Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All

Brainstorming is a group ideation technique that emphasizes quantity over quality, deferring judgment, and building on others’ ideas. The Kelleys use it to illustrate how collaborative, generative environments can lead to innovative solutions when psychological safety is prioritized.

Creative confidence is the central concept of the book, defined as the belief that everyone is creative and capable of generating breakthrough ideas. The authors argue that this confidence can be nurtured through practice, experimentation, and reframing failure as part of the process.

This tool helps innovators map out each step of a user’s experience with a product or service, identifying opportunities for improvement or innovation. In the book, it illustrates how broader thinking about user needs leads to better design outcomes.

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that emphasizes empathy, prototyping, iteration, and storytelling. The Kelleys position it as a powerful framework for unlocking creativity in any field—not just traditional design roles.

Divergent thinking is the process of generating many possible ideas or solutions. The book links it to tools like mindmapping and the “Thirty Circles” exercise, which help readers stretch their thinking beyond predictable or habitual patterns.

Empathy is foundational to human-centered design and innovation. The Kelleys stress the importance of deeply understanding users’ experiences, goals, and pain points through observation and listening—practices that fuel meaningful and original ideas.

Failure is reframed in Creative Confidence as a learning opportunity. Rather than a reason to stop trying, failure becomes evidence of effort and an essential part of the creative process—especially when followed by reflection and iteration.

This term describes one of the major barriers to creativity identified in the book. Fear of failure often prevents people from sharing ideas or taking creative risks. The Kelleys argue that reducing this fear is key to developing creative confidence.

This feedback tool encourages constructive critique by asking participants to frame their responses as positive observations (“I like…”) and suggestions for improvement (“I wish…”). It fosters a culture of openness and respect in creative teams.

Iteration is the process of refining ideas through multiple cycles of testing and feedback. The book emphasizes it as a mindset and practice that enables continual learning and improvement, especially through rapid prototyping.

Mindmapping is a visual brainstorming technique that begins with a central idea and branches out into related thoughts. The book recommends it as a solo activity for unlocking hidden associations and sparking novel solutions.

Prototyping is the act of creating a tangible, often rough version of an idea to test its feasibility or gain user feedback. It’s presented in the book as a way to accelerate learning and avoid “analysis paralysis.”

A timed activity that asks participants to turn blank circles into recognizable objects, the “Thirty Circles” exercise encourages divergent thinking. It serves as a metaphor for creativity—highlighting the value of fluency and flexibility in idea generation.

This concept refers to individuals who have deep expertise in one area (the vertical stroke of the “T”) and broad empathy and collaboration skills across disciplines (the horizontal stroke). IDEO values “T-shaped” individuals for their ability to work well on interdisciplinary teams.

Unlearning involves letting go of rigid thinking patterns or outdated habits that inhibit creativity. The Kelleys encourage readers to challenge assumptions and adopt a beginner’s mindset to make room for new ways of seeing and solving problems.