2.4. Cultivating a creative identity

How can you cultivate your creative identity through a creative mindset and actions towards radical creativity in your professional life?

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In this sub-chapter, we’ll explore what a creative identity is and how you can develop one.

What is a creative action? Creative actions are rooted in the interaction between an individual and the environment (Glăveanu et al., 2013). This interaction can sometimes lead to a sudden inclination to do something unpremeditated and different.

An individual with a creative identity is a person who sees themselves as creative and likes to feel creative and perform creatively. Your creative identity is one of multiple identities that you might have, such as being a citizen, a community member, part of a family, a friend, etc.

Velcu-Laitinen (2022) investigated to what extent professionals from artistic and non-artistic fields see themselves as creative individuals. She interviewed professionals who use creativity in their work – music composition, surreal photography, engineering, entrepreneurship, and science. She identified four ways that people see themselves as a creative person:

• “I am an artist”

These are people who perform an artistic activity, like composing music, dancing, drawing, illustration, photography, singing, etc.

• “I am a creative thinker”

These are people who recognize that they’re good at generating many ideas that are useful in their work.

• “I am passionate, and that passion unlocks my creativity”

These are people who get fascinated by an interest in a non-artistic domain and have the desire to make an impact in their workplace, community or field.

• “I am resourceful”

These are the people who feel creative in the way they solve their life problems. Think of a life problem as an unexpected and novel situation, which requires a smart and immediate solution.

Let’s take the hypothetical scenario of a professor who received a funding grant for their team. As they are about to embark on the research project, they receive news that their grant funding has been drastically reduced. To keep the project alive and the team members together, the professor needs to find creative ways to modify the project scope, collaborate with other departments for resource sharing, or seek alternative funding sources. This is the resourceful type of creative identity. (See Figure 2.4.2 below).

Why is it important to be aware of the nature of your creative identity? Jaussi et al. (2007) found that individuals who see creativity as an important part of their identity are more likely to engage in creative problem-solving in work contexts. Being aware of what kind of a creative person you are can shape what you achieve in your professional role.

Out of the four ways to think of yourself as a creative person, which one represents you the most? Give an example of how it shows in your life.

 

Creative mindset

The extent to which you see yourself as a creative individual and the way you define your creativity are both rooted in a source. What might that source be?

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Karwowski and Brzeski (2017) define a creative mindset as the set of implicit beliefs about the origins and nature of creativity. Implicit beliefs are the attitudes and stereotypes that each of us unconsciously holds, which influence our perceptions and behaviours without our awareness. By contrast, explicit beliefs are consciously accessible and can be directly reported by individuals.

For example, some people might believe that creativity is a special talent that only certain people possess. In other words, they think that creativity is a fixed quality that someone is born with. But others  believe that creativity, like traits such as extroversion and openness, can be trained.

Here are some beliefs about creativity and their consequences:

1. The extent to which you believe that creative potential and creative thinking can be developed influences your choice of lifestyle, what hobbies you have, what you learn and what professional roles you aspire to (O’Conner et al., 2013).
2. The relationship with failure is another crucial difference between those who view creativity through a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. For those in the former category, the possibility of failure is seen as a threat and discouragement to engaging in new activities that develop their creative potential and thinking.
3. People with a growth mindset also seem to have a deeper insight into their creative thinking, potential and skills.

An individual can have both a fixed and growth mindset about creativity. Creativity is a complex phenomenon and, as we can see in Figure 2.4.2., there can be four possible ways to understand your creativity.

It can thus happen that you believe you are a creative thinker and therefore choose to train your creative thinking — but you might simultaneously believe you lack talent in drawing and therefore refrain from drawing. The coexistence of fixed and growth mindsets is possible in the same individual who aims at bringing novelty and usefulness, in a domain of knowledge or experience.

 

Creative impulses and creative action

How important it is for you to take radically creative action in your professional life?

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Karwowski (2014) showed that individuals who valued their creativity highly had more of a growth mindset, although they also perceived creativity to be fixed. In other words, some people who see themselves as very creative, in line with a specific understanding of creativity, also tend to believe in their ability to grow and improve. However, when these same people consider another aspect of creativity, they may think that creativity is something that can’t be developed.

It’s important to have awareness of the creative skills and interests you possess and can develop one at a time, and the level of mastery you aim at. Figure 2.4.1 depicts four ways to understand your creativity:

• As an artistic ability.
• As a creative thinking ability.
• As a passion for what you do.
• As resourcefulness.

Moreover, at any time, you might get new insights into a new impulse to create. Then you’ll decide whether to take creative action. This creative impulse is triggered by perceived obstacles or constraints. Faced with these hurdles, you become aware of yourself, take new actions and set new goals. Velcu-Laitinen (2022) explains that creative individuals may tap into new impulses to create depending on whether they are in tune with emotional experiences — their own or others’ — or with external events (see Figure 2.4.3).

These impulses can take the form of four types of creative actions:

• Personal expression through artistic skills.
• The desire to understand and experiment with a new abstract idea.
• The drive to act for the benefit of others’ emotional well-being.
• The initiative of new activities that bring social change to your work community.

Creative action can be proactive — actions you initiate in the environment — or reactive to your environment. The dance between proactivity and reactivity results in a new project being realized in the environment.

Online learning is a main interest of Tomi Kauppinen, head of Aalto Online Learning. Kauppinen says:

‘Online learning is today’s thing. People learn from a diversity of materials online and meet face-to-face in workshops to talk and reflect on what has been learned. Freedom is important. Micromanaging only kills freedom, creativity, and trust. We need structures, fruitful checkpoints, and community-building events to support the implementation of freedom and creativity.’

Kauppinen is a creative individual who takes creative actions that develop two sides of his creative identity:

• A creative thinker that enables others to be creative: For example, he has created an innovative platform where pilot projects are funded for developing online and blended learning approaches.
• A person with many interests and a passion for what he does: Kauppinen is engaged in a variety of activities, like teaching, researching, and giving conference talks.

‘When people ask me what I do and I tell them all the things I do, they say, “Choose one thing. What is one thing you do?”’ Kauppinen says. ‘I am a philosopher.’

In 2021, Kauppinen decided to develop his artistic side, when he started writing a non-fiction book for the first time. Describing his book, Human, he says:

‘In this world full of open questions and uncertainty, Human is the story of people engaging to cope with what they perceive and experience.

I have always been interested in storytelling, narratives, and communication. As an avid reader, I was fascinated by those imaginary worlds and learned from them. I started writing very early on, both poetry and stories, and later research articles, proposals, and other professional writings. I did my PhD in artificial intelligence and studied philosophy, computer science, film theory, and media technology among related fields.  In early 2021 I got the idea for Human and saw it as an interesting way to study to roles of human beings and AI via a story, and to be able to share the result with the world.’

Heikki Holmberg is a different type of creative individual. An alum of the School of Electrical Engineering, he is focused on developing his interest in the field of physics. ‘I’ve always liked physics. When I took the course Basics of Semiconductor Technology, I got hooked on the field,’ he says.

As a senior technology development manager, his creativity is reflected in finding ways to support the cooperation between Aalto University, research institutes and companies:

‘I consider cooperation and bold new ideas in the field to be very important. The students don’t know how diverse the field is — for example, it requires both practical and theoretical learning. In many companies, product development is carried out with an emphasis on shorter-term objectives, but collaboration with the university and research institutes is taking place in a bigger picture, aiming far into the future.’

A radically creative person cares about creativity, positive change and innovation.

Creative identities of people in your circles

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Your task is to discuss creative identity with others. Open up a discussion in person or on social media. You can explain that you’re taking a course on radical creativity and that this is a course assignment.

Ask people to discuss if they themselves have a creative identity, and help them define it using the categorization in this sub-chapter:

• As an artistic ability.
• As a creative thinking ability.
• As a passion for what you do.
• As resourcefulness.

Write about the main outcomes of the discussion.

References

Glăveanu, V., Lubart, T., Bonnardel, N., Botella, M., De Biaisi, P. M., Desainte-Catherine, M., … & Zenasni, F. (2013). Creativity as action: Findings from five creative domains. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 40417.

Jaussi, K. S., Randel, A. E., & Dionne, S. D. (2007). I am, I think I can, and I do: The role of personal identity, self-efficacy, and cross-application of experiences in creativity at work. Creativity Research Journal, 19(2-3), 247-258.

Karwowski, M. (2014). Creative mindsets: Measurement, correlates, consequences. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(1), 62.

Karwowski, M., & Brzeski, A., (2017). Chapter 21 Creative Mindsets: Prospects and Challenges. In Karwowski, M., & Kaufman, J. C. (Eds.). The creative self: Effect of beliefs, self-efficacy, mindset, and identity. Academic Press.

O’Connor, Alexander J., Charlan J. Nemeth, and Satoshi Akutsu. “Consequences of beliefs about the malleability of creativity.” Creativity Research Journal 25.2 (2013): 155-162.

Velcu-Laitinen, O., (2022), How to Develop Your Creative Identity at Work, Apress.

 

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