Flow and the psychology of discovery and inventionMihaly CsikszentmihalyiThis is a fascinating book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi one of the less well known but probablyone of the most serious management scholars of recent times. He brings out the importanceof creativity, outlines its building blocks and explains how we can all become more creative.IntroductionWithout creativity, it would be difficult to distinguish humans from other animals. Creativityleads to a fuller, more satisfying life. Without creativity, mankind would not progress.Csikszentmihalyi points out that creativity cannot be understood by looking only at the peoplewho appear to make it happen. Creative ideas need a receptive audience to record andimplement them. And without the assessment of competent outsiders, we cannot decidewhether the claims of a self-styled creative person are valid.Creativity results from the interaction of a system consisting of three elements: a culture thatcontains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field ofexperts who recognize and validate the innovation.Creativity is the process by which a symbolic domain in the culture is changed. So we mustlearn the domain well. To master a domain, we must pay attention to the information to beassimilated. Bulk of our attention is committed to the tasks of surviving from one day to thenext. And we do not do much with the small amount of attention left over because of the lackof focus. Diffused thinking leads to lack of concentration. Creativity is possible only when weare able to focus attention on the problem at hand.Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions: a conservative tendency,made up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, and saving energy, and anexpansive tendency made up of instincts for exploring, for enjoying novelty and risk. We needboth. But whereas the first tendency requires little encouragement, the second can wilt if itis not cultivated. If too few opportunities for curiosity are available, if too many obstacles areplaced in the way of risk and exploration, the motivation to engage in creative behaviour is easily extinguished. Sustaining high levels of curiosity is the starting point of creativity.Understanding CreativityWhen we use the term creativity, different images come to our mind. There are brightpersons who express unusual thoughts, who are interesting and stimulating. Unless they alsocontribute something of permanent significance, these people must be called brilliant ratherthan creative.Then there are people who experience the world in novel and original ways. These areindividuals whose perceptions are fresh, whose judgments are insightful, who may makeimportant discoveries. The author calls such people personally creative.Finally, there are individuals who, change our culture in some important respect. They are thecreative ones without qualifications.Creativity, as mentioned before, consists of three main parts. The first of these is the domain,which consists of a set of symbolic rules and procedures.The second component of creativity is the field, which includes all the individuals who act asgatekeepers to the domain. They decide whether a new idea or product can be accepted. Forexample, in the visual arts, the field consists of art teachers, curators of museums, collectorsof art, critics, and administrators of foundations and government agencies that deal withculture. These