Creative Problem Solving: How to Ask Better Questions

The Creative Problem Solving process is about asking the right questions at the right time - and listening to the answers without judging.

Enjoy this video as Creativity Catalyst, George Torok, offers tips on how to ask better question along the creative problem solving path.



In what ways might you...?

George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker
Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Creative Thinking vs Creativity vs Creative Problem Solving

What's the difference between Creative Thinking, Creativity and Creative Problem Solving?

Enjoy this video with George Torok as he explores and clarifies the differences.



George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Creative Problem Solving: Why we have rules and how to examine them

Creative problem solving often means you need to face, examine and tangle with rules. It helps if you understand why rules exist and how to uncover the reason behind the rules.

Enjoy this video from Creativity Catalyst, George Torok as he discusses how to approach rules in Creative Problem Solving.

Warning: Some ideas expressed will offend some people. Stupid people need not watch this video.



George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Creative Problem Solving: You Need Fools & Experts

Your creative problem solving team needs both fools and experts because they have different strengths. You need both sets of skills and perspective when applying creative problem solving.

Enjoy this video from Creativity Catalyst, George Torok as he explains the benefits of fools and experts and how to build your creative problem solving team.


George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker
Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Creative Problem Solving: The Two Step Principle

Creative Problem Solving starts by understanding and following the principle of differed judgement.

Enjoy this video from Creativity Catalyst, George Torok, as he talks about the DNA of creative problem solving.



George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker
Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Creative Problem Solving - dealing with Two Types of Problems

How to distinguish and handle Acute and Chronic Problems.

In this video learn the difference between Acute and Chronic Problems and how to manage them differently.





George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker
Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Contrarian or Team Player - Which are You??

Why We Need Contrarians in The Workplace

This article by Barbara Moses published in the Globe and Mail suggests that contrarians are valuable additions to every workplace team - whether they are appreciated or not.

But is a contrarian really appreciated by a group of team players? Are the two labels polar opposites, or is one a different shade of the other?

I agree with the position of the article that the concept of being a team player has been over hyped. I think to the point of blind obedience.

In my experience good team players:

• Go along with the rest of the group
• Are unwilling to offend others
• Do not place a high value on their own time
• Are willing to sacrifice results for group harmony
• Avoid embarrassment

In my experience contrarians:

• See things differently
• Ask bold and challenging questions
• Are willing to take a postition
• Are willing to oppose the group
• Accept that they will make mistakes

  

George Torok Host of Business in Motion Business Speaker Listen to Business in Motion audio PodCasts On iTunes Business in Motion on Facebook

Fools & Experts on Creative Problem Solving Team

Why do you need both fools and experts on your creative problem solving team?
What are their strengths and roles that help you solve problems?

In this video George Torok explains the answers to those questions.





George Torok - Creativity Catalyst

Creative Facilitation

Creative Problem Solving training seminars

20 Classic Case Studies Every Business Student Should Know

Enjoy this collection of 20 important business lessons illustrated with case studies.

Here are two that I particularily enjoyed reading.

David vs. Goliath

It's tough to be the little guy, especially when one of the big guys becomes your direct competition. But at Hangers Cleaners, an offbeat image and good customer service helped them pull through when P&G opened an eco-friendly dry cleaners in the same town. Hangers differentiated itself through van delivery service, funny t-shirts and hangers, as well as social networking. The company also spent time connecting with the community by partnering with local businesses and charities.

Instead of out-pricing or out-spending P&G, Hangers embraced its personality and adopted a culture of excellent service that customers found value in. As a result, Hangers has experienced growth while other local dry cleaners have reported flat or declining revenues.



Triumph in Niche Exports

Another excellent international case study comes from bike manufacturer Triumph, which lost steam in its British home base three decades ago, but found new life by heading overseas. In 2010, Triumph sold just 7,562 bikes in the UK, but 50,000 worldwide, indicating that an international interest paid off for the company. Triumph's famous factory in Warwickshire closed up shop in 1983, but the Indian factory remained, and these days, the motorcycles have become the country's Harley Davidson.

The company struggles to meet demand in India, with a six month waiting list and a new factory being built. India's middle class has embraced the vehicle as an affordable commodity, even giving them as dowries in weddings.


Read the rest of these lessons here.

20 Classic Case Studies Every Business Student Should Know

Recruit Both Fools and Experts to Your Creative Problem Solving Team

You need both fools and experts on your creative problem solving team. They bring different and essential strengths to your team.

But they are needed for different purposes. You will get the most from them if you understand their strengths and use them accordingly.


Fools on your creative problem solving team

Fools are good at asking questions

Fools help you discover options

Fools are best at stepping into new paradigms

Fools are fond of breaking rules

Fools are helpful in defining strategy

Fools are effective

Fools are best at divergent thinking

Fools help you zoom out to see the big picture



Experts on your creative problem solving team

Experts are best at answering questions

Experts help you focus

Experts are best at maintaining the status quo

Experts are fond of following procedures

Experts are dependable with tactics

Experts are efficient

Experts are best at convergent thinking
Experts help you zoom in on the details


When you form your creative problem solving teams, be sure to include both fools and experts. Both groups play critical parts in the creative problem solving process. It’s not about being right or wrong. It’s about finding and implementing the best solutions to the challenges you face.


George Torok

Creative Facilitator

Creative Problem Solving seminars

Creative Problem Solving Process - video

Creative problem solving is a process. You need both fools and experts on your creative teams.

The truth about the APICS Innovation Showcase

Before you decide about registering for the APICS Innovation Showcase read these probing questions and revealing answers.


Why is APICS Ontario Grand Valley offering this new program of ½ day workshops?

These workshops offer you an effective way of developing critical success skills. These are the transferable skills that might never show up on a resume or in a job ad. But success is never based on your resume or job description. Success is based on how you do things

These workshops will help you improve “how” you do things. APICS wants you to be more successful.


What skill building programs are offered?

These programs are focused on you. You have a choice of six workshops. You may attend up to two. You can discover better ways to manage your thinking, your time and your communication skills. Imagine how you will feel when you can make smarter decisions, get more done and convey your message with better results.

If you planned to improve your personal skills this year this is opportunity knocking on your door.


If I’m attending the APICS conference why should I also attend the Innovation Showcase on Saturday?

You will receive tremendous value from the conference. You will make old and new connections with colleagues and industry leaders. You will learn about trends, ideas and opportunities. You will recharge and find renewed energy.

Is that enough? Maybe. But all around you people and companies are expecting more from you. Ideas and knowledge are not enough. Success comes from doing things well and that requires effective skills.

These ½ day workshops are much more than theory and ideas. They will help you develop the skills you need to be more successful.


If you are unable to attend the conference, can you still attend the Saturday Innovation Showcase?

Yes. Be sure to register early to save your spot because these workshops are limited to small groups for effective learning.

Reserve your place. Click here now.


Can non-members attend the Innovation Showcase?

Yes – and they can register at the member rate. This is your opportunity to develop your net worth with your network by sharing this timely information with them. How many people do you know that might want to improve their success skills?

These are transferable success skills that your contacts in other fields can benefit from. Perhaps your spouse wants to attend or has colleagues who are desperate to improve their effectiveness.


Can you attend only one workshop?

Yes. Select the skill set that you most want to develop now. You can register for one or two workshops. It’s your choice.

What programs are available?

• Here are the workshop titles. Which ones can help you the most?
• Innovate: Five Steps to Get Better Results with Reduced Resources
• Understanding Yourself and Others
• Managing Time for Success
• How to Deliver Superior Presentations because Inferior Never Wins
• Guide, Energize and Excite Your Employees
• Dynamic Communications

Ready to register? Click now.


Yours in the interest of Success

APICS Grand Valley Chapter


PS: Invest a half day or full day in your success. You’re worth it, aren’t you?


Click here to register for Innovation Showcase

APICS Ontario Grand Valley Innovation Showcase

Innovate: Five Steps to Get Better Results with Reduced Resources
In this entertaining and practical program you will discover:

• The 5 key principles on which to base your Innovation process
• A 7-piece tool kit to generate dozens of new ideas in minutes
• How to recognize the two types of problems and handle them appropriately
• How to know which question to ask and when (yes there are dumb questions)

Presented by George Torok, Creativity Catalyst

Attend this practical workshop at the APICS Grand Valley Innovation Showcase on Saturday Feb 19, 2011 in Cambridge, Ontario.

If you are a member of APICS or work in operations management then this Innovation Showcase is an easy opportunity to boost your business smarts and career success.


"Innovate: How to Get Better Results with Reduced Resources" is a practical and systematic approach to getting things done, overcoming business challenges and reducing the stress in your life.

This is the first time that this game-changing program will be open to the public. George Torok normally delivers this program exclusively to private clients who want to transform the culture and operations of their organization.

In a rare opportunity for you, George Torok has agreed to work with Cambridge Solutions to offer this program to the members and guests of APICS Ontario Grand Valley.

Don't miss out.

Register here for Innovation Showcase

Learn more about Creativity Catalyst, George Torok.


Check out the rest of the workshops at the Innovation Showcase

Creativity Consultant Threatens to Tell the Boss

This was a letter that I wrote to Lynne Everatt, columnist for the Globe & Mail. Her column described the antics of a Creativity Consultant who seemed to force people into following his orders.
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I read your column, “How Far will we follow the consultant?” (Mar 24) with both amusement and concern.

I was amused at the antics that your groups were “encouraged” to perform in the pursuit of creativity.

I was amused and impressed by Norm – the one who defied the instructions of the consultant – because I have done the same. If consultants expect to challenge the group they must expect to be challenged. This creativity consultant should have found a more creative tool to encourage participation other than threatening to tell the boss.

But what concerns me the most is the perception of Creativity than might have been left with your letter-writer and the other participants in this program. As both a student and leader of creativity it is clear to me that several prime directives of creativity were ignored by Bart the creatively consultant.

Even though creativity is the science of breaking rules – there are rules – or at least guidelines for creativity. It is a science – more than an art. It is only art to the uninformed.

One of the first rules of creativity is to provide a risk-free environment. If you want people to be more creative you must make them feel safe. Employees in a corporate environment will not be creative if they are punished for their creative excess or not participating.

If you are told that your idea was too crazy (or stupid) – you will be inclined not to play again. All it takes is a glance or rolling of the eyes to kill a creative thinker.

One of the greatest threats to creative thinking in a group is the non-acceptance of the group. The group leader determines and guides how the group might react. If you want people to be more creative – don’t punish them. If you want people to be more creative – value every idea and opinion.

To encourage creativity in a group you must allow individuals to choose not to play at any point. They need the option of calling a time out. This is a simple technique that reduces stress by giving a sense of control to the participants.

Robert Alan Black, creativity guru, called this, “Gone fishing.” At any time in his creative session a participant could announce, “Gone fishing”. The rest of the group would understand and that individual felt safe and still part of the group. That individual would also be more inclined to jump in later with creative ideas as they hatched.

Let’s be real. If you are told to jump around the room and you don’t want to – you don’t have to. If you are told to hug everyone and you don’t want to – you don’t have to. Although there might be creative aspects or interpretations to these actions they are not the goal of creativity. And creativity is not the goal either. Creativity is a tool that can be sharpened to reach a goal. And when it comes to business creativity should be focused on the bottom line.


Bottom Lines of creativity

Creativity is not about jumping around the room.
Creativity is not about being goofy.
Creativity is a skill set that can be learned.
Creatively is about thinking differently.
Creativity must be nourished.
Creativity is most productive when focused on a desired outcome.
There is a time to be creative and a time to follow procedure.
Management must clarify which is which.
Most creative ideas fail. That is normal. That is okay.
All great change comes from creative ideas.


George Torok is a student, instructor and explorer of creative problem solving.


“The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them.”
Albert Einstein

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George Torok

Creativity Catalyst

Creative Problem Solving

But We’ve Always Done it This Way: Top Ten List

What does that really mean?

Perhaps you just asked a question at a committee meeting. The room went silent and at least one person pointedly explained to you that “We’ve always done it this way”. The rest of the group either chimed in or nodded their heads in arrogant approval. Some might even have glanced at you with that dismissive look of lost causes.

For many people change is painful. It doesn’t matter how silly their current path or how promising the opportunity of other possibilities. Change hurts. It is also painful to admit that what you have been doing needs to be changed. Accepting change means accepting the possibility that you are not currently doing things the best way.

While you bite your tongue or fume at that response consider this Top Ten List of the Real Meanings of “But we’ve always done it this way”.

What might people be thinking as they state that lame defense?

10. I haven’t got a clue why we do it this way and I never thought about it before. But I’m not going to admit that to you.

9. Your question is a good one. But I never asked it and wish that I had. As much as your question disturbs me I won’t admit that out loud.

8. You’re new aren’t you? You new people just want to change our perfect little world. We like it the way it is. We can outlast you.

7. How dare you question the wisdom of your predecessors? It was good enough for them why isn’t it good enough for you? Have you no blind respect and subservience to those who were here before you?

6. You clearly don’t know how we do things around here. It has nothing to do with logic, fairness and openness.

5. If you are a team player you will go along with us without asking embarrassing questions like that.

4. We don’t like questions like that. And right now I don’t like you for asking it.

3. Perhaps you believe that you have the right to ask questions… but you’re wrong. Shut up and go with the flow.

2. It’s working the way it is. Leave it alone. Can we go now?

1. Despite what you were told, this is not a democracy. We don’t care about your ideas. Just do what you are told to do. And do it the way that you are told to do it.


When you try to change things you will hear the response “But we’ve always done it this way.” Don’t hate people for that response. Consider the list above to understand what they might be feeling. Recognize that your questions might be disturbing them and they might not be ready to give you an honest and thoughtful answer.

“But we’ve always done it this way” is likely the response of a person who feels threatened.

When faced with this challenge you will need to find a less threatening way to make change. The other alternative is to expose the status quo as the bigger threat.


© George Torok is a Creativity Catalyst. He helps teams make productive creative change. Find more creative ideas and tools at www.Creative-Problem-Solving.org To arrange a presentation on Creativity or training program on Creative Problem Solving visit www.Torok.com or call 905-335-1997

But We've Always Done it this Way

10 Insights (Ah Ha's) on Creative Problem Solving

Approach creative thinking and creativity with these 10 tips and ideas. Watch for the bonus.

10 Insights (Ah Ha's) on Creative Problem Solving

View more presentations from George Torok.

George Torok

Creativity Catalyst

Creative Problem Solving

The Emerging Market In Health Care Innovation

Where would you expect innovation in health care to be leading the market? Read this article to learn where. You might be suprised.

George Torok

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McKinsey Quarterly as published on Forbes.com

The Emerging Market In Health Care Innovation
Tilman Ehrbeck, Nicolaus Henke and Thomas Kibasi

Emerging innovations in the delivery of health care, particularly in developing countries, offer insights on how to tackle its rising cost, estimated at $7 trillion a year globally. Health care is consuming an escalating share of income in developed and developing nations alike. Yet innovators have found ways to deliver care effectively at significantly lower cost while improving access and increasing quality. They are uncovering patterns for raising productivity, and leaders across health sectors--public, private and social--should take heed. With the recent passage of health reform legislation in the U.S., for instance, tackling costs is imperative there, but it is also an important goal in every other part of the world.

New approaches to the delivery of care abound. In Mexico, for example, a telephone-based health care advice and triage service is available to more than one million subscribers and their families for $5 a month, paid through phone bills. In India, an entrepreneur has proved that high-quality, no-frills maternity care can be provided for one-fifth of the price charged by the country's other private providers. In New York City the remote monitoring of chronically ill elderly patients has reduced their rate of hospital admissions by about 40%.

Unfortunately, health care can be an isolated and local activity: Innovations are not widely known across different systems or beyond sector boundaries. Merely identifying and promoting innovations isn't enough, however--leaders need to understand whether, and how, the lessons of innovators can be replicated elsewhere. To this end, McKinsey conducted research in partnership with the World Economic Forum to study the most promising novel forms of health care delivery and, in particular, to understand how these innovations changed its economics.

Many of the most compelling innovations we studied come not from resource-rich developed countries but from emerging markets. Two factors help explain why. First, necessity breeds innovation; in the absence of adequate health care, existing providers and entrepreneurs must improvise and innovate. Second, because of weaknesses in the infrastructure, institutions and resources of emerging markets, entrepreneurs face fewer constraints (this is one upside of the lack of meaningful oversight, which obviously also has many drawbacks). They can bypass Western models and forge new solutions.

The nearly 30 successful innovations we looked at pursued a handful of strategies to change the economics of health care delivery in a fundamental way. In other words, they were not successful by chance. By understanding the opportunities these innovators seized, leaders throughout the health care system can identify opportunities for their own organizations.

A broad scan of innovations across the field, as well as an in-depth analysis of the business models behind 30 of them, showed us that successful ones use at least several if not all of the strategies described below.

Read the rest of this article at Forbes.com


George Torok

Creative Facilitation

Creative Problem Solving

Boundary Makers by Seth Godin

There is more than one way to be creative. Enjoy this perspective from Seth Godin. Where do you fit?

Boundary makers
by Seth Godin

Some artists continually seek to tear down boundaries, to find new powder, new territory, new worlds to explore. They're the ones that hop the fence to get to places no one has ever been.

Other artists understand that they need to see the edges of the box if they're going to create work that lasts. No fence, no art.

Can't do both at the same time.

My guess is that you're already one kind of person or the other. When people present you with an opportunity/problem, what's your first reaction? Some people immediately start looking for loopholes or weak boundaries. "You didn't say we couldn't do xxx". For these people, the best and most obvious solution is to completely demolish the problem and play by different rules.

Other people, some just as successful, take a hard look at the boundaries and create something that plays within, that follows the rules, but that is likely to win because of this.

In my experience, either can work, but only by someone willing to push harder than most in their push to be remarkable. Going with the flow is a euphemism for failing.
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George Torok
Creativity Catalyst
Creative Facilitation

Peter de Jager: Change Management

Business in Motion: Interview

My recent guest on Business in Motion was Peter de Jager. He is a change management expert. He was the leader of the Y2K bug. He has granted over 2,000 media interviews. He has presented at the most prestigious forums around the world - including the World Economic Forum, and the CIA.

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Peter de Jager is a speaker/writer/consultant on the issues relating to the Rational Assimilation of the Future. He has published hundreds of articles on topics ranging from Problem Solving, Creativity and Change to the impact of technology on areas such as privacy, security and business. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Futurist and Scientific American.
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Enjoy this article from Peter de Jager on change



How to Adopt a Technology


Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.

In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he's also written monthly columns for Municipal World and Computing Canada.

His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.

If you'd like permission to reprint any of Peter's articles, please contact him directly.
You can contact him atpdejager@technobility.com
Or sign the Guest Book and he'll get back to you.

It’s ubiquitous, (and it’s everywhere as well) and some would have you believe that if you’re not using the latest and greatest product, then you’re falling behind. This “you’re not keeping up” sales pitch is very effective at striking at the heart of our insecurities; am I falling behind? Will I lose out if I don’t buy this stuff? Don’t the ads claim that they’ll make me more productive, more efficient, and even more attractive to the opposite sex? How could I possibly live without it? Here’s my credit card.

Before attempting to answer the question, “How should we go about adopting a new technology or product?” we first have to have a clear definition of what it is we’re trying to accomplish. To decide what product we’re going use to improve our organization, we need to embrace a strategy more reliable than submissively accepting the carefully chosen blather of the wordsmiths who wrote the glossy ads.

What problem are we trying to fix? What specifically do we want the technology to do? Better yet, since “technology” by itself doesn’t do anything, how exactly are we going to use this technology to change an existing process? To put this advice into concrete terms, how exactly will the work of department ‘X’ change because of the technology purchase we’re contemplating? And finally, in excruciating detail, what benefit do we expect to reap from our investment?

If that sounds like a lot of intensive work, it is, and it’s necessary work, unless you wish to add your organization to the long, and still growing, list of embarrassing examples of how we shouldn’t implement technology.

Once you’ve done all of the above, then and only then are you ready to start looking at what’s available.

Phase 1.0: Advertisements and articles from your trade publications will provide you your first truckload of information. Read everything you can lay your hands on. Create, and maintain a research file. Keep in mind that all of the advertisements and most of the articles will paint the rosiest of pictures. According to most of what you read, everything works as intended, it’s as effective as was promised and the tooth fairy will visit you tonight while you sleep. At this point, every product claiming to address your problem is a possible candidate.

Phase 2.0: Put on a large pot of your favorite brew and head to the internet. The websites associated with the products you’re researching will provide details beyond what they decided to put into the ads. Use this information to connect what they claim to do, with what you need them to do. From your perspective, every claim is an unproven assumption. The more you need a specific function, the more you must verify the company’s claim that they can deliver the functionality.By now, you’ve rejected at least a few of the products you found earlier. You’ve made some progress, not much, but some.

Phase 3.0: Get another pot of that brew, and back to the internet. This stage is incredibly informative, even entertaining. You want to track down the discussion groups where users of the products are talking about the real world functionality of the product, the actual delivered service, their pet peeves, the new, next and previous releases, the known bugs, problems, anomalies and their general experiences. You’ll find some of these discussion groups on the product sites, others you’ll have to search for, a good place to start are the discussion groups of your industry associations.If you don’t see the answers to the question unique to your organization then post those questions and wait for the results. It’s important to remember, if you decide to purchase a particular product, then there are dozens, if not thousands of existing users all with more experience than yourself. These existing users represent a goldmine of experience, of use to you only if you ask for the information you need. Don’t be shy, most people are more than happy to answer your questions.After reading just a few product discussions, you’ll have quickly trimmed your list down to a more manageable size.

Phase 4.0: Put a call out to your existing associates, do any of them use the products you have your eye on? If so, it’s time to get on the phone and arrange a meeting. If they have the time, spend an afternoon with them; see how they’re using the product. What problems have they encountered, what benefits have they gained? The assumption here is that you already trust their opinion. If you have the time, attend an industry conference and buttonhole anyone who uses what you might decide to use.Have you noticed we’ve not even spoken to the vendor yet? By now you should have only a handful of products in mind.

Phase 4.9: Buy some insurance. I don’t mean life insurance or accident insurance; I mean something a bit more peculiar. Rent yourself a technical consultant who knows far more about technology in general and perhaps this product category in particular, than you’ll ever need to know. They’re your hired gun; they’ll accompany you to vendor meetings and demos. Their role? Just by introducing who they are and then sitting quietly in the back of the room they’re going to keep the vendor honest. If necessary, they’ll ask the relevant ‘hard’ technology questions, they’ll ensure that the demos presented to you are ‘real’ and not simulations of what the product might do someday. They’ll also ensure that the questions you’re receiving to your questions are accurate. They’ll do that just by being in the room, but again they’re your technical backup, ready to jump into the fray conversation if there’s something missing or unclear in the answers given to you.This type of companion is a vendor’s worst nightmare in any demonstration, that alone justifies having them along for the ride. Life is fun; enjoy it while you’re here.

Phase 5.0: See the demos of the products on your short list. Narrow that list even further, and then make no commitment until you’ve had the chance to experiment with a pilot project, using your data, your people, and your environment. Does it work the way you expected? Are you getting the benefits you hoped for?

Phase 6.0: There is obviously a technical component to your search. Will the product you’re purchasing operate within the context of your existing infrastructure? If not, what gaps need filling? Will it handle the expected workload? What about the unexpected, but reasonably likely spikes in that workload? Will you be able to operate and maintain this product with existing skill sets? Or will you need to hire experts? How available are these experts and at what cost? You might have gathered the answers to all of these technical details in earlier phases, or you might not. The most likely place to verify the technical details is in

Phase 5.0, nothing is more effective at weeding out problems than trying to actually implement a pilot project. What is important is that they all get answered before you sign on that dotted line. Congratulations, you’ve selected a new technology, all you have to do now is ‘implement’ it, but that’s another story.

© 2008, Peter de Jager – keynote speaker, writer, consultant on issues relating to Change Management. He’s sat quietly in the back of too many sales meetings. You can read more of his early morning scribblings at: http://blog.technobility.com/

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George Torok

Business in Motion
Business Speaker
Toronto Convention Speaker

Creativity Guru - Robert Alan Black

Creativity Guru - Robert Alan Black

Enjoy part four and the final part in this engaging interview with Robert Alan Black.

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Who are your creative heroes?

RAB
Van Gogh, Gunnar Birkerts (architect, ex-employer), Charles Kettering, Nicholai Tesla, Steve Wozniak, O'Henry, Bill Waterman (Calvin and Hobbes) the cartoonist of ZITS!, the cartoonists who create MADAME & EVE in South Africa, and so many other men and women from around the world in all fields and occupations


What scares you most about creativity?

RAB
The suppression of it, rejection of it, negating of it.


Left brain or right brain – which should we listen to?

RAB

Both individually and in an integrated combination of ways. The right brain has been mislabeled for almost 45 years as the main source of creativity. The supposed skills and abilities of human beings listed as right brain are some of those needed for creative thinking. Many of the reported skills and abilities of the left brain, the limbic brain, the medulla and the other smaller sections of the brain all play a part in creativity.

I have discovered over the past 25 years that every field, profession or occupation as its giants that represent 4 primary creative thinking styles, 2 are extremes of left and 2 are extremes of right brain type thinking. We as human beings tend for many reasons to develop our own styles of creative thinking and can learn to appreciate and develop others throughout our lives.

Should we hire creative people or train them to be creative?

RAB

Both

How can an individual learn to be more creative?

RAB
Begin by deliberately trying to think original thoughts. Then deliberately focus on generating many ideas become more fluent before choosing or finalizing on a single solution.
Follow that with deliberately striving to be flexible in your thinking. One easy way is to choose to think like other people may think or strive to see things through other's eyes or from their perspectives.

This is only the beginning of what can be a life-long process as it has been for me in my nearly 62 years.

What frustrates you most about the topic of creativity?

RAB
The resistance to it. The fear of it. The unwillingness to try something new at least in an experimental way to see if it might be better.

Are creative people unbalanced?

RAB
That is a narrow minded perspective and an example of black and white, polar, rigid thinking. Balance is one option in the universe of infinite possibilities.

Think about this...human beings are about the only form of life that seem to require that their environments be fixed, rigid, predictable most of the time.

The opposite narrow view to that one is "balanced people" are generally boring, placid, staid. If that works in your life, than do it. My only concern is, “What will happen when things change around you especially in the 21st century which is already showing us many examples of a rate of change in many professions, industries, businesses that is geometric in measure and rapid?”

There you go George.
Thanks for the great questions.
Alan


Robert Alan Black

BROKEN CRAYONS

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Cre8ng Communities

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George Torok

Creative Facilitator

Creative Problem Solving Articles

Radio Show Host