Business environments and cultures can encourage or stifle creative thinking – just like our own creative minds.

Tom Kelley, general manager of award-winning industrial design firm, IDEO, writes about a common form of response to creative ideas in a “pivotal meeting where you push forward a new idea or proposal you’re passionate about.

“A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then, in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful words: ‘Let me just play Devil’s Advocate for a minute . . .’

Kelley notes the speaker “now feels entirely free to take potshots at your idea, and does so with complete impunity. Because they’re not really your harshest critic.

“They are essentially saying, ‘The Devil made me do it.’ They’re removing themselves from the equation and side­stepping individual responsibility for the verbal attack. But before they’re done, they’ve torched your fledgling concept.”

“I really have that worry that I’ll wake up in the morning and think, ‘Oh God. I’m such a fraud, and they’ll find me out.’ I doubt myself a lot.”

Those are comments by one of my favorite actors, Emily Blunt, who interestingly continued, “And maybe that’s a good thing, because I think it would be limiting to have discovered my whole bag of tricks by now. Hopefully I will always be afraid of being a fraud, because then you never stop trying.”

That is from a magazine interview about her movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” which also quotes one of her co-stars Stanley Tucci: “Yeah, if you consider yourself a fraud, then no one else will. I believe that. It’s people who don’t consider themselves frauds who are the biggest frauds… I’m actually looking at a book on my dresser, and the title is ‘Doubt.’

“I think doubt is an incredibly healthy thing. You just have to know its limitations and not let it stop you from doing something fully or executing something with authority.”

An article in Fast Company magazine notes the advice by consultants to “think outside the box” is “about as cliched as it gets,” according to Jesse Sheidlower, editor-at-large of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The origin of the ubiquitous phrase, the article says, “is generally attributed to consultants in the 1970s and 1980s who tried to make clients feel inadequate by drawing nine dots on a piece of paper and asking them to connect the dots without lifting their pen, using only four lines.

“(Hint: You have to think outside the — oh, you know.)”

From “Outside the Box”: The Inside Story, by Martin Kihn | June 1, 2005, Fast Company.

Imaginational and cognitive intensities, qualities of the kind of “teeming” brain that many high ability and creative people have, may be key elements for solving problems and doing creative thinking.

But over-active thinking and imagination can sometimes get in our way.

This number problem comes from the post Overthinking and Your Child-Like Mind and, as the caption notes (click to view larger size), children are able to solve it much more quickly than programmers.

“I have never been a fan of learning in a classroom. Inside a laboratory or a garage, I always wanted to know more, but never inside a classroom.”

Caltech physicist Caolionn O’Connell, PhD.

“It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions.”

Ken Robinson continues, “Turn it one way and you lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give people back to themselves.

“To realize our true creative potential—in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities—we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative.” [From his book "Out of Our Minds."]

“They wondered if that capacity for creativity they remembered from their youth would or could ever return.” Lisa Rivero

How can we successfully hold on to the creative thinking and passions we had earlier in life?

Ken Robinson and many other writers and leaders warn that too many children are having their intellectual and creative abilities eroded by educational institutions.

We may find inspiration to be more creative in art classes and writing workshops – but what if our very sense of being creative has been eroded by ordinary schooling?

In his acclaimed TED conference presentation in 2006, Ken Robinson referred to the “really extraordinary capacity that children have, their capacities for innovation…” – but added, “And my contention is, all kids have tremendous talents and we squander them, pretty ruthlessly… creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”

“I don’t believe that when you get into a creative place, you’re giving up thinking. You’re super-thinking – better and with more parts of your mind than you do normally.”

That is a comment by social psychologist, teacher and author Susan K. Perry, PhD from our interview.

She added that there is a ‘busy mind’ aspect of our thinking, which “means you’re fragmented, you’re unfocused, distracted, too many things on your mind.

“You want to get to a place which is both loose, relaxed, and focused.

“What I found in my studies of flow are that two things you need to do to get to this place where time stops and you can be most creative, are to loosen up, and focus in. It’s a paradox, obviously, to be loose and focused at the same time. And they overlap, and one may come before the other.”

“I just thought making movies was something done by geniuses, and I was very clear that I wasn’t one of those.” Jane Campion

When “The Artist’s Way” author and creativity coach Julia Cameron has asked people to list ten traits they think artists have, their responses have included: “Artists are broke,” “Artists are crazy,” “Artists are drug-addicted” and “Artists are drunk.”

Other myths and ideas about being an artist:

“Artists must be poor and sacrifice their well-being for their art.”

“Artists should accept the solitary life and find solutions on their own.”

“You can’t be a mother and a successful artist.”

“Artists are right-brained and aren’t very good at left-brain stuff like running a business.”

As creative people, even after achieving some recognition for our talents, we can experience self-critical thoughts and insecurity, such as impostor feelings – sometimes based on these kinds of myths we have picked up about creative “genius” or artists.

Director, writer and producer Jane Campion, praised for “The Piano” and other films, once commented, “I never have had the confidence to approach film making straight on. I just thought it was something done by geniuses, and I was very clear that I wasn’t one of those.”

As noted in his HuffingtonPost profile, Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD is “a cognitive psychologist specializing in the development of intelligence, creativity, and personality in education, business, and society.”

The British magazine Psychologies has an interview with him in a section titled TWITTER CHAT: Creativity about “kick-starting your creativity including how to cultivate a creative mind-set, dealing with a creative block and how to stretch your imagination.”

Here are some excerpts – with Twitter-submitted questions from a number of people, and Dr. Kaufman’s responses:

[How do I maintain confidence and self-belief in the face of rejections from fairs/festivals/exhibitions?]

Scott Barry Kaufman: Reconceptualise what rejection means. Everyone faces obstacles! Learn what you can from it and move on. Self-belief comes from within.

“I want to do wardrobe. I want to do hair. I want to do makeup. I want to do writing. I want to do directing. And I want to do producing. I want to do all of it. I like it.“ Abigail Breslin

“I must have been crazy to have donned so many hats.” Jennifer Westfeldt

Many multitalented people feel inspired and energized to pursue multiple creative projects, often at the same time. One potential downside is physical and emotional burnout.

Abigail Breslin made her comment above at a younger age (she is now 15), and has acted in a number of films since “Signs” (2002), including “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006), and expresses the kind of polymath passion that many actors, writers and other creative people have.

Jennifer Westfeldt wrote, produced and acted in “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Ira & Abby.” For her new movie “Friends With Kids,” she not only wrote the screenplay, acted and produced (along with other people, including her long time partner, actor Jon Hamm), she also directed the “two-year, round-the-clock endeavor” as a Los Angeles Times article describes it – not an uncommonly demanding schedule for movies.

“I must have been crazy to have donned so many hats,” Westfeldt said. “It made good sense for me to direct it, since I was involved in every aspect anyway. But I’m not sure I’d ever do it again.”