Innovation and creativity are probably near the top of my list of favorite buzzwords.   Buzzwords for me are those that sound impressive but for which the meaning is unclear.

They are often adopted by a culture for a brief time but subsequently replaced by the trend of the moment and forgotten (e.g., flavour of the month). 

Be Creative/Innovative

In and of itself the use of the use of the imagination or creation of original ideas (i.e., creativity/innovation) is easily pronounced.   The challenge in determining the presence of innovation/creativity lies with the subjective nature of the terms. 

While the interpretation of original should be an objective measure it is often clouded by personal perspective.  Imagination is totally subjective, although extreme imagination is usually readily recognizable as such (also usually impractical).

Song copyright legal challenges are a good example of how the determination of originality is not necessarily a simple manner. 

Numerous court battles have been fought over whether a song was copied or not (i.e., was it original).  Based on many of these cases it is apparently never an easy determination.   

Was I?

Overall the very definition of the terms leads to creativity being somewhat of a subjective measure.   So for me, the words are unclear, I am not sure when I have done it, I am not sure how it is measured.  

Hence the terms fall into my buzz word category.  Sounds good, but really what does it mean?