Everyone knows that instant judgment is the enemy of creative thinking. That is the whole basis of traditional brainstorming - which does work but is a very weak method. You suspend judgment. You withhold judgment. You delay judgment. This is useful but it is not good enough. We need to develop a whole range of other modes of judgment. A key aspect of creative thinking is the ability to identify and extract concepts. Once you can extract concepts, then you can challenge and change the concepts. You can also find new ways of delivering the same concept. Creative skill includes the ability to notice changes. What is different here? There may be a shift of values or operations. It is not only the obvious changes that need to be noticed but also the smaller ones, which might be just as significant in the long run. There might be changes in what is proposed but also in the reaction of people to the proposed changes. One small change at one point can lead to many changes, some bigger, at other points. Looking for changes is more than just looking at consequences. What does this lead to? This refers not just to time and events, but also to thinking and the development of ideas. If we make this change, what might follow in our thinking? These are just some of the basic creative thinking skills. There are many others which might be variations of the above or totally different. Random Input is a serious creative tool. It is one of the basic tools of 'lateral thinking'. 1. You define clearly your focus. Where and why do you want new creative ideas? 2. You obtain a Random Word. 3. You use the chosen Random Word to stimulate new ideas for the defined focus. If you start from the periphery, you can open up paths you would never open up from the centre. The Random Word drops you at the periphery. As you think your way back to the focus, you open up new ideas. You should not just seek some sort of connection between the Random Word and the focus. This does not have any stimulating effect at all. The task is not to connect the two, but to use the Random Word for stimulation. Never, never say: 'I do not like that Random Word, I am going to get another one'. You need to force yourself to use the original Random Word. Otherwise you will simply be waiting for an easy connection and you will not stimulate any ideas at all.
Thinking CEO
