Within each individual, creativity is a function of three components. These components are expertise, creative thinking skills, and motivation. Figure A3.1 illustrates these three components and depicts how, when they overlap, they result in creativity.

Expertise, as depicted in Figure A3.1, is everything that an individual knows and can do in the broad domain of his or her work. This knowledge pertains to work-related techniques and procedures as well as to a thorough understanding of overall work circumstances. Take, for example, a produce worker in a supermarket. Her expertise includes the basic abilities of trimming and cleaning fresh fruits and vegetables, constructing appealing displays that encourage customers to buy the produce, and building customer relations. As with all organization members, the abilities of this produce worker can be acquired through formal education, experience, and interactions with peers and other professionals.

Creative thinking is the capacity to combine existing ideas together in new arrangements. Overall, creative thinking determines how flexibly and imaginatively individuals approach problems. For example, the produce worker will tend to be more creative if she feels comfortable disagreeing with people about how the produce department presently functions. Such disagreement will often result in new thoughts about how to improve the department, such as how to keep produce fresher for longer periods. In addition, she will tend to have more creative success if she keeps persevering to deal with and solve department problems, such as buying new technology to keep produce cool, rather than always looking for quick solutions. This continual attention to problems will afford the produce worker the vigilance necessary to generate creative solutions to complex organizational problems.

Motivation, as depicted in Figure A3.1, refers to an individual’s need or passion to be creative. If an individual feels a need to be creative, that individual is more likely to be creative. Expertise and creative thinking are the individual’s raw materials for being creative, but only motivation will determine whether that individual will actually be creative. An individual can be driven to be creative either extrinsically, through organizational rewards and punishments, or intrinsically, through personal interest and passion related to a situation.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is an example of an individual who is driven, both extrinsically and intrinsically, to succeed. A video game enthusiast since childhood, Kotick bought video game company Activision when it was called Mediagenic. He not only restored the company’s original name but also restored its culture to one that rewards game developers for their creativity and diligence. Although Activision grows by acquiring other video game developers, it strives to nurture and preserve the unique culture of each acquired company and its talented workforce.6

People are usually most creative when they are motivated by personal interest, satisfaction, and the challenge of the work. Continuing with our supermarket example, the produce worker might have the expertise and critical thinking necessary to be creative, but she will probably not be creative unless she is so motivated. Generally, the produce worker will be more motivated to be creative if she is personally interested in the supermarket’s problems, tends to be personally satisfied by solving these problems, and sees solving the problems as challenging.