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Working at BookPal affords us many opportunities to meet accomplished authors, speakers, and storytellers from a variety of industries and walks of life.  As a result, we not only get to learn more about the latest, trending books, but also the process each author takes in creating and curating their stories. The overall development and research required to bring their vision to life provides great insight into the stories from which we connect, learn, and grow.

It is fitting that we sat down with author Allen Gannett in an AuthorConnect Chat to discuss creativity and his new book, The Creative Curve, as creativity is one of our core values here at BookPal.  We are constantly challenging ourselves to come up with creative solutions, strategies, and ideas to further the messages of our authors and to ultimately get more books in more hands.

Meet Allen Gannett: CEO, Author, and Seer and Seeker of Patterns!

Allen is founder and CEO of TrackMaven, a marketing insights platform whose clients range from Microsoft to Saks Fifth Avenue to Honda. His new book, The Creative Curve, sets out to better understand the idea of "creative genius" so that we all might be able to achieve this elusive status.  The book is both descriptive and prescriptive — getting into the science, data, and research behind creativity and how to develop it by understanding what some of the creative giants in various industries have done to achieve their fullest creative potential.  As it turns out, four patterns emerged — and in the chat, Allen shares with us one thing you can start doing today to further spark and develop your creativity.

Allen explains:

"We all talk about creativity all the time, but the problem is, there is a big gap between the popular notion of it and what creativity actually is. The idea of creativity is very intertwined with the idea that you have to be a creative genius.  You either have it or you don't, right?"

Allen continues to explain that there are four elements of The Inspiration Theory of Creativity:

1) It's individual-centric (Think: Elon Musk. Steve Jobs. Taylor Swift).

2) And, for these individuals, it comes easy and naturally.

3) These moments of genius are overwhelming and over-powering - taking over and interrupting thought processes with "ah-ha" moments of genius.

4) These individuals are all slightly different (even manic in some cases) and unique.

However, as Allen posits in The Creative Curve, "what if this notion that we've adopted in our culture is untrue?!  What if the way we look at creativity is all wrong?" Upon further research for the book, Allen discovered that there is a rich amount of research and data available that does not support the Theory of Creativity.

An individual's IQ is normalized around 100.  Allen found that once an individual reaches an IQ of 104, the potential for creativity plateaus. It doesn't matter beyond this level — you're just as likely to be creative as someone with a lower or higher IQ.

So Allen asks: "Why then is there a big gap between creative potential and creative achievement?"

Listen in to our AuthorConnect Chat with Allen Gannett to find out - and be sure to purchase your copies of The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time to learn more about all four laws of creativity.  For the latest scientific research available on creativity, be sure to check out Allen's newsletter at Allen.xyz.

We remain committed to our dream of empowering people and organizations to become their best. This is why, every month, we invite authors to discuss their findings in a presentation and Q&A session. Sign up below to keep up-to-date on the newest authors we're chatting with.

This post was written by Karlyn Hixson, Marketing Director at BookPal.  She is currently reading Fear by Bob Woodward.