12 Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking

A fellow de Bono Trainer gave me 12 Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking which is completely accurate. As innovative thinkers, we can learn something from this great list on creativity.

1. You are creative. Believe it!
2. Creative thinking is work. You will have more bad ideas than good ones, but those bad ideas lead you to the great ideas.
3. You must go through the motions of being creative. You must practice your ideas to become better at them.
4. Your brain is not a computer. Your brain cannot tell the difference between actual and fantasy experiences. (Think about Walt Disney)
5. There is no one right answer. Aristotle said it best it is either A or not-A.
6. Never stop with your first good idea. Always strive to improve your good ideas because that improvement may lead to your greatest discovery.
7. Expect the experts to be negative. Experts look at new ideas with absolutes and self censorship about their expertise.
8. Trust your instincts. Don't be discouraged by others opinions.
9. There is no such thing as failure. Celebrate your failures and review what you have learned from them.
10. You do not see things as they are; you see them as you are. All experiences have no meaning until you interpret them.
11. Always approach a problem on its own terms. Always consider other peoples points of view on the problem.
12. Learn to think unconventionally. For knowledge is limited to current knowledge, while imagination has no limits so embrace imagination.

The de Bono tools have helped thousands of people worldwide to think more creative in a systematic way that helps capture all your ideas on POST-IT NOTES!

By de Bono Consulting

Six Thinking Hats = the Life of a Data Scientist

Debleena Roy posted a real world example of how the Six Thinking Hats help make her successful in the Data Scientist world. See the correlation between the Six Thinking Hats and the needs of a data scientist.

1. White Hat
1. de Bono: Calls for information
2. Data Scientist Needs: Data, just data
2. Blue Hat
1. de Bono: Manage the thinking process
2. Data Scientist Needs: Generate insights from the cartloads of data
3. Black Hat
1. de Bono: Negative or skeptical
2. Data Scientist Needs: Develop his/her hypothesis
4. Yellow Hat
1. de Bono: Positive or optimism
2. Data Scientist Needs: Survival tool in the highs and lows of the data valley
5. Red Hat
1. de Bono: Feelings or intuition
2. Data Scientist Needs: Call it trial and error or "red hat"
6. Green Hat
1. de Bono: Creativity or alternative ideas
2. Data Scientist Needs: Think outside of his/her self-made data box

The above sequence is a real world example of how the Six Thinking Hats impacts the world everyday. de Bono Consulting's challenge to you is what hat's will impact your world for the better. 

By de Bono Consulting

Igniting creativity to transform corporate culture:

Are you using your birthright?

By de Bono Consulting

Infusing Innovative Thinking Into Six Sigma!

Did any of you read the article by Don Peppers on Six Sigma? Peppers did a great job bringing to light the lack of innovation tools in the Six Sigma process. The Six Sigma process was designed to plan, predict, document, adjust, and improve the current work process. For this purpose, Six Sigma is a great tool and meets all of the companies objectives. If the company is looking to be more innovative, then the company should be looking for a tool that promotes innovation like Lateral Thinking or any other innovation tool. I think that comparing Six Sigma process improvement to Innovation is like comparing "oranges and apples." They both may be fruits but their taste, look, and purpose are completely different.

If your company is looking to implement the Six Sigma process, I would recommend that the objectives be clearly identified and communicated company-wide so that the company does not try to accomplish innovation objectives with a process improvement tool. Here's a thought, may be 3M was not looking for innovation in Six Sigma but process improvement?

By de Bono Consulting

The Difference Between Innovation and Creativity!

By de Bono Consulting

Forbes has a nice interview with Tina Seelig, author of the new book inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity. I haven't read the book (though it's on my list), but the interview is worth a read.

Particularly intriguing is the fact that Seelig is a neuroscientist, so she approaches creativity from a very different perspective than most writers and thinkers. In the interview, Seelig states that creativity is both a natural characteristic and a learned skill, rather like musical or athletic abilities. I look forward to reading the book and learning what neuroscience has to say about innovation.

The Bias Against Creativity

Corporate creativity is a hot topic, and innovation determines whether a company lives or dies. So why do people reject creative ideas?

Jennifer Mueller, Shimul Melwani, and Jack Goncalo have a theory. In their new paper, The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas, they explore the idea of covert biases, and they find that uncertainty produces a subconscious hostility towards creativity.

To quote the authors, "Because there is such a strong social norm to endorse creativity and people also feel authentic positive attitudes towards creativity, people may be reluctant to admit that they do not want creativity." The authors conclude that "we cannot assume that organizations, institutions or even scientific endeavors will desire and recognize creative ideas even when they explicitly state they want them. This is because [organizations] may [extol creativity] in ways that promote uncertainty by requiring gate-keepers to identify the single 'best' and most 'accurate' idea, thereby creating an unacknowledged aversion to creativity. In addition, our results suggest that... the field of creativity may need to shift its current focus from identifying how to generate more creative ideas to identifying how to help innovative institutions recognize and accept creativity."

Creativity Quote of the Day

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Creativity Quote of the Day

"Anyone can be creative provided they learn and develop their skills." - Edward de Bono

The Revolution of Creativity - Lateral Thinking Immersion Class

Executives, entrepreneurs, educators, consultants, and others will gather in Boston, June 21-24, for the Creative Problem Solving Institute's annual conference The Revolution of Creativity.

Participants will choose from keynote presentations, 90-minute breakouts, and elective classes focusing on innovation and creativity.

When registering, sign up for the Lateral Thinking for Innovative Leaders Immersion Class. This interactive class, developed by Dr. Edward de Bono, provides a disciplined approach to innovation, idea generation, and concept development.

Register for the Revolution of Creativity

Bring Lateral Thinking Training to Your Organization

iinnovate Podcast With IDEO Founder

We're always looking for great websites on creativity & innovation, and the iinnovate blog is no exception. The blog is run by students at Stanford University's Business and Design Schools, and offers podcast interviews with leaders of some of the world's most innovative companies.

We found the interview with IDEO Founder, David Kelley particularly relevant.

Kelley highlighted the importance of empowering your people to think that they are creative. Companies should tap into the creativity of everyone in the organization, not just the boss. Kelley stressed that we need to give all employees opportunities to generate and share their ideas no matter their position in the organization.

We couldn't agree more. But how do you provide such opportunities for generating new ideas?

People who are trained in Six Thinking Hats love the fact that in Six Hat Thinking there is a time and a place for creative thinking (called green hat thinking) where they don't have to worry about their ideas being criticized or "shot down."

Analysis of ideas, both the positive aspects and potential weaknesses, takes place at a later stage in the thinking process. During green hat thinking, you're strictly capturing new ideas.

The Six Thinking Hats process encourages creative thinking from each individual, not just those who are the most vocal.