Out of the box!

Edward de Bono’s Message
The brain is designed to allow incoming information to form itself into routine patterns. Without this life would be impossible.

With eleven items of clothing to put on in the morning it would take seventy six years to go through all the ways of getting dressed – spending just one minute on each. Read more

Dear Mr Darling…

I was sent this email today. It’s the best solution to the recession I’ve seen…

Dear Mr. Darling,

Please find below some suggestions for fixing Britain’s economy.  Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.  You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 20 million people over 50 in the work force.  - Pay them £1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations: Read more

Difficult Times / Problem Solving

Edward de Bono’s Message
There is a difference between difficult times and a problem. With difficult times the universe of action is changed. All logics are only relevant in their particular universe – just as the universe of a patterning system is different from a language universe.

The recession at the moment qualifies as a difficult time so a rather different thinking is required from traditional problem solving. Values become even more important. Problem solving usually implies a return to the situation before the problem. That is not possible for an individual or a corporation.

Football

Edward de Bono’s Message

I once suggested a change to the rules of soccer. When there is a draw then extra time is played. If there is still a draw there is a penalty shoot-out. This introduces an element of luck. In addition if one side has a player good at penalty shooting then that side would win. Read more

Innovation – Too Risky?

 

There has never been a time when innovation has been more important.  It might be about finding new ways to cut costs or new product opportunities or generating a competitive edge.

Doing something new inevitably involves risk.  The problem is that in difficult times people actually want to feel secure.  The sales of food in the current environment indicate that people are going back to the brands that they know and trust.   Read more

How creative are you?

Apparently, I am 54% creative. By answering 10 questions on  this quiz it worked out that:

“You are a quite creative person. You’re always involved in at least on interesting project. Keep it up and keep learning. Your creativity may bring you great things someday.”

These types of quiz’s are a bit of fun but like most of the writing about creativity it misses the point. I could be ‘99% creative’ or ‘10% creative’ – it doesn’t matter, it is irrelevant and I’d be very suprised if this quiz has been validated. Read more

Do schools kill creativity?

If you haven’t seen Sir Ken Robinson speak, watch this video to whet your appetite.  He often speaks at the London Business Forum in London and is one of the best speakers on creativity I have seen.  Sir Ken mirrors Dr de Bono’s views on thinking in education.

The ideal environment for creative thinking

There is no doubt that environment and culture can help but they are certainly not essential to being creative.  Often there is a perceived need to dress down, take people off site, use a specific creative area etc.  These things can help but are not necessary.  The risk here is that people feel they need to be away from the office and out of the normal environment to be creative. 

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NO VAT!

It’s amazing sometimes what’s out there and you just don’t know it. For example, many organisations in this climate are struggling with cash flow. Here’s a tip of which you are very possibly unaware. You can postpone paying your VAT, Personal Tax etc. We receive an excellent Newsletter from a partner of ours, Kirkpatrick and Hopes, and in it was this gem which could help many businesses with their cash flow. If you would like to know more then click here Read more

Setting up an “Ideas Management System”

To be truly creative the mind needs to be stretched to beyond its normal conventional thinking. Lateral Thinking techniques are particularly effective at shifting ones perception of what is possible. It is from within a large number of ideas that the real value is found.

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