Our rallying cry for Create West Virginia is provided by legendary communications guru and author George Lois:

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”

So how exactly  do we embrace this mantra and develop our collective creativity in West Virginia? How do we apply this creativity to solving social and economic problems? Here are some critical foundations for creativity for your consideration:

• Permission – All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. (Pablo Picasso)
• Volume – It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.(Edward de Bono) The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. (Linus Pauling)
• Confidence -Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.(Erich Fromm) Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. (Rita Mae Brown)
• Openness -There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. (Oscar Levant) One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. (A.A. Milne)
• Motivation -The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes. (Saul Steinberg) Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. (Franklin Roosevelt)
• Perspective – You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created. (Albert Einstein) Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
• Persistence – It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything. (Virginia Woolf)

Here is a long list of interesting articles to help you or your group take the next leap forward into creativity. Enjoy, and please check in to post updates on your breakthrough thinking!