Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi died this week at the age of 87. He was an intellectual hero of mine. I've read five of his books - Flow, Finding Flow, The Evolving Self, Good Business, and Creativity. I have a hobby of contacting authors and semi-famous people. Here is my email exchange with Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi.

On Monday, March 28, 2005, at 08:43 PM, Brian Fleming wrote:

Dear Dr. Csikszentmihalyi,

I hope you have a moment to consider a few points about creativity and respond to a question about complexity.

Popular music is a domain not covered in the sample set for your book, Creativity. As an amateur guitarist who lives near Nashville, I have a view of the country music industry that I thought of repeatedly while reading Creativity. The country music industry (its telling that its called an industry) has developed into a community with a high degree of specialization within its members. Behind the famous and attractive singing stars are an army of studio musicians, audio engineers, music business people, songwriters, and a city full of other folks who haven’t quite made it. Nashville lore (and its still true today) depicts those who come to town with nothing more than a song and a dream. The trick is to sell your song or your sound to the country music industry field. All the traits described in your Creativity book are required to make it big in Nashville. Unfortunately, due to the industrialization in the country music business, the songs that get radio airplay sound mass-produced and the lyrics are filled with cliche. Integrated but not very differentiated, I suppose!

Which leads to my question about complexity. You promote the merits of complexity, yet when it comes to popular music it seems the simple songs are the best. A few examples: Silent Night, Your Cheatin Heart, Over the Rainbow, Edelweiss, and Amazing Grace. Likewise, the most elegant solution to a complicated problem is often the simplest one. Consider the law of parsimony — Occam’s razor.

So my question becomes: If complexity is so desirable, why is simplicity so beautiful?

I look forward to your response!

Brian Fleming

Franklin, TN

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi <miska@cgu.edu>

Tue 3/29/2005 1:08 PM

To: Brian Fleming

It does sound like country music is a nice example of the systems view of creativity!

My answer to the complexity issue may not be convincing, but I would argue that the simple songs you mention are actually quite complex -- i.e. differentiated and (especially) integrated. The problem is that complex and complicated appear to refer to the same organization, whereas they are often 180 degrees apart. A complex wine has hints of many flavors, but they are blended so well that the taste is so obvious and natural that it seems simple. 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Director | Quality of Life Research Center

C. S. and D. J. Davidson Professor

Peter F. Drucker School of Management

Claremont Graduate University

1021 N. Dartmouth Avenue

Claremont, CA 91711