Investment Theory of Creativity

The investment theory of creativity (Sternberg and Lubart, 1995) claims that creative thinkers are like good investors: They buy low and sell high.

Whereas investors do so in the world of finance, creative people do so in the world of ideas. Creative people generate ideas that are like undervalued stocks (stocks with a low price-to-earning ratio), and both are generally rejected by the public. [1]

When creative ideas are proposed, they are often viewed as bizarre, useless, and even foolish, and are summarily rejected, and the person proposing them regarded with suspicion and perhaps even disdain and derision.

My next task is to bring this theory to the area of leadership research ;-)