Definition: adept at producing something new; creative; ingenious
Proverb: Necessity is the mother of invention.
Quotes:
• You can’t run out of ideas. You look at anything you get an idea. If I look at [anything] long enough, I’ll think of a story. — Stan Lee [born Stanley Martin Lieber] (1922-2018) Cartoonist
• There are three stages in the life cycle of any scientific idea. First, it’s treated as a joke. Next, it’s taken seriously but considered to be impossible. Finally, people admit that it’s possible, but they insist that it’s trivial. — Michael Roberson Rose (1955-) British biologist “Why Bother?” Discover Magazine {June 1992}
Observation: If you lose something you once had, you have a great opportunity to be inventive. I know a man who was left-handed and lost his left arm in a motorcycle accident; it is amazing how inventive he has gotten with his right hand.
Suggestion: Give workers their fair share of the profit for their inventiveness within the workplace. Call it the Inventive Incentive. If the organization takes the profit and the credit for the employees’ inventiveness, there is less incentive for the individual to be open to creativity.
Symbol: the light bulb