Must See: John Cleese on Creativity

This absolutely brilliant speech by John Cleese has been making the rounds in my feed reader(Boing Boing) and on Google+. He talks about what it means to be creative and how to get into the mindset of creative thinking. Every single business major should be forced to watch this. Every person who manages others and has to solve problems should be forced to watch this. If you have a problem that needs solving, you should watch this. If you are a fan of John Cleese you should watch this video. Set aside the time and watch the whole thing.

I have two favorite bits. The first starts at 9:00 when he speaks of Alfred Hitchcock changing the tenor of screenplay meetings in order to relieve pressure and get participants to relax in order to get to the best creative solution. Second, is about 32:00 in when he speaks about squashing creativity and creative thinking. Dry, and with his best, most English, sarcasm: “Treat all humor as frivolous and subversive.”

He makes so many great points about time, play, humor and the need to put the time in once you are close to a solution. Love love love this. Can’t recommend highly enough to you watching this all way through.