Bruce Nussbaum - Creative Intelligence

Writer’s Statement

        The purpose of my essay is to analyze how Nussbaum uses Making and how Making is being transformed back to the United States due to the increased cost of producing out of the country. Making could relate to anyone, but in my essay I use the audience of college students just like me. I chose college students because in my opinion it is at this time where we explore our creative capacities the most. Most college students are go-getters and are willing to attempt many new things. They also don’t take failure as hard as an adult who is working would. I am looking to inform my audience about Making and why it is better to increase production in the USA. In addition, I’m trying to express how the phrase “Made in the USA” creates better appeal to citizens of the United States. The tone of my paper would be just a casual but serious tone. I don’t attempt humor because writing this essay in my opinion was hard enough. I want mine and Nussbaum’s words to influence the audience, to show that Making can be done by anyone, which is why I use a straightforward tone with my audience. I am all for Nussbaum’s concept of Making and agree with many of Nussbaum’s points, such as the “Made in the USA” phrase creating more appeal to customers. The stance of my paper can motivate my audience because Nussbaum and I present many successful examples throughout my paper of people with small ideas and ended up as big successes that people use in everyday life. We can all learn from what Nussbaum has to say, and as a business student I can take away a lot from what Nussbaum has to say. In my opinion, he creates a sense of urgency to his readers that we all need to incorporate creative intelligence and the 5 competencies in our everyday lives. While reading my paper, I hope that you get a better grasp of who I am; not only as a student but as a writer and as a person. A majority of this paper contains both personal and practical information that I agree with and that can be of much impact to me.  I wish that you walk away from this paper with a better sense of who I am and the realization that writing from any person can be what brings out the best of us. Enjoy!

Kunj Patel

Professor Aukerman

English W131

05 October 2015

Making a W131 Essay

        As college students, we are there to learn, but many more of us are interested in earning a degree rather than actually learning. In Creative Intelligence, Bruce Nussbaum examines how people, corporations, and countries are learning to be more creative, and how these people and organization are increasing their creative capacities. He explains five creative abilities, which include Knowledge Mining, Framing, Playing, Making, and Pivoting, to help college students like us learn how to become more creative. Nussbaum attempts to boost creative capacity and inspire his readers to connect to our creative thinking within our everyday activities. The section of the book that I will be focusing on will be the Making chapter. Nussbaum exposes that Making is the way we build our creativity to life, that Making is the final process of our creative capacity and uncovers that there is a shift in creative production back to the United States, which meets consumer appeal.

        The shift to production in the United States is due to numerous reasons, those being inflation and rising wages globally. In the chapter, Nussbaum states the fact “Why the shift to “reshoring”? Lower prices for technology make manufacturing at home in the United States easier. And rising wages in China, Mexico, and other suppliers coupled with falling wages in the United States have made it more advantageous to make things in America” (Nussbaum 205). Nussbaum also states “Fortunately, Making has become a lot cheaper and simpler.

The price of design software has plummeted, and there are tens of thousands of applications—most of them incredibly inexpensive if not free—that can help us sketch out 2-D designs” (Nussbaum 215). These quotes prove Nussbaum’s accurate logic, if it costs less to produce an item somewhere closer, rather than half way around the world, why would that manufacturer spend more money and waste more time than he/she needs to. Similarly, it is problematic to design their consumer goods across oceans and opposite time zones. This proves Nussbaum’s point throughout the chapter, the change of making from another country to the United States.

        Nussbaum’s description of products being created within the United States shows a sense of patriotism to citizens and creates a better appeal to customers within the United States. One of the headings of the Making Chapter is “Homegrown is the New Cool” (Nussbaum 200), which lures his readers to think that products created in the United States are becoming popular and gives consumers a sense of loyalty buying brand name products in their home country. Nussbaum then gives the example of Blue Marble Ice Cream, a Brooklyn-based company that gets all their ingredients locally. The name Blue Marble comes from Apollo 17 photo of Earth from space. Nussbaum says “more and more consumers want to know the origins of their food purchases and are recognizing the impact those origins have not only on the quality of the products but also on the well-being of our global community,” which shows how Blue Marble’s business values are concentrated on local sourcing (Nussbaum 201). Telling your customers that your fresh dairy milk, coffee, vanilla, cocoa, and many other ingredients come from local farms gives the customer a sense of safety, knowing that these products are coming from home, which builds many positive connotations to the customer. Lastly, “For many Americans, it’s no longer enough to “buy it local” when the “make-it-local” culture has never been easier” (Nussbaum 203).  Lower prices for technology in the United States makes it cheaper to make things locally rather than internationally. This creates customer appeal as well because consumers feel strongly about having our clothing made at an equitable cost so we can be sure the people making them are being treated well and earn fair wage. Nussbaum greatly encourages the making of products in the United States. He brings it all back to the idea of creative intelligence; by saying that most of us aren’t aware of our own creative capabilities, but we can discover what our creative capacities are by making what we’re passionate about because making is a lot easier than we think. Local is making things within your community; with people you trust and share your values.  

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