I disagree. Solid intellectual background, good work ethic have nothing to do with creativity, nor do they lay a "basis" for it. From personal experience, I have know so many who have those attributes, but are just participants in the system. Sure, they excel, and are successful people, but devoid of creativity entirely. In fact you can argue, people who are successful inside the system because they have the attributes you mentioned, are the least motivated to challenge the status quo. They have much to lose.
And I disagree too. If you look at actual "creative" people throughout history they generally mastered what existed before them before making a leap beyond. Picasso was skilled at traditional art and sculpture before he created cubism. Shakespeare wrote sonnets, comedies, and histories (at that time, these were accepted, even tired genres) and was very much a "participant in the system" before transcending that same system. Leonardo Da Vinci was an apprentice to another artist during his early career.
We live in an era where ego gratification makes far too many people think they're creative when really they don't even have the tools developed to be creative.
> In fact you can argue, people who are successful inside the system because they have the attributes you mentioned, are the least motivated to challenge the status quo.
Confidence that your contribution is worthwhile goes a long way. Most of the people I know that do not consider themselves to be "creative" are simply unwilling to take the risk that their final product will not be praised/enjoyed. They fool themselves into believing that a work is wasted time if it is not the next Mona Lisa.
I think there is also a "blank page" component. They worry about wasting time and having to redo work. Many people are simply unsure where to start, focused on the forest when they haven't yet created the first tree. They're not comfortable working on different components of the problem and trusting that at some point they'll be able to connect the dots.
Creative entrepreneurs have programmed themselves to see the journey as the reward, learning at every step regardless of outcome and applying those lessons immediately to the following steps. They redo, pivot or do whatever is necessary to get closer to the goal because they've realized (subconsciously) that the current action is already in the past. They can't change the past so moving forward is the only action they are concerned with.
