MyVision
No.1

2013.10A Scientiﬁc Approachto Creativity
How can we boost the power of creativity in order to stimulate groundbreaking innovations thatwill open paths to the future? To what extent have fields such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and management studies elucidated the question? The experts interviewed in this first issueof My Vision believe that the answer lies in each individual engaging in dialogues in order toenhance their capability to change their own concepts, and to train their brains in response to achanging environment. They also indicate that at the level of the company, it will be important tomake effective use of external human resources and to create frameworks to put the abilities andaptitudes of individuals into full play, and further to create corporate cultures which connect the“dots” represented by individual pieces of knowledge and experience into a greater pattern.

C O NT E NT S
Expert Opinions

Boosting Creativity and Inventivenessin JapanCreativity and inventivenessare born from “dialogue”
Naomi Miyake

Professor, Graduate School of Education,
The University of Tokyo

Looking at ways of working
from the perspective ofneuroscience
Takashi Tsukiyama

Director, Preventive Medicine Center,Kita-Shinagawa Clinic,
Kohno Clinical Medicine Research InstituteInventive human resources
exist outside the company
Kazuhiro Mishina
Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration,
Kobe University

Focusing on diﬀerentiation
within organizations
Hajime Ota

Professor, Graduate School of Policy and Management,
Doshisha University

Creating concepts
by “connecting the dots”: a lesson from Steve Jobs
Hiroshi Miyanaga

Professor, Department of Management of Technology (MOT),
Graduate School of Innovation Studies, Tokyo University of Science

My Vision No.1

Expert Opinions

Boosting Creativity and Inventivenessin JapanWe need a force to drive reform in Japan. What should we do in order to increase creativity andinventiveness? How should we approach the issue in the workplace?
We asked experts at the forefront of cognitive psychology, neuroscience and business studies.

Interviewer: Tetsushi Saito, NIRA Senior Researcher
Period of interviews: August 2013

Creativity and inventiveness are bornfrom “dialogue”
Naomi Miyake

Professor, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo

Creativity and inventiveness give us the capability to edit thediffering thoughts of various individuals and in the processchange our own ideas and ways of thinking. This capability isborn from “dialogue”. The school at which I assist is currently
conducting classes in which students engage in dialogue insmall groups, and determine answers for themselves. The
information necessary to providing the answer is divided among
the students, and the students must engage in a process ofsharing, explaining what they know to each other, checking
details and organizing and putting this information together inorder to formulate their own answer. Further dialogue results inchanges to this answer. The creativity and inventivenessfostered in classes of this type are not fostered by accurately
explaining something one has learned to another person or byreading and summarizing textbooks. This is because explaining
accurately and summarizing do not incorporate any process inwhich the individual changes their own perspectives and ideas.
Two conditions are necessary in order to successfully
introduce dialogue to the workplace. The first of these iscreating a situation in which people with different ideas are allable to speak on an equal footing and to formulate answers
together. Here, the differences in thinking between participants are
an important factor. The second condition is that someone asks theappropriate questions to stimulate dialogue, sharing objectives, andformulating concrete answers in a mutual process. Understanding
how they themselves are involved in this type of process will
naturally deepen creativity among the participants. ■Looking at ways of working from theperspective of neuroscience
Takashi Tsukiyama

Director, Preventive Medicine Center, Kita-Shinagawa Clinic,Kohno Clinical Medicine Research InstituteThe brain goes through two stages: Growth and maturity. If aperson sticks at something for ten years, they will be aprofessional in their field. The brain becomes able to intuitively
grasp the essence of a situation and make the optimal choices
and judgments. Whether a doctor or a player of go, theprofessional who has continued in the field for 10 years or moreis able to intuitively make the right choice. But this only
corresponds to graduation from the growth stage. In order tobecome a professional among professionals, it is necessary tomove beyond this, into the boundless stage of maturity.
The problem at this stage is the possibility that long years
spent in a highly homogeneous group may dull the individual’screativity and inventiveness. The brain reacts to heterogeneityand changes in its environment, and does not function correctly
if not exposed to such factors. At times it is essential to seek out
and expose oneself to situations marked by change andheterogeneity. For example, one might change one’s career. I
think that the recently discussed proposal for 40 as the age ofretirement for choosing a second career would represent aninteresting concept for people at the stage of maturity.
I have spoken with many people over the course of years as
an industrial physician, and I have been surprised at how manypeople who have been recruited in mid-career indicate that they
do not intend to work for their company until the end of theircareer. These individuals have all been highly inventive. If you
build up a diverse range of experiences from a young age andvigorously train your brain, you will activate your brain. Itbecomes easier to generate new concepts to the extent that one
is a person who makes full turns in their career, without being
afraid of failure or making mistakes. In this sense, creativity andinventiveness become richer to the extent that one has accumulated
a great deal of experience over the course of years. ■Inventive human resources exist
outside the company
Kazuhiro Mishina

Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration,
Kobe University

People possessing creativity and inventiveness are people
who are not easily satisfied with the status quo, who keenly feelthe need to envision something new. Because most large
Japanese companies hire safe individuals, people who willfaithfully and accurately perform their duties, creative andinventive people are hard to find in them. It would be an illusion
to believe that large companies are able to develop theiremployees’ creativity or inventiveness.
If companies need human resources possessing creativity andinventiveness, they should bring them in from outside thecompany. They should temporarily contract someone fromoutside on a per-project basis, provide that person with a budget
and authority over personnel, and appoint them project leader.
The development of i-mode by NTT DoCoMo and the design ofa tractor for Yanmar by a former Ferrari designer are examples
of successes achieved through the use of external humanresources.
The strengths of Japanese companies are that their workers
possess an extremely high level of basic ability in performing
their jobs, and an ability to thoroughly carry out appointed tasks.
External personnel will be attracted by this ability to realize
their ideas. If it is possible in this way to mutually utilize eachother’s strengths, there will be no need to be gloomy about thelack of creativity and inventiveness in Japanese companies.
Abandoning the insistence that inventiveness and creativity are
to be found within the companies themselves will be the key tofuture growth. ■Focusing on diﬀerentiation withinorganizations
Hajime Ota
Professor, Graduate School of Policy and Management,
Doshisha University

The concept that companies select and foster creative
personnel is a vestige of industrial society. In a post-industrialsociety, it is impossible to indicate in advance what type ofabilities the individual should possess and what type of talent
they should display, and there are no right answers regarding
what are desirable work processes. We therefore have no choice
but to base our evaluations entirely on work outcomes. The
important thing is that superiors do not block or suppress theaptitudes and abilities of the individual. In order to make thebest use of individuals’ aptitudes, they should allow theindividual to freely choose their way of doing the job, within aflat organizational structure. Japanese organizations havebeen skewed towards “unification” so far, striving towards
the realization of a single principle. In the future, wemust put more effort into “differentiation,” increasing thefreedom and autonomy of both departments and individuals.

Big ideas are not born simply from discussions in theworkplace. It is essential that, before and after the discussion,individuals create concepts by themselves and plan bythemselves, and companies must create working
environments that make this possible. If companies createdappropriate support and evaluation mechanisms, in which
well-planned outcomes were evaluated for example by awards
from outside the company, and these could be used in furthering
the individual’s career, employee motivation would naturallyincrease. We should also make the change to evaluation systems
able to encompass creativity, by means of methods that do not
atrophy individualism. ■Creating concepts by “connecting thedots”: a lesson from Steve Jobs
Hiroshi Miyanaga

Professor, Department of Management of Technology (MOT),
Graduate School of Innovation Studies, Tokyo University of Science

Developing the custom of “connecting the dots,” asadvocated by Apple founder Steve Jobs, is extremely important
to a company’s success in creating new concepts. Ideas are notproduced from zero; they are, rather, produced by creating newarrangements of existing elements. It is not only specialized
knowledge that is important in accumulating these existingelements, but also general knowledge, the usefulness of which
may not be obvious, and experiences that might tend to beoverlooked. Compared to their failures, companies do not often
investigate the reasons for a successful venture, but if they did,it would certainly rest in these “dots.”
It is also important to take advantage of unexpected
opportunities. Koichi Tanaka, winner of the Nobel Prize inChemistry, made a serious mistake in introducing the wrong
substance to a mixture in an experiment, but rather than
throwing away this accident, he persisted single-mindedly in his
observations, and unexpectedly made a world-first discovery.
This power of turning chance into good fortune is termed
serendipity. The power to attract serendipity is also born fromcollecting and analyzing ordinary everyday information. When
Komy Mirror enquired of a business which had purchased an
unexpectedly high quantity of a rotating mirror whether theorder had been mistaken, they learned that the mirrors werebeing used to prevent shoplifting. This unexpected “dot” led toan expansion of the company’s business domain. ■This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears
full responsibility for the translation presented here.

What’s NIRA?
The National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA) is an independent, private-sector research
institute which defines urgent policy issues and formulates bold and timely policy proposals, seeking tocontribute to the revitalization and further development of Japanese society and the Japanese economy.
Utilizing a network of scholars, researchers, and specialists in a wide range of subjects, NIRA works forthe public benefit from a fair and neutral perspective, attempting to reinvigorate policy debate and contributeto the process of policy formation in Japan. The institute focuses on domestic social and economic policy,
international relations, and regional issues in Japan as its principal areas of research.
Established in 1974 as a government-authorized independent research institution, NIRA became anincorporated foundation in 2007, and since February 2011 has been recognized as a Public Interest
Incorporated Foundation.

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