The
Fun Edition
Inventor's Secret
Interested in capitalizing on the innovation techniques of famous
inventors? Check out what Thomas Edison did. That's right, Thomas
Edison, the inventor of so many useful things...
Did I say inventor? Perhaps inventor isn't
quite the right word. After all, when most people think of an inventor,
they think of someone who comes up with totally new, innovative
ideas. And that isn't what Thomas Edison is famous for.
What Thomas Edison did was take someone else's
idea - and then improve it or think of another way to apply it.
He said, "Make it a habit to keep on the lookout for novel
and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea
needs to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are
working on."
How can you do this?
Talk your boss into subscribing to a whole
range of different magazines - science digests, Reader's Digest,
etc. Bookmark some "wacky inventions" pages and periodically
print them out and place them in the lunchroom. Read up on what's
happening in other companies.
Then ask yourself:
- How can we take this idea that was used
one hundred years ago and update it, making it fit our company?
- How can I apply this scientific principal
to our marketing campaign? Or adapt this production process to
our financial services campaign?
- What improvements would make this idea
more successful?
Make a game with other co-workers to spend
lunchtime reading these magazines, then once a week have a contest
to come up with the wildest adaptation of already used ideas. You'll
have fun. But best of all, after you've done this for a while, you'll
look at these wild ideas and start getting ideas of how to tame
them and adapt them to your organization!
A
Most Unusual Recruitment Ad
According to Bob
Rosner on ABCNEWS.com,
"IKEA [the furniture store] recently tested an innovative approach
for finding great employees. They put hand-written job announcements
on bathroom walls at upscale restaurants in Malmo, Sweden. According
to the company, the bathroom ads generated four times the response
they get from classifieds."
I'm surprised that management actually went
ahead with this innovative idea. But then, perhaps it fits that
it was a Swedish company that did this!
If someone in my neck of the woods came up
with this idea, when they came back from lunch, they would have
found a guard waiting at the door, all their possessions already
boxed up and stacked next to him. No wonder most of these organizations
have problems with employee morale and never come up with any risky,
innovative ideas!
But Ikea's idea makes me wonder what they'll
come up with next! Perhaps job ads on toilet paper?
But then again, what I would like is for
someone to place pictures of the most hated people in the world
on toilet paper. I'd buy a roll with Bill Gates' face on it - I'd
just love to show him what I think of Windows crashing all the time!
VIRUS
ALERT
If you ever get an e-mail titled, "Crush Out Creativity,"
do not open it. It will wipe out all of your inner drive. Forward
this letter to as many people as you can.
This information was announced yesterday
morning from JVD: please
share it with everyone who might work in an office and access the
Internet. Once again, pass this along to EVERYONE in your address
book so that this may be stopped. This is a very malicious malady
that has been operating and subverting organizational drive for
some time.
Do not open or even download any communication
that says, "UNABLE TO INNOVATE."
JVD has said "Crush Out Creativity"
is very dangerous. If your office is infected with "Crush Out
Creativity," it will attach itself to ALL inner control mechanisms
and drives, and render them useless. You can get detailed information
on how "Crush Out Creativity" works at http://www.jvdcreativity.com/confessional.htm
A patch for this virus was released today
by JVD and is available on-line at http://www.jvdcreativity.com/inheritance.htm.
Practice cautionary measures and forward
this to all your online business associates ASAP.
Being Creative
Think about times when you've been at your creative best and write
down where you were, what your surroundings were, what mood you were
in. Then ask yourself: What objects and colours are those surroundings,
those emotions for you? These are the colours and items that you want
to place in your "creative sanctuary." For instance, I grew up in a house with a
pale yellow kitchen and floor to ceiling windows in the breakfast
nook overlooking an inlet of the ocean. After school each day my
mother and I would have tea in the breakfast nook, looking out at
the peaceful surroundings. Many afternoons, I would sit at that
table, writing poetry or painting, glancing up periodically to watch
the cormorants standing on the neighbour's deck, behind them misty
green hills rising from the water, fading to lavender as they retreated
into the distance. Even today, similar views and that particular
shade of soft butter yellow evoke safe, peaceful, and contented
feelings.
Sitting in the ferry line-up waiting to cross
the river is consistently one of my most creative places - partly
because I have nothing better to do than think - but mostly because
the river and distant hills at the crossing are similar to those
outside my childhood breakfast nook. When faced with a view like
that, it is almost impossible for me to worry about all the stresses
of life and work. Twenty years of conditioning tells my body and
mind to relax.
One thing that also works for me at the ferry
line up is that there isn't anyone phoning me (yes, I'm one of those
strange creatures who doesn't have a cell phone!) or knocking at
my door. Being creative involves getting into the "flow"
as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it. You have to be able to unplug
the phone and put a "Do NOT Disturb" sign up on the door.
If you can't bring yourself to do this, do what I used to do with
a previous boss (who could never not answer a ringing phone).
We would go to a restaurant and have lunch whenever we needed to
be creative. Just being out of the work environment enabled us to
think differently and come up with more innovative solutions to
our problems.
If you can't get the atmosphere you require
in your home, then find a museum, beach, garden or some other spot
that works for you. Or if you don't live in an area that resembles
your "creative surroundings" and find it difficult to
get to a spot that brings out your creativity, then buy some large
prints and place them on the walls of your sanctuary, thus creating
a creative place in your home or office.
But what if your creative place isn't peaceful?
Perhaps it is wacky and full of energy. Perhaps you get your best
ideas tossing wild thoughts around with one or two special people.
Then make it a point to meet with these people once or twice a week,
perhaps for breakfast.
After all, the underlying idea is: do what
works for you!
Email
Jean and tell her where you get your most creative ideas.
Jean's creativity newsletter, The
Creativity Catalyst, is a monthly electronic newsletter discussing
Jean V. Dickson's ideas and thoughts on how individuals can insert
innovation into their lives. Contact Jean for further information
at: jeand@jvdcreativity.com.
Want to sign up to receive the Creativity
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nomorecreativity@jvdcreativity.com.
© August 2001 Jean V. Dickson.
All rights reserved.
Feel free to share The Creativity
Catalyst in whole or in part as long as copyright and attribution
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