Optimizing creativity

Abstract

Transforming education or business starts with transforming one’s mind, and that inner transformation starts with opening up to—indeed welcoming—the inevitable bursts of creativity available to everyone. Sidney J Parnes, one of the world’s leading experts on creative problem-solving (CPSI), innovation and creativity, said, “I dream a dream, a vision great…my world will appreciate” (Parnes, 2004). Parnes’s life is the theme for this issue of Gifted International: Creativity Through Life. He is a lifelong researcher, author, and world-class educator who has presented thousands of seminars and courses on creativity and CPS for leaders in business, education, and government on five continents. For over 50 years, Parnes has worked in the “living laboratory” of the Creative Problem-solving Institutes sponsored by the Creative Education Foundation (CEF), which was established in Buffalo, New York.