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Do you need ideas for a new business or ideas to make yourexisting business better? Michael Michalko can help. In CrackingCreativity:The Secrets of Creative Geniuses (Ten SpeedPress, $24.95, 800-841-2665), due out this year, Michalko revealsthe secrets of creative geniuses like Edison, Mozart andEinstein.
Business Start-Ups: What barriers keep us frombeing creative?
Michael Michalko: As soon as we're educated, wedevelop patterns of thinking. When facing a problem, we apply pastexperience. Say you want to start a new business. You think"What have I been taught, in life, school or experience, aboutstarting a new business?" That's reproductivethinking; it will lead you to the same old ideas you alwaysget.
Creative geniuses don't think reproductively; they thinkproductively. When confronted with a problem, they think"How many different ways can I look at the problem? How manydifferent ideas can I come up with?"
BSU: How can we do the same?
Michalko: One way is to give yourself an idea quota. Say,"I'm going to come up with 120 ideas." To meet thatquota, you'll be forced to list every idea you have--and todefer judgment. It's extremely important when you'regenerating ideas not to evaluate them. Nothing kills creativityfaster.
When you've met your quota, you'll find the first thirdof your ideas are the same old ideas you always have. The nextthird are more interesting. The last third are the most fascinatingof all.
BSU: How do you decide which ideas to follow upon?
Michalko: People tend to apply their prejudices to anidea before they explore its possibilities. To avoid this, use atechnique I call PMI--"plus, minus, interesting." First,list all the positive (plus) aspects of the idea. Then list all thenegative (minus) aspects of the idea. Last, list everythingthat's interesting, but you're not sure if it's a plusor minus. You'll get one of three results: You'll decideit's a bad idea, you'll decide it's a good idea, oryou'll recycle it into something else.
BSU:Is quantity the only key to creativity?
Michalko: You also need variety. Geniuses come up with arich diversity of ideas and then introduce some unrelated factor todisturb their existing pattern of thinking, so they begin to thinkin unpredictable ways.
One way to do this: Challenge assumptions. If you'restarting a restaurant, you assume you must have a menu. Reversingthat assumption, you might get the idea for a restaurant where thechef comes out to the table with a tray of fresh ingredients andasks what you would like him to make.
Another way: Force a connection between unrelated ideas. Ourminds are such that we cannot think of two things, no matter howdissimilar, without a connection being formed. When Thomas Edisonhired his assistants, the first thing he'd say is, "Walkthrough town and list 20 things that interest you." When theperson came back, Edison would have him list 10 things in onecolumn and 10 in another. Then he'd say, "Randomly combineobjects from Column A and Column B and come up with as manyinventions as you can."
BSU: How can we stop our internal critic fromevaluating ideas too soon?
Michalko: Come up with the craziest idea you can thinkof, then force yourself to turn it into something workable. Once, Iwas working with a greeting card company looking for new products.I asked them for the craziest idea they could think of, and oneperson said, "How about sending greeting cards to deadpeople?"
The principle behind that was communicating with the dead, so webrainstormed different ways people communicate with thedead--seances, Ouija boards, prayers--and when someone said,"Leaving things at the cemetery," we went to a cemeteryto look around. We saw little mementoes people had left, and thattriggered the idea of cards on sticks--little memorial messages.Today, the cards--sold at flower shops near cemeteries--are thatcompany's leading product line.
Contact Source
Michael Michalko, 165 Percy Rd., Churchville, NY 14428,michalko@frontiernet.net
