Dr. Jo Yudess: Grounded Theory on Teaching Creativity and Leadership

I have been asked to share pieces of my dissertation, “The Synergies, Efficacies and Strategies Involved in Teaching Creativity and Leadership Together: A Grounded Theory” since the research was done with eight faculty members and represents their thoughts on specific topics. Several main concepts related to creativity and leadership emerged which were woven into my final theory. Each of them is expressed as a gerund to facilitate making relationships between them (Charmaz, 2009). They were:

• Creating: This includes comments about the general field of creativity.
• Leading: The category references leadership as it is practiced, understood, studied, or observed by the participants.
• Creative Problem Solving: These are direct responses referring to the Creative Problem Solving process which is the basis for all the courses in this program.
• Thinking skills: Most recently a new problem solving model, Creative Problem Solving: The Thinking Skills Model (TSM) (Puccio, Murdock & Mance, 2007) was adopted and is being integrated into the program. While it is similar to the Creative Problem Solving process described above, there are differences significant enough to warrant a category.
• Instructing in Creative Studies: The backgrounds, experiences, visions and interests of the faculty are in this category.
• Structuring Classes: Included are codes from the curriculum and instructors comments on various courses.
• Contributing to students: The value of the program in the learning it offers to students is the gist of this category.
• Connecting Leadership and Creativity: This offers the views of the instructors on how creativity and leadership are connected along with information from the curriculum to illustrate where and when the connections occur.
• Comparing Creative Studies to other programs: The instructors identify the differences between this program and other potential leadership training programs they may know about, particularly MBA programs.
• Evaluating Creative Studies: This involves the instructors’ views of the program, how far they’ve seen it come, how they work together, how well the program works and what else might be done to improve the degree.
• Creating Environment: Comments made by the instructors emphasized various elements of the environment necessary for creativity to take place.

Over the next few weeks I will be detailing each of these concepts in this blog, and then finally, sharing the theory that I developed. Stay tuned! Jo Yudess, Ed. D.

Dr. Gerard Puccio Webinar

Dr. Gerard Puccio recently presented a webinar with Jonathan Vehar, cofounder of New & Improved, on the latest version of the Creative Problem Solving process. To download this webinar for free, click on this link.

Their discussion included :

1. Creative leadership in the 21st century
2. The latest version of Creative Process/Creative Problem Solving, which Puccio and his colleagues call the Thinking Skills Model
3. Improvements in the new model and why we need a new model
4. What skills are necessary to be an proficient creative change leader
5. How can you acquire these skills
   

In Honor of our dear friend and colleague: Dr. Mary Murdock

Today, January 7th, 2011, is the first anniversary of the passing of our dear friend, Dr. Mary Murdock.

Mary was known for her creative spirit, southern accent, passion for life, and love of learning. Although she started her professional life as a school teacher, academia proved to be her natural home. She excelled in writing, researching, and presenting, but as any of her students will tell you, her real forte was teaching. In fact, many former students have said that she was the best teacher they ever had.

Mary’s teaching was not limited to just the classroom. Every interaction with her provided an opportunity to learn. Sometimes the lessons were obvious, and at other times it took days or weeks for the key points to sink in. In many ways, Mary is still teaching us right now.

In honor of this extraordinary teacher, we would like you to share something that you learned from Mary. To start the process, this is what the faculty and staff of ICSC learned from Mary:

“I learned from Mary that life can be a fascinating process. Even the most difficult experiences bring some aspect of joy when you are curious about the process”- Dr. Sue Keller Mathers

“Having worked on many projects and products with my dear friend Mary, one of the most profound things I learned from her is that the creative process is rarely a straight line. I also learned that one should never stop living life to its fullest” –Dr. Gerard Puccio

“Mary's favorite quote from Torrance always reminds me of her, 'Don't be afraid to fall in love with something and pursue it with intensity'. And, my Mary favorite word – ‘Dawg’” Dr. Roger Firestien

“In Mary I saw the picture of grace under fire”- Dr. Jo Yudess

“Don’t let others steal your joy”- Debi Johnson

“There is nothing wrong with being emotional. Emotions make you feel alive!”- Dr. Cyndi Burnett

“I learned a lot about grace. When I witnessed Mary learn for the first time that she had a year to live, I witnessed her resign with a good grace all that should could not be but instead, and I quote Shakespeare here, ‘...translate the stubbornness of fortune into so quiet and so sweet a style’”. –Dr. John Cabra

In the comment box below, please share with us what you learned from Dr. Mary Murdock.

For more information on the Mary Murdock Creative Spirit Scholarship Award, please visit our website.