After you ask the question, don’t expect an immediate answer. Be patient. This step is about allowing the question to be there without your logical mind trying to capture an answer and package it into a neat box. The challenge here is to let go of the control of when the answer or creative mind solution arises. The more you try to force the answer, the less creative and rigid your mind will become.

Eureka! Eureka! – Remember the Archimedes story? Let’s refresh it. The story behind that event was that Archimedes was charged with proving that a new crown made for Hieron, the king of Syracuse, was not pure gold, as the goldsmith had claimed. Archimedes thought long and hard but could not find a method for proving that the crown was not solid gold. He decided to relax and give the creative mind a therapy, a bit by taking a bath in his bathtub.

He filled a bathtub and noticed that water spilt over the edge as he got in, and he realised that the water displaced by his body was equal to the weight of his body. Archimedes was able to determine that the crown was not pure gold due to the volume of the displaced water, because even though the weight of the crown was identical to the weight of the gold that the king gave the crown maker, the volume was different due to the various densities of the metals. This led to what we now know as Archimedes principle.

Relaxation is known to enhance creativity. For example, progressive muscle relaxation has been associated with reductions in heart rate, anxiety, and perceived stress. Relaxed states have been shown to foster thought processes important for creativity.

Further, stress – the opposite of relaxation – is known to kill nerve cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain where new memories are formed. These new memories help us make connections with other things known, fuelling the creative process.

So, take a break. Create a relaxed state for yourself by deep breathing, stretching, going for a walk, or whatever works for you. Once relaxed, you might find a creative answer to a problem that eluded you!

(Source: PMC)

Did You Know?

Stress reduces creativity by killing nerve cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for forming new connections.

3. Collaboration & Innovation

As Henry Ford said above, the raw materials are all there. To say that Thomas Edison invented electricity or that Albert Einstein discovered relativity is a convenient simplification. It satisfies our ancient predilection for stories that are easy to comprehend and involve superhuman heroes.

But Edison’s or Einstein’s discoveries would be inconceivable without the prior knowledge, without the intellectual and social network that stimulated their thinking, and without the social mechanisms that recognised and spread their innovations.

To say that the theory of relativity was created by Einstein is like saying that it is the spark that is responsible for the fire. Their breakthroughs were built on prior knowledge, collaboration, and intellectual curiosity.

How can a visionary mindset drive business growth?

Lead with Creativity

How Does AITD Help Organisations Cultivate Creativity?

Creativity is key for business growth, solving problems, and leading. AITD’s corporate training programmes aim to boost creativity.

Creativity is key for business growth, solving problems, and leading. AITD’s corporate training programmes aim to boost creativity in companies. They help organisations:

Create a culture of innovative thinking.
Improve leadership development for forward-thinking leaders
Use creative problem-solving methods at work.

By adding creativity to corporate strategy, leadership, and decision-making, companies can lead in their fields.

Transform Your Business with Creativity !

Take Action

Creativity is not just for the gifted—it’s a skill to learn. By embracing curiosity, patience, collaboration, and visionary thinking, we can discover new paths. Some ways to improve creativity are through curiosity, patience in practice, and detachment to relaxation. There is no act of creation out of nothing in the concept of creativity. On the contrary, it is piecing together elements that already exist around us into new and valuable ways.

Want to boost creativity in your team? Look into AITD’s corporate training programmes now!

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