The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas

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The Eureka Myth

Although these days we rarely tell stories about the muses visiting mere mortals and inspiring them with creative ideas, the stories we do tell haven't changed all that much. We like stories of epiphanies. We like it when the hero is stuck and suddenly the answer just comes to her. Even if the idea didn't come from a muse, the language we use to retell moments of creative insight still describes these moments as if something arrived from outside the individual. This is the Eureka Myth, the notion that all creative ideas arrive in a “eureka” moment. We tell stories about other people's genius ideas as if the idea came suddenly; we conveniently gloss over the tireless concentration that came before the insight, or the hard work ...