As a proud parent, I shared in the feeling of achievement when my daughter Charlotte came home from nursery with one of her first paintings. To me it was a tremendous piece of ‘creativity’: my little girl had done this! But to anyone else it would probably be – and I do not mean to denigrate Charlotte’s talents in any way – a piece of immature, technically undeveloped artistic work. Although I might similarly obtain a great deal of pleasure from the work of, say, Magritte (one of my favourite artists), his work has a far more universal appeal and value as a creative product than my daughter ’s.

A definition of ‘creativity’

This recognition by a wider audience is seen by some as a crucial element in defining ‘creativity’. The creative process is not only at the point of origination with the creator but also in its recognition by others, where they in turn may need to demonstrate creative skills and understanding to appreciate and value the work of creativity. In the example of the artist, it is not enough for him to be creative, but the audience has to be creative in recognizing the creative qualities of the work.

One of the world’s leading experts on the subject of creativity, Professor Morris Stein, told me his definition of creativity in a conversation: ‘Creativity is a process that results in novelty which is accepted as useful, tenable or satisfying by a significant group of others at some point in time’. By ‘significant group of others’ he means those who have influence or power to determine what is recognized as of value in a group. In a public relations context, ‘significant others’ could be defined as fellow practitioners, or users and consumers of our product or service, such as journalists and clients.

There is still an element of tautology in this approach, where it is saying: ‘Creativity is what people, who have been recognized as “creative”, do’. Nonetheless, its emphasis on placing value, and identifying a cultural context, is an important step in developing our own working definition of ‘creativity’ for public relations practi- tioners.