Creativity and Innovation are not one and the same. Recognizing the difference between the concepts is vital for a better understanding of how to boost your own creative and innovative potential.

In this session, you will identify the difference between creativity and innovation. You will also describe a time when you felt most creative.

Creativity and Innovation: A Breakdown

Defining the Terms

What is creativity? What is innovation? Are they the same thing?

Creativity can be defined as the generation of ideas in the attempt to solve a problem or produce something new. Innovation can be defined as the implementation of the ideas generated from the creative process. Innovation transforms the idea into something concrete.

Here is an example of creativity: A bank creates a new program intended to offer mobile banking services for their customers. If they do not have the means to carry out this idea, like the proper Internet platform to support the program, they must use innovation to build the platform.

Being creative and innovative can be much simpler and on a much smaller scale. Imagine a painter who is creating a landscape portrait. They run out of orange paint for the sky as the sun begins to set. Since they are working on a hilltop in the middle of nowhere, they have a choice: they can get innovative or lose the perfect opportunity to finish the painting. By mixing yellow and red, the painter gets his orange paint. He creatively thought of a solution and used innovation to achieve success.

What Am I?

Am I creative? Am I innovative?

Regardless of our personal belief, we all possess the ability to be creative. You don’t have to be considered “artistic” to be creative. If you need proof, think back to when you were a child. A tree house was not just wood; it was a space used to create our own imaginary worlds. Blankets and pillows were not just bedding; they were fort building materials!

The challenge for creativity lies in our confidence. Some of us have convinced ourselves that we are not creative. What we fail to recognize is that we do creative and innovative things every day, like stretching budgets. Even picking our clothes in the morning can be a creative activity. Getting better with creativity and innovation will take practice. It’s like a muscle – you use it or you lose it. But, with practice and effort, the creativity process will become easier.