INTRODUCTION Organizational leaders at all levels must increasingly demonstrate creative thinking and be able to produce original and useful solutions to challenges they face. One of the first steps in generating creative ideas is being able to identify and frame problems and analyze root causes. This course is designed to introduce you to skills and strategies used by creative problem solvers, focusing on practices found in the problem-solving literature and that can be applied in any professional context. This course is about every day, applied creativity, and it’s for everyone, especially those who don’t think of themselves as creative or innovative.

PURPOSE The purpose of this course is to equip you with creative problem-solving ideas and strategies that can positively impact your work and leadership. We begin by exploring the concept of creativity and the mind-sets and practices exhibited by successful innovators. We then look at each area in more depth, along with related strategies. The learning approach used is problem-based and experiential. While we will devote time to exploring readings and discussing key concepts, the thrust of the course will be on testing out actual behaviors and strategies. You will have opportunities for experimentation and feedback both in and out of class. The main assignment – a “Problem Challenge” – will provide a sandbox to apply strategies to an actual problem of practice (i.e. problem) and document the process and results. The problem can be just about anything, but should, as much as possible, be authentic, meaningful and interesting to you.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: • Critique common misconceptions about creativity. • Describe and apply mindsets and behaviors that successful innovators exhibit. • Apply research-based problem-solving strategies in their professional practice. Identify and analyze a problem in a way that addresses fundamental causes. • Generate novel and useful thinking and ideas about an actual problem using strategies learned in the course. • Reflect on the application of course concepts and strategies to their role as leaders.