New 3 creativity

On Creativity

Ziya G. Boyacigiller

This presentation was created and given by Ziya Boyacigiller who was leading Angel Investor and a loved mentor to many young entrepreneurs in Turkey. We have shared it on the web for everyone’s benefit. It is free to use but please cite Ziya Boyacigiller as the source when you use any part of this presentation. For more about Ziya Boyacigiller’s contributions to the start-up Ecosystem of Turkey, please go to www.ziyaboyacigiller.com

Copyright © 2003 Ziya G. Boyacigiller

Creativity

“ Finding a way! “

References Used:

Serious Creativity, E. De Bono

A Whack on the Side of the Head, R. von Oeck

Creativity in Business, M. Ray, R. Myers

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards

Shari Borkin


Objectives

1. Understand the nature and logic of creativity

2. Importance of motivation to make a creative effort

3. Specific tools, techniques, and methods to use for creativity


10. “I’m Not Creative” and 9 other ways to kill creativity

9. “The” Right Answer8. That's Not Logical. 7. Follow the Rules.6. Be Practical.5. Play Is Frivolous.4. That's Not My Area. 3. Avoid Ambiguity.2. Don't Be Foolish.1. To Err Is Wrong.


Education =?= Training Young Minds


Don’t be a fool…


…be Serious!


Stay in the Box ! Stay within Lines !



Here Edward de Bono sees what others look and fail to see.

Why?

Returning to my seat on an airliner I hit my head on the overhead luggage locker. As I sat down the person next to me said, “I also hit my head on that locker, it must be too low.“

"On the contrary," I said, "the trouble is that the locker is placed too high.”

There is nothing humorous about this exchange but there is the same sudden switch in perception -which eventually makes sense. If the luggage locker is really low then you see that you must duck your head. If the locker is placed really high, then it does not matter whether you duck or not. But if the locker is placed at a level that you do not think you need to duck, then you do not duck and you do hit your head.

Returning to my seat on an airliner I hit my head on the overhead luggage locker. As I sat down the person next to me said, “I also hit my head on that locker, it must be too low.

"On the contrary," I said, "the trouble is that the locker is placed too high.”

There is nothing humorous about this exchange but there is the same sudden switch in perception -which eventually makes sense. If the luggage locker is really low then you see that you must duck your head. If the locker is placed really high, then it does not matter whether you duck or not. But if the locker is placed at a level that you do not think you need to duck, then you do not duck and you do hit your head.


The Practical Need for Creativity

Case 1:Your company is selling life insurance.

It is hard to sell because most people don’t care about money they would receive after they die…


Case 1:Living Benefits - “Why not pay out life

insurance benefits before the policy-holder dies?” Create life insurance + catastrophic illness insurance!– Ron Barbaro, Prudential Insurance

It is possible to create a powerful idea even in a traditional industry.



Case 2:Your company is operating a tuna fish factory. In

an effort to reduce costs, and after many heated discussions, you all decide to cut labor. Now, the remaining workers are leaving too much meat on the bones since they have to work much faster. They are also unhappy that they are forced to work harder and, uncooperative to work with you to fix this problem since they are forced into this situation.



Case 2:Tuna Plant - Reduced labor causes too

much meat to be left on the bones. Hire additional labor to recover this meat, and add to profits. – Tony O’Reilly, Heinz,

Previous state of mind shouldn’t necessarily affect current thinking. Start thinking afresh.



Case 3:Edward de Bono is giving lectures in

Singapore. In eastern cultures individuality and “losing face” is avoided if at all possible. “You can’t point to a person and demand the person be creative” since they will feel singled out for some reason and feel shame.



Case 3:Singapore Lectures - “You can’t point to a

person and demand the person be creative.” Use row & column numbers to call on people at random, so they know they are not being picked on…– E. De Bono

it is possible to create a new solution, when no standard solution exists.



Case 4:Your company is in the ready to wear garment

retail business. You have a hard time to compete since it is a crowded and fiercely competitive environment where everyone has what others sell. Any idea gets copied quickly… Your new style shirts and knit pullovers initially sold well, but now others have copied them eliminating your differentiation.



Case 4:Build a brand on“color”, not “shape” -

Benetton became a $2 billion company by making use of sophisticated computer systems (i.e. IT) to stump competition.

It is possible “to not follow status quo”, but “to do things differently than others” to excel.


Practical Need for Creativity Falls into Two Areas

1. Where there is a real need for a new idea and we cannot proceed without one. There may be a problem, a crisis, or a conflict. Other approaches have failed - creativity is the only hope. (swoT)


Practical Need for Creativity Falls into Two Areas

2. Where there is no pressing need for a new idea but a new idea offers opportunity, advantage, and benefit (swOt)


“Flow” is Fun Zone

Taking a Challenge Staying in

Comfort Zone


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

Phineas P. Gage (July 9?, 1823 – May 21, 1860)


User’s Manual for Your Brain


In-Class Exercise:How to turn-on your creative mind

Draw this…


Use: Direct attention (focus), Simplify skills (breakdown)

In-Class Exercise:How to turn-on your creative mind

Draw this again…focus on contours only (white & gray)


“Flow” is Fun Zone

Improve skills Use

status-quo skills


Before and After Drawings

From: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain


“CHALLENGE”forces

Creative


Edward Hopper – Nighthawks- it is easy to serve 3 customers…


“Managing One-Stool Café*“create opportunities by

taking on a higher challenge

It is very easy to run a one-stool Café.

You would have only one customer to serve - anybody can do that…

Challenge starts when you add the second stool (or better

yet 10 more stools, 20 more…) That is when you “create the problem”.

That requires you to use creativity to overcome the problem(s) you have created…

Taking a higher challenge will improve your skills.

That is when you start to learn and move ahead, ... Plus, it is F U N !

Ref: Jack Gifford, Founder of Maxim Integrated Products, Silicon Valley (1941-2008)


Colombus creates a problem…


If you don’t create a problem, you are doing what everyone

else is doing…

staying within status-quo “box”


What is creativity ?


Physical Side of Creativity

Any new situation that did not lead

directly into an existing pattern would have to be analyzed afresh.

…The brain will only see what it is prepared to see (existing patterns).

E. de Bono


Right-Side Up or Right-Side Downby M. C. Escher



Ichallenge

you to draw this !


At Home Exercise:

Draw Igor Stravinsky by Pablo Picasso


Neurons (Neural Network)


A Conventional

Neural Network


Life Would be Impossible without Pattern Forming &

Pattern Using(Neural-Networks)


What do you see?


What happens if there is a “side-track”? Do we have to stop and

look at every alternative?

OLD WOMAN

YOUNG WOMAN


In practice…

the dominant track suppresses other tracks which, for the moment, cease to exist. So we move along the main track in full confidence.


In practice the dominant track suppresses other tracks. So we move along the main track in full

confidence.


How is it possible?

A man and his son driving on the freeway have an accident.

The man dies.

The son is taken to the hospital and rushed into the operating room.

The doctor walks in and declines to operate on the patient saying: “He is my son!”


The Creative Jump


How is this possible?

Police Arrest

Two of Their Own

for Prostitution

(actual news headline)


If we enter a side track, then we follow it back to the starting point making a connection to

the original thought…


The path from B to A is direct, whereas from A to B can be very

roundabout

(lack of symmetry)


Second line of this joke forces you to take a “side-path”

“- If I were married to you, I would put poison in your coffee.”

“- And, if I were married to you, I should drink the coffee.”

(attributed to W. Churchill and Lady Asquith)


It Follows that:

All creative ideas are logical in hindsight.


How can we “escape” from the main path and take a creative

leap (lateral thinking)?


Patterns in brain can be so strong that they say natives could not see Colombus’ ships until they noticed the waves and started

challenging themselves to see anew…


Physical Need for Creativity: Brain allows incoming information to form patterns.

Once these patterns are formed, we use them in the process known as perception.

The patterns are not symmetric.

This asymmetry gives rise to humor and creativity.

Humor and creativity are related, since fitting information into new patterns, and even more so the discovery of side-paths, releases endorphins that reinforce re-learning.


How to be Creative?

Lateral Thinking Techniques


Your Mind is a Mess…of Neurons


How can you take control of your brain to think more effectively?


Lateral Thinking Techniques:

The Creative Pause

There should be a new idea here. There could be a new idea here. I want to pause to think about this. I want to notice that. I want to pay attention to that. That needs thinking about. Is there another possibility here? Is that the only way of doing it?

THINK!



Focus

1- General Area Focus (define scope): I want some new ideas in the area of

• restaurants • telephones • transfer of funds between banks.

I want some ideas in the area of • running a resort hotel • on the color of the bedside table in each hotel • messages left for guests at the hotel.


Can you find the perfect star?







Focus

2- Purpose Type Focus: What is the purpose of our thinking? What are we trying to achieve? What is our goal? What is the target? With what do we want to end up?


2.1 - Purpose Focus - Improvement(how to improve in a defined direction)

We want ideas to speed up supermarket check-out…

We want ideas to reduce cost of staff training…

We want ideas for simplifying the controls on this VCR…


2.2 - Purpose Focus - Problem Solving

(how to overcome a difficulty)

How can we reduce the losses due to shoplifting?

We need ideas to prevent condensation on bathroom walls.

How can we deal with street violence?


2.3 - Purpose Focus - Task (how to reach a desired point)

I want to design a flat refrigerator. I want a way to communicate with

5,000 trainers out there.We want some powerful slogan to

get elected.We want chocolate that does not

melt in the desert.


2.4 - Purpose Focus - Opportunity

(how to identify potential)

How can we use this glue that never dries?

People cannot afford to keep big houses any more – can we see an opportunity here?

Satellite TV transmission is getting cheaper – what opportunities can we see?

There is a glut of grapes in Bulgaria this year…


Focused CreativityMind Mapping



WHY Challenge Assumptions

1. Class participates in teams to

“uncover the assumptions”

of a traditional circus.

2. Use a MINDMAP to do focused thinking

3. Share your new circus vision with class


Some Assumptions

•

A big tent A small tent

Animals NO Animals

Cheap tickets Expensive tickets

Barkers selling souvenirs NO Barkers selling souvenirs

Several acts performing at the same time

One act performing

Playful music Sophisticated music

Clowns NO Clowns

Popcorn NO Popcorn



3 - Challenge

Why is it done this way?Why does it have to be done this

way?Are there other ways of doing it? I can find a way to do this?Who says it can’t be done?


Why cut a nice leg-of-lamb into two?


3.1 – Challenge - Block

The road to my house is under construction, how else can I get home?


Time Sequence Block

When one letter (information) is given at a time, and we have to guess the next word to spell:

R A T EG

T A R G E T

This example shows that there is an absolute need for creativity in a system when new information is added to existing information in an integrating fashion.

T ?


3.2 – Challenge Escape(Lateral Thinking)

What if we did not try to make our customers happy?


3.3 – Challenge Drop

Why do we need to keep on logging the customer ID numbers?



4 - Alternatives

Is there another way?What are the alternatives?What else can be done?

“This is good, however for now let’s put this aside and see if we can come up with any other ideas…”


In Class Exercise:

Move the OrangeYou will need a long flat surface (floor will do), a round object that is easy

to roll (an orange), and a stopwatch that can count in minutes/seconds.

Form your team – class forms 3 teams. One person becomes the record keeper (must have a stop watch)

and observer. The observer notes HOW THE TEAM IS CONVERGING ON AN IDEA.

Your team will need to move an orange from the first to the last person in the team.

(a) Each person in the team, and (b) both hands of each person and (c) one person at a time must touch the orange as it is moving.

The orange needs to be in the same shape/quality at the end as it was at the beginning. i.e. you can’t take them apart, etc.

Your challenge is to score the best time (shortest) to win.

Keep your idea from other teams, they may try to copy your idea…


Beware of Alternatives Trap

“Would you like to have coffee/tea or lemonade.”

• Think: “Why choose?”

“We can either work 8 hours on Saturday, or 4 hours on Sunday…”

• Think: “Why choose?”


Why do we keep on doing the same thing?

1. Status Quo: Because we have always done it this way and there has never been any need, occasion, or pressure for change

2. Because it was the best way of doing things and still is…

3. Because we have considered changing to a better way but the cost of change and disruption are too expensive



5 - Concept Fan



6 – Movement(Brain Storming)


Early Judgment kills Ideas and Creativity, Use Movement

Instead



7 - Six Thinking Hats How do you get time for creative thinking?

How can you ask someone to make a creative

effort?

How do you stop someone from being consistently negative

How do you encourage people to look at the benefits of an idea?

How do you express your intuition and gut feeling in a serious meeting?



7.1 - White Hat(neutral, informative, data)

What information do we have here?What information is missing?What information would we like to

have?How are we going to get the

information?


7.2 - Black Hat(logical negative - caution, critical, judgmental)

The regulations don’t permit us to do that

We don’t have the production capacity to meet that order

When we tried a higher price the sales fell off

He has no experience in export management


7.3 - Red Hat(feelings, intuition, emotions)

This is what I feel about the projectMy gut feeling is that it won’t work I don’t like the way this is being doneMy intuition tells me that prices will

fall soon I don’t know as a fact, but I feel that

he is the wrong person for the job


7.4 - Yellow Hat(logical positive - optimism, benefits, positive view)

This might work if we moved the production plant nearer to the customer

The benefit would come from repeat purchases

The high cost of energy would make everyone more energy efficient


7.5 - Green Hat(creative, new ideas, alternatives, possibilities)

We need some new ideas hereAre there any other alternatives?Could we do this in a different way?Could there be another explanation?We can also do this without using

any ball-bearings at all!What if we used egg-whites as a

glue?


7.6 - Blue Hat(using the results of thinking, next steps, summaries,

conclusions , decisions)

We have spent far too much time looking for someone to blame.

Could we have a summary of your view?

I think we should take a look at the priorities here.

I suggest we try some green hat thinking to get some new ideas.


Subject: BUILD A WEB SITE TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

Everyone wears a colored hat

You discuss the subject with the team

You have 5 minutes


Subject: BUILD A WEB SITE TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

Everyone wears a single colored hat

You have 3 minutes for each hat

You discuss the subject with the team


Stages for Highly Creative Performance

OR How to Build a Creativity

Process

from A Kick in the Seat of PantsR. von Oech






Shari Borkin

Be a Fool !

Find a way!

CHANGETHE

WORLD

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

New 3 creativity