Description:

Abstract

In science, we often think that there exist a number of “genius types,” who come up with amazing findings that are published in high profile journals. Actually, it’s probably not true. I learned a lot about creativity from classes taken during my M.B.A. and this talk will summarize many of the lessons learned during the course of my studies.

Because of fast-changing technologies and increasingly competitive markets, companies are looking to workers at all levels and areas—not just in the traditionally “creative” areas of marketing and R&D —to come up with ideas that can be developed into innovative new products, services, processes, and solutions. Staying a step ahead of competitors often requires creative thinking, but so does responding to competitors quickly and, more generally, responding to an ever-changing environment. There are, of course, many parallels between this idea and our scientific enterprise.

Individuals, teams, and organizations are all creative to some extent, but there is usually room for improvement. This lecture is designed to help you reach your creative potential. It is designed to (a) help you be more creative, (b) teach you how to manage teams so that they are more creative than any member working alone, and (c) help you understand key design elements of organizations that lead to creative workers. Importantly, we will discuss themes of creativity that are common to all three levels: Individual, team, and organizational.

Rick Lieber is a scientist who earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from U.C. Davis developing a theory of light diffraction that was applied to mechanical studies of single muscle cells. He joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 1985 where he spent the first 30 years of his academic career, achieving the rank of Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He received his M.B.A. in 2013 and is currently Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. His work represents a translational approach, applying basic scientific principles to help patients who have experienced spinal cord injury, stroke, musculoskeletal trauma and cerebral palsy — an approach that is relevant to those who study biomechanics, rehabilitation and orthopaedic surgery. He has published almost 300 articles in a wide range of journals and is currently developing state-of-the-art biological and technical approaches to understanding muscle contractures that result from cerebral palsy, stroke and spinal cord injury.