PRESS RELEASES   THE CREATIVE SOCIETY IN OKLAHOMA: Seven Axioms of a Creative Person 03/08/2005 The View from Here Oklahoma Health Center News - February 2005 by Michael D. Anderson, Ph.D. President, Presbyterian Health Foundation We would like to take off on the slant provided by Richard Florida, author of "The Creative Society." Upon his visit here, and after reading his book, it is my uncritical opinion that Florida "describes" the word "creative" (the root of "describe" means "to draw a circle around" it), but, he does not "define" creative. Briefly, after observations of some of the great science and the great scientists we have encountered in "The Creative Society in Oklahoma" here at the OUHSC and OMRF inter alia, we suggest “7 AXIOMS OF A CREATIVE PERSON." It takes only a few such creative souls to construct "The Creative Society." Axiom 1: "Dissatisfaction." An inventor with numerous patents was asked, "What is the key force that is motivating you to spend endless hours in creative innovation?" "The answer is simple," she said, "I am dissatisfied with everything in my field as it currently exists." Axiom 2: "Learn from Failure." Edison said he knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb, because that is the number of times he failed. What did Einstein learn from failing a math examination in high school? Madame Curie's discovery of the properties of radium came from a failure in another search. Shall we mention Columbus? He did not know where he was going; did not know where he was when he got there, and he did not know where he had been when he returned home to talk about it. Yet he was one of the most creative persons in history. Axiom 3: "Courage." Hemingway called "courage" "grace under fire." The word comes from the Vulgar Latin, "coraticum," meaning "heart." Remember Mel Gibson in "Brave Heart?" Most researchers who "break through" into a new arena of evidence based knowledge have "the courage of their convictions." In good science like good faith we can believe our beliefs and doubt our doubts. There is a prevailing negativism in a loser’s society that reverses that paradigm. Vince Lombardi, to use the football analogy, said, "Winning is a habit, unfortunately, so is losing." Axiom 4: "Give No Quarter to Excuses." When the Spanish explorer Cortez landed at Vera Cruz the first thing he did was burn his ships. There can be no excuse to return to comforts of Spain. How many potential discoveries are missed because we excuse ourselves and return to the safety of past patterns of thought? Axiom 5: "Persistence." Much of the great science discovery that has emerged from persons here at OUHSC and OMRF has come from brilliance plus the invaluable asset of persistence. In a society that awards persons for immediate self gratification, it is possible that "persistence" is a nearly lost virtue. Every coach and player of championship teams knows that persistence is first among equals of the highest gifts. Every scientist who is creative knows that persistence is quintessential to the scientific method. Remember the two frogs story? Both fell into a bucket of cream. One died by drowning, the other thrashed around persistently until his churning turned the cream to butter. He jumped out and lived. Axiom 6: "Expect Resistance." Roy Blitzer, and innovative educator said, "The only person who likes change is a wet baby." I see this regularly. Good science, good ideas, good entrepreneurial concepts meet resistance, sometimes in the very academic environment that produced the creative process. Expect resistance. Without it, you may not have a good idea. When television was invented, Paley, the C.E.O. of C.B.S. Radio said it was hogwash, the science would not work. W.I. Beveridge, a great scientist, said, "The human mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with a similar energy." Axiom 7: "Modify the Given Norm." When artist Jasper Johns was asked how to create, he replied, "It's simple, you just take something and do something to it. Then you do something else to it. Pretty soon, you've got something." Creative people experiment, look at the given norm backwards, ask what if? Creative people look for the hidden analogies. Is it not wonderful that the Creative One has given us the impulse to be co-creators? We have a creative society in Oklahoma, and we have not finished the prologue.