Creative Thinking for Business
Creative Thinking E-book
• Introduction
• CEOs Are Asking for Creativity
• How Do I Find A Creative Expert?
• What Is Creativity?
• Why Is Creative Thinking
Important?
• The
Creative Thinking Process
• Is
Creativity Logical?
• Key
Myths About Creativity
• The
Paralyzing Power of Previous
Perceptions
• How
the Mind Works
• How
Does Your Experience Affect
Creativity?
• Why
Are We So Critical?
• The
Mind Has A Creative Immune System
• The
10 Mental Blocks To Creativity
• 1.
One "Right Answer"
• 2.
Logic Can Kill Creativity
• 3.
Be Creative - Break Some Rules
• 4.
Be Creative - Is That Practical?
• 5.
Play is Creative
• 6.
Make Time To Think Creatively
• 7.
Being Creative Is "Not My Job"
• 8.
Don't Be Afraid To Be Creative
• 9.
Creativity...How Ambiguous
• 10.
Is Creativity Wrong?
• Think
Creative
• The Sly As A
Fox Toolkit
• Brainstorming
Rules
• Idea Rockets
• "Senseable"
Creativity
• Random
Creativity
• WBF
• All Factors
Involved (AFI)
• All
Possible Alternatives (APA)
• Other's
View (OV)
• Challenge
Accepted Concepts
• Best
Problem Definition
• Provocation
• Combination Creativity
• Conclusion
• About
The Author
• The Sly As
A Fox Workshop -
Bring Creative Thinking To Your Company
The Paralyzing Power Of Previous Perceptions
Think about the word “machine” for a minute.
| Action Item Write down what image comes to mind when you think of the word. Ask a friend or colleague to do the same thing. Compare your lists. Chances are the image you came up with was very different from what they envisioned. Why is that? |
Both of you were given the exact same information – the word machine – but you produced completely different images of what that data meant.
How can that be?
The image in your mind was influenced by a number of variables simultaneously. What machine you last worked with, the last machine you saw on TV or read about, or maybe even the word machine made you think of “machine gun.” There are thousands of other relationships and experiences that influenced your thought process, yet you managed to come up with one “right answer” almost immediately.
What does this have to do with creativity and innovation?
This simple example shows you how powerful your previous perceptions influence your thought process and how you arrive at “your right answer.”
Imagine the people you work with all looking at pages of information that include the same test results. Think about the simple exercise you just completed. You discovered how dramatically different you and another person’s conclusions could be when you had only one piece of information, the word machine. What happens when you have volumes of data in front of you?
Is it any surprise that a group of people all looking at the same data will come up with all kinds of conclusions, perhaps no two of them the same? If you keep this in mind during the creative process, you quickly realize how absurd it is to think there is only one “right answer” when solving a problem. The reality? There are many right answers to any issue or problem.
Keep this in mind the next time you share a creative idea with someone.
We are all a product of our environment and experiences. The reaction you get will vary considerably depending on their past experiences and what the idea means to them.
Don’t get discouraged if their response is negative. It doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like the idea itself. It simply means it strikes up a negative “image” based on their experiences.
Realize this and dig deeper to understand why they feel the way they do and what personal history is influencing them. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll have a better chance of presenting your creative idea and keeping it alive. People will more readily accept and sponsor your creative idea if it is presented from their viewpoint. Their viewpoint is a product of their background and experiences, which may be dramatically different than yours.