Not challenging the obvious Creativity may suffer whenever we as individuals accept the status quo. We have to challenge the obvious. aDoes one plus one really equal twoa? It could indeed equal two. But it might equal eleven, as in a1 + 1 = 11.a Or it could equate to aT,a the result of placing one bar on top of the other.
Management consultants are constantly faced with the need to challenge the obvious. For instance, a client calls the consultant in and says, aProfitability is down because product costs are too high. Can you help me find a way to reduce them?a The consultant will instinctively challenge the obvious, asking whether it is the case that costs are too high. Perhaps it is another factor in the profitability mix (i.e., price or volume) that is really to blame.
Evaluating ideas too quickly One way of confronting this barrier is to look at your hands. Think of your right hand as representing aidea productiona and your right hand as representing aidea evaluation.a Often an idea produced is immediately evaluated and possibly killed, e.g. by the phrase, aThat wonat work.a Success in creative thinking demands that the two hands should be separated, and that the left hand (idea evaluator) should be put to one side for the moment.
All ideas are acceptable in a creative situation, regardless of the quality. They may be good, bad, useful, useless, legal, illegalaa"ait doesnat matter. Subsequently, the evaluation hand is brought back, and at that stage, a strange thing happens. Some of the ideas which originally would have been dismissed are looked at afresh, possibly with the comment: aWait a minute, there may be something in that idea after all.a Fear of looking the fool Failing to challenge the obvious and evaluating ideas too quickly may well be the by-products of being afraid to look like a fool. We learn to fear ridicule from an early age, and it follows us into later life. Many excellent examples are found in the world of management. In a hierarchical organization, junior team members are less likely to put forth wild, wacky ideas for fear that more senior team members will see them as silly. The junior does not want to destroy his or her chances of promotion, and therefore sticks to well-tried, a.n.a.lytical routines. At the other end of the scale, the most senior manager seeks to protect his imageaa"aone that been built up over many years. That senior manager doesnat want to confirm to his or her underlings that he or she is a silly old fool. As a consequence, he or she does not propose any wild ideas either.
In short, we must fight apathy, hastiness, and insecurity. History abounds with instances of people who havenat been proactive enough in evaluating new ideas or who have been overly dismissive of new inventions or artistic or literary styles. This is particularly true where individuals are deemed authorities in their fields and err on the side of protecting their reputations. Here are several examples taken from the domain of science and art.
a Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor of the Kansas City Star newspaper because ahe lacked imagination and had no good ideas.a Years later, the Disney company bought ABC which owned the Kansas City Star.
a Although Vincent van Gogh produced some 800 paintings, he was able to sell only one painting during his lifetime. The Red Vineyard at Aries was sold to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs (approximately $50).
a In 1921, Newton Baker, U.S. Secretary of War, reacted to Brigadier General Billy Mitch.e.l.las claim that airplanes could sink battleships by dropping bombs on them: aThat idea is so d.a.m.ned nonsensical and impossible that Iam willing to stand on the bridge of a battleship while that nitwit tries to hit it from the air.a a aCanat act. Canat sing. Can dance a little.a MGM summary of a screen test of some guy named Fred Astaire, 1928.
a A Paris art dealer refused Pablo Pica.s.so shelter when he asked if he could bring in his paintings from out of the rain.
a aWhere a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 19,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh only 1.5 tons.a Popular Mechanics, March 1949.
a aI have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can a.s.sure you that data processing is a fad that wonat last out the year.a The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
a aWe donat like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.a Decca Recording Co. on rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
a aBut what a is it good for?a Engineer at IBMas Advanced Computing Systems Division, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
a Madonna, the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century, was rejected by several music labels in the early 1980s. One talent agent is reputed to have said that her voice wasnat unique enough to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
a In the early 1990s, J.K, Rowlingas Harry Potter and the Philosopheras Stone was rejected by more than a dozen UK publishers, the majority of which believed that the story wasnat mainstream enough.
The process of making mistakes in judgment and/or missing opportunities can be further ill.u.s.trated within the framework of Type I and Type II errors. These two types of errors also are discussed within the topic of Hypothesis Testing in chapter 3.
Type I errors are really errors of commission, while Type II errors are errors of omission. Type I errors result in failure. Type II errors result in missed opportunities. A Type I error occurs when we take an action and it turns out to be a mistake. For example, whenever a top movie executive agreen-lightsa (okays) a movie project that turns out to be a failure, a Type I error is committed. The executiveas career could suffer in a very public way, as these kinds of errors are very visible.
A Type II error occurs when we donat take an action, and the mistake comes from missing an opportunity. If one movie executive pa.s.ses on a decision to make a movie, and another movie house later produces it, turning it into a blockbuster, a Type II error is committed.
Type II errors are often hard to see, even if they are common. The problem is that most Type II errors are never discovered. This is because many opportunities never immediately resurface. Projects or ideas, once killed or shelved, seldom get a second opinion. They are stopped without being shown to other people or organizations to see if someone else wants to take on the risk to pursue them.
Because Type II errors are mostly invisible, they come at less cost to people and organizations than do Type I errors. Itas often easier to say no to something that might be a huge success than it is to say yes, because most of the time, no one will ever know what the outcome might have been. As long as most individuals (and the departments or organizations they work for) are evaluated based on the outcomes of their decisions, and not on what opportunities they might have missed, Type II errors will never be fully monetized.
Tip #7: Keep a mental list of idea akillersa and idea agrowers.a Idea Killers It would cost too much.
We tried it before.
Thatas not my job.
Thatas not your job.
Thatas not how we do it.
Why donat you put that in writing?
Itas impossible.
That sounds crazy to me.
You may be right, but a Maybe next year.
If it ainat broke, donat fix it.
It would take too much time.
Our customer would never go for that.
My mind is definitely made up.
I donat think thatas important.
Our company is too small.
Our company is too big.
Itas good enough.
We donat have time right now.
Thatas a stupid idea.
I donat need any more information.
You canat do that here.
Idea Growers Before we make a final decision, letas review all the options.
Are there any questions?
Where else can we go for additional information on that?
May I ask a question?
What would happen if a ?
In light of the new information, Iave changed my mind.
How could we improve a ?
Iad like to get your help with an idea Iam working on.
Let me ask you for some ideas on a Is this what you meant?
Who else would be affected?
What have we missed?
Who else has a suggestion?
I donat know much about that. How about you?
Why do we always do it like that?
Wouldnat it be fun if a ?
What ideas have you come up with?
How many ways could we a ?
Thank you!
BRAINSTORMING.
Tip #8: Brainstorming has rules: quant.i.ty of ideas is preferred, wacky ideas are welcome, delayed evaluation is mandatory, and ahitchhikinga is encouraged.
Ideas are the lifeblood of creativity, and brainstorming is a method to generate ideas. Brainstorming sessions are usually conducted in a group of between six and fifteen people. The setting is a room equipped with a whiteboard (or flip chart) so that ideas can be written down. The goal of brainstorming is to produce anovel but appropriatea ideas a" the very heart of creativity. To achieve this goal, one must adhere to the arulesa of brainstorming.
First, quant.i.ty of ideas is the primary objective. Ideas should flow right from partic.i.p.antsa tongues to the whiteboard. Second, to get people to come up with truly novel ideas, we say awackier is better.a Let the ideas flow by themselves. No one should fear looking the fool. All ideas, however wild or silly, are accepted. Third, delayed evaluation is mandatory. It is contradictory to try to create ideas and evaluate them at the same time. Any such attempt will curtail the creative process.
Fourth, as the session progresses, people will naturally ahitchhikea on ideas. aOh that idea reminds of thisa and aIf that is so, then how about aa Hitchhiking means that one person is able to use another personas idea to go further and supply another idea. Toward the end of the brainstorming session, ideas will be scattered haphazardly from one end of the whiteboard to the other. This is perfectly natural. This may cause some partic.i.p.ants to giggle or burst out laughing because very rarely does anyone experience this kind of free-flowing activity, especially in an office environment. Once ideas are regrouped and summarized, the results may be truly surprising. Managers, for example, who are unfamiliar with the power of brainstorming sessions are typically amazed at how many commercially viable ideas exist in the acollective minda of their staff members and that employees have never been uncovered previously.
Business Brainstorming Questionnaire The business questionnaire per Exhibit 3.1 yields the best results if completed as a group brainstorming session. The brainstorming session should take place on company premises. It is a deceptively thought-provoking tool for increasing our understanding of our company, its products, and the current market opportunities.
This questionnaire includes a most intriguing question: aWhat business are we really in?a Partic.i.p.ant responses to this question may help a company redefine its business by enlarging its scope (or sometimes by narrowing it). Many business leaders have used this question to find new market opportunities. Too often, the business we believe we are in has been too narrowly defined or has become narrowed over the pa.s.sage of time. Consider a company that prints newspapers. What business are they in? The likely answer is athe newspaper business.a But what business are they really in? A possible answer is athe information business.a Such a newly defined business scope conjures up new possibilities.
The opportunity faced by such a company may be the challenge, not of selling more newspapers, but rather of entering new but related markets. Is an airline company in the airline business or the transportation business? How about Coca-Cola? c.o.ke used to define itself as being in the carbonated soft drink market, where it enjoyed an 80 percent market share. When c.o.ke redefined its market in terms of ready-to-drink beverages, its market share fell to 10 percent. The ready-to-drink beverage market includes bottled water, orange juice, milk, and any other drink sold in a bottle, can, or container. Such a redefinition radically altered the companyas perception of its market potential, and led to reinvigorated marketing efforts.
Exhibit 2.3 a" What Business Are We Really In?
What is our business?
1a. What business are we really in?
1b. What business should we be in?
1c. What business(es) are we in, but perhaps shouldnat be?
1d. Where do we see ourselves in a year? Two years? Five years? Ten years? (And why?) 1e. How will macroeconomic and political changes affect our business?
Who are we?
2a. Exercise: Create a one-page rsum for our company and include: Experience Education Accomplishments References 2b. What are we really good at doing? (What are our core competencies?) 2c. Ask yourself: What a.s.sets do or can I bring to our company? What skills? What contacts?
2d. What things should we be good at (but arenat yet)?
What are we selling, to whom?
3a. Who are our customers? Who buy(s) from our company? (Who buys each product?) 3b. Why do they buy?
3c. What are we really selling? What benefits are our customers buying? a receiving?
3d. Who doesnat buy (but could or should)?
3e. Why donat they?
Who is our compet.i.tion?
4a. Who competes with us? What business are they in?
4b. What are their unique selling points/advantages vis--vis our company?
4c. What are their weaknesses vis--vis our company?
4d. How do they advertise and promote?
4e. What are their pricing and discount policies?
4f. What are their customer service policies and practices?
4g. Who are their key people? What do we know about them? Experience and qualifications? Strengths and weaknesses? Personality traits?
What is our compet.i.tive position?
5a. What markets are we in?
5b. Who is our compet.i.tion (in each market)?
5c. How are we positioned against the compet.i.tion?
5d. How or where are we stronger? How or where are we weaker?
5e. If we worked for a compet.i.tor, how would we go about attacking our company to steal our companyas business?
How can we improve customer service?
6a. How do our customers feel about our companyas service? Why?
6b. Where is our service strong? What do people compliment us on, or thank us for?
6c. Where can we improve our service? What complaints have we had (even if they were not our fault)? How are complaints handled? Can this be improved?
6d. What customer service practices are established as our companyas policies? Are they written down? Where? Does everyone know about them?