Hi, friend,

This is for those of you who nod excitedly when we explain that we teach creativity… then look politely concerned when we mention the US Army's involvement.

 

Three years ago, that was my response too. 

 

Understanding the military's role in creativity studies requires revisiting the early 1940s.

 

Back then, the Army believed creativity would win them the war in Europe. Fortunately, the Director of Psychological Research at Santa Ana Army Air Base— a psychologist named J.P. Guilford— was developing a cutting-edge theory of creativity based on an entirely new model of the brain.

 

What was Guilford's new model? A brain that operated like a computer.

 

Like a computer, Guilford's brain ran two different computational processes:

Guilford called his model of thought Ideation. His methods were replicable and assessable and soon spread through the US Military, first as classification testing for recruits, then as creativity training.

 

These same methods then flooded the US education system, ushering in the push for standardization and the dawn of standardized testing.

 

Iterations of Guilford's concepts exist everywhere. Think brainstorming, "let's ideate,” multiple choice quizzes, top 5 lists, trend-spotting, Spotify playlists, magazine covers and instagram reels that promise efficiency hacks and optimization tips, etc. 

 

Even the word iteration refers to Guilford's computational processes.

 

Then there are the two grand babies of Ideation: Design Thinking and— wait for it— Chat Gpt. 

 

Open AI operates on Guilford's model. It's everywhere.

 

Like any groundbreaking theory, Guilford's model of the brain was mostly accurate. Your brain is a computer.

 

But as we know now, your brain is also more than a computer.

 

Despite Guilford's work informing our education, creativity in our country has been in continual decline for the past 30 years. Students become less creative the longer they are in school. 

 

The Army has experienced their own version of the same. Soldiers who soar through Guilford's assessments fumble in the field. 

 

Realizing they'd missed something important, the Army went looking for a new theory of the brain. They reached out to us and offered to test our methods.

 

Here's what they found.

 

Last year, the Army surprised Angus with a medal for his work. This year, his field guide to creativity was adopted for training throughout the US Army.

 

This week's prompt highlights the difference between thinking in A= B-type equivalencies— like a computer— and thinking in Story.

 

Try it using people you love and people you don't. I'm curious what your experience will be.

School teachers in the Columbus area, I'm excited to be a featured presenter at the 2024 Summer Institute for Authentic Learning and Leadership. If you're there, please say hello!

 

As always, thank you for reading,

Sarah

 

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