????每個人都有創意嗎？那當然，不過每個人創新的方法不同，創新的程度也各不相同。

????大學時你獻給戀人的民間小調和貝多芬的交響樂可有著天壤之別。

????我們渴望人人平等、事事平等，這種民主意識使我們將偉大的創造與表達自我的個人行為混為一談?，F在缺少的是有意義的鑒賞，去欣賞不同水平的創造性，同時利用這些創意逐步提升我們自身的潛力。

????以下創新，按掌握的難易程度區分，由最簡單到最困難可分為五個水平。

????模仿型創新

????模仿是古希臘流傳下來的一個詞，它的意思是仿效或者模擬。這是最基本的創新形式。古蘇格蘭的烏鴉和猩猩都有一種本領，只要觀察別的生物，它們就能創造相仿的工具。如果將一對母子放在一起看看就一目了然了，我們做的正是這種傳承。它是學習過程的基礎。

????有種創新的形式常被大家忽視，那就是從一個領域或者學科學到一種見解，然后將它用到另一個領域。比如全美第二大醫院梅奧醫院（Mayo Clinic）的一名外科醫生希望改善病人的就診體驗，他可以向麗思-卡爾頓（Ritz-Carlton）酒店取經，因為這家酒店一向以優質的客戶服務聞名。

????對于這種跨領域改造適用創意的能力，已故的蘋果（Apple）聯合創始人、前任首席執行官史蒂夫?喬布斯將這種跨領域改造適用創意的能力視為實用創新的關鍵：“創新就是將事物聯系在一起。你問有創造力的人是怎樣做事的，他們會覺得有點不好意思，因為他們其實并不是在創造，只是自然而然地看到了一些東西。似乎對于他們來說，觀察一會，這些東西就會變得顯而易見。因為他們能聯系到自己從前的經歷，進而合成新的事物?！?/p>

????雙聯想創新

????雙聯想（Bisociative）這個詞由小說家阿瑟?庫斯勒首創。庫斯勒在自己的傳世名著《創造的藝術》（The Act of Creation）里用雙聯想一詞來描述人類有意識的思想怎樣運轉，將直覺的想法與理性思維聯系在一起，產生了靈光閃現的所謂“尤里卡”（Eureka）時刻。禪宗將這種溝通行為稱為“頓悟”（Satori），意思是突然之間覺悟。當人們將自己熟悉的創意與不熟悉的創意結合時會形成一種新奇的綜合體，如此便出現了雙聯想創新。聯系創意通常會采取一些更偏于冥想的方式，但也可以用另一類方式刺激創意，那就是用許多隨性的想法密集轟炸大腦，以此搜尋捕捉靈感。人們通常將這類活動稱為頭腦風暴（brainstorming）。比如1994年，鑒于拍攝《玩具總動員》（Toy Story）幾乎瀕臨破產的經歷，四位原屬皮克斯動畫工作室（Pixar）的導演組織了一次晚宴聚會，就自己希望制作怎樣的電影發起了頭腦風暴。導演們交換了彼此的理念，在此基礎之上，這次非正式會議之后誕生了《蟲蟲特工隊》（A Bug's Life）、《怪獸電力公司》（Monsters Inc）、《海底總動員》（Finding Nemo）和《機器人總動員》（WALL-E）。一群好萊塢的局外人在一個下午共同交流了創意，改變了整個動畫產業的面貌。

????雙聯想式創新建立在以下三個F帶來的驚人動力基礎上：

????? 流暢性：擁有許多未經雕琢的創意比僅有少數“好”創意更有生產力，因為前者的創意類型更多樣，解決方法的選擇范圍更廣。

????? 靈活性：我們常常是將“對”的創意用“錯”了地方，為了迎接我們的挑戰，我們必須四處嘗試這些創意，看它們用在何處最適合。

????? 流動性：我們在需求方面沒有創造性。我們需要刺激，這樣能產生創新所需的能量，還需要自由汲取這樣的能量。一旦我們習慣適應之后，創意就能順暢地噴薄而出。

????Is everyone creative? Sure they are, but in very different ways and to varying degrees. There is a big difference between the folksong you wrote for your college sweetheart and a Beethoven symphony.

????Our democratic longing to make everyone and everything equal has lead us to make creative greatness indistinguishable from an act of personal expression. What is lacking is meaningful appreciation of the different levels of creativity and how we can use them as steps for increasing our own potential.

????Here are five levels and types of creativity, from the easiest to the most difficult to master.

????Mimetic Creativity

????Mimesis is a term passed d own to us from the Ancient Greeks meaning to imitate or mimic. This is the most rudimentary form of creativity. Animals from Caledonian crows to orangutans have the ability to create tools simply by observing other creatures. Watch a mother and child together and it becomes clear that we do the same. It is the foundation of the learning process.

????An often-overlooked form of creativity is simply taking an idea from one area or discipline and applying it to another. For example, a physician at the Mayo Clinic who wants to improve the patient experience may pay a visit to a Ritz-Carlton, which is known for its customer service.

????The late Apple (AAPL) co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs saw this a bility to move across boundaries to adapt ideas as the key to useful creativity: "Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."

????Bisociative Creativity

????"Bisociative" is a term coined by the novelist Arthur Koestler in his celebrated book The Act of Creation to describe how our conscious mind can connect rational with intuitive thoughts to produce so-called Eureka moments. In the Zen tradition, this act of communion is called Satori, meaning sudden enlightenment. Bisociative creativity occurs when a familiar idea is connected to an unfamiliar one to produce a novel hybrid.

????Though connecting ideas is often done through more contemplative means, it can be stimulated by bombarding the mind with a barrage of random thoughts to see what catches. The general description for this type of activity is called brainstorming. For example, in 1994, while coming out of a near bankruptcy experience and working on Toy Story, four of the original Pixar directors had lunch at a diner and brainstormed ideas about movies they wanted make. Building on each other's concepts, from this one informal meeting came A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo,and WALL-E. Hollywood outsiders changed the motion picture industry in an afternoon of throwing ideas together.

????Bisociative creativity builds on the electrifying dynamics of the three F's:

????? Fluency – It is more productive to have lots of unpolished ideas than a few "good" ones because the greater the diversity of ideas, the wider the range of possible solutions

????? Flexibility – Often we have the "right" idea but we've put it in the "wrong" place so we have to move them around to see where they best fit to meet our challenges

????? Flow – We aren't creative on demand. We need to be both simulated and relaxed to draw out the energy required to create. Ideas pour out smoothly when we get into a groove