Derek Sherman is a friend of mine and an award-winning creative guy He’s author of Race Across the Sky (Penguin / Plume, 2013), Group Creative Director at Cramer-Krasselt, and Co-founder, Awesome Foundation Chicago. We were also “partners” in an evolving venture which began when Derek’s wife Kerri told me the true story of their young son Noah planting ice cubes in their back yard to halt global warming (talk about innovation!) – which I turned into a Sunday morning “sermon song” – which Derek then turned into a children’s book, Noah’s Garden. Below, Derek offers some pretty cool – and very inspiring – thoughts on creativity. 
Q. Some people are exceedingly creative, while others claim to have no creative instincts. Do you think It’s “nature or nurture?” Is creativity something we are born with? Can it be developed?
A. Of course we are all born creative and the proof is that every child instinctively is drawn to crayons, markers, blocks, play dough. What happens is school. School devalues creativity, and at around 3rd grade, removes art from the ciriculum, only to bring it back in certain high schools as an elective. It can be developed if we made drawing, clay modeling, music mandatory as we make trigonometry. Adolescents apply their creativity to fields outside of the arts. Steve Jobs and Larry Page for example. It teaches them to create, think differently, and connects synapses in the brain that are lost in our current model of ending art instruction after our crayon days are behind us. I’d argue that creativity is more useful in your career and life as an adult than trigonometry anyway. This is a vestige from an earlier and long-passed era. In today’s world we must embrace the truth that all children are born creative thinkers–and stop failing to develop this and letting it atrophy.
Q. When you need creative ideas, what do you do? Are there processes or environments or experiences that facilitate creative thinking?
A. Everyone’s experience with this is different. For me, it is quiet. For friends of mine, it is walking. For others it is museums. You have to let process go and just play until you find your idea your way.
Q. What’s the wackiest idea you ever came up with – that you can share?
A. No such thing, in my opinion. By defining certain ideas and pints of view as ‘wacky’ we taint them. Ideas are like children–treat all equally at all times. What initially seems wacky later seems brilliant, and vice-versa. By ending judgement of your ideas you open the possibility of realizing them. The Sony Walkman was killed twice internally as a wacky idea, and Xerox famously dismissed the PC as ‘wacky’. Bloomberg’s ban on supersized soda seems wacky to some and smart to others–either way it initiated a new conversation, and alerted people to the fact that their Frapaccino had more sugar in it than a Pepsi. Judging any idea as wacky is I guess the wackiest idea I can think of. Wait–that a woman who is raped won’t become pregnant, that’s the wackiest idea I’ve ever heard.
Q. What words of wisdom do you have for people seeking to be more creative in their work lives?
A. Creativity is an atrophied muscle. Like a weak leg muscle, it needs to be exercised and trained, starting with easy tasks, and building resistance as the muscle grows. So, read a completely different type of book than you usually do. A graphic novel. History. The opposite of your regular choice. Do the same with film. With food. Exploration leads to discovery. Train your mind to break its patterns. Like a puppy, it will soon enough get what you are teaching it, and come to you with its own new patterns. New ideas will rise into your consciousness and you’ll now recognize and pause on them. So, don’t start by reinventing your job. Start by watching a documentary, exploring a stranger’s playlist on Spotify, asking the waiter to bring you their favorite dish without looking at a menu. Train yourself to explore and learn. That’s a great first step.