The definition of creativity from Out of Our Minds

Whatever the task, creativity is not just an internal mental process: it involves action. In a sense, it is applied imagination. To call somebody creative suggests they are actively producing something in a deliberate way. A first definition of creativity then is imaginative processes with outcomes in the public world. p.115


So a second draft definition of creativity is imaginative processes that produce outcomes that are original. p.116


a creative outcome can be original on different levels:


to the person involved – personal originality;

for a particular community – social originality; and

for humanity as a whole – historic originality.


p.116


my definition of creativity is this: imaginative processes with outcomes that are original and of value. p.118


quotations from Out of Our Minds


What is interesting is that it emphasises the importance of action. Just ideas are not enough to be creative. The phase of delivering ideas to real world must be the most difficult and it would be incredibly useful to articulate the process of making ideas real, although it has to be very difficult since it depends a lot on so-called soft skills.