Picture credit - The Dream by Picasso
Day 43 - Creative Thinking Skill
22 May 2020
sirurp@gmail.com
My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two books on creative thinking skills. Grateful to David Burkus for his blog - ‘15 Best Books on Coming Up With Genius Ideas’
Book 1 - Sur/petition: The New Business Formula to Help You Stay Ahead of the Competition
Author - Edward De Bono
Competition was fine once upon a time. Now businesses must create "monopolies of value".
Competition is choosing to run in the same race. Sur-petition is creating your own race.
Efficiency is no longer enough-we need effectiveness. Problem solving is limited-we also need design. Information analysis will not by itself yield the new ideas that are needed. Even competition is seen to be necessary but not sufficient.
Competition on product or service price, quality and differentiation are no longer going to be enough. These values must be integrated in your product/ service - Convenience, Quality of life, Self-importance and Distraction
The word I liked the most in the book is Valufacture. Valufacture is manufacturing Value.
These examples of Valuefacture will give you clarity about this concept -
Could you price movie tickets at $100, which includes a share in the film's profits?
Could you create a high-tariff, no-waiting phone booth?
The Ford story - an amazingly creative thought
De Bono had this advice for Ford (U.K.) who were struggling for market share - Buy National Car Parks (NCP owns most of the city parking lots in Great Britain) and at the entrance to every lot place a sign, Only Ford cars admitted." The point is that a car is no longer just a lump of engineering. The ability to park the car is integral to its value to city dwellers.
It is totally creative thinking asking a car company to buy a car parking place.
Book 2 - Creativity: Flow and The Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Author - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
This is a great book in the study of creative expression. Csikszentmihalyi interviewed almost a hundred creative people in every field and synthesized his findings in this book.
This book is for those who believe that they are NOT CREATIVE.
Here are some examples that PROVE that you are creative.
1. Deciding to shower a certain way as opposed to another is being creative
2. Decorating your bedroom is using your creative mind
3. Designing a spreadsheet needs creativity
4. Delivering a speech
5. Sewing a dress, knitting a scarf, building a skyscraper….
6. Rearranging your pantry, cooking,
7. Making jewelry
8. Organizing the applications on your cell phone
9. Even blogging…. All of this needs creativity because you have an opportunity to look at things differently, and find new ways of solving problems
Every time you imagine and then take action, you are creating.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi will show you what creative people are like, how the creative process works, and what conditions encourage or discourage the generation of original ideas.
Don’t believe yourself when you say “I am NOT creative”. Start saying “Of course I am creative”.
What is Creative Thinking Skill?
Creative thinking is the ability to look at things differently, and find new ways of solving problems
My learning so far on this topic
Day 3 post - 8 creative thinking techniques and tools
Day 13 post - An example of the Morphological matrix in action
Day 23 post - James Webb Young’s 5 step technique for producing ideas
Day 33 post - Two TED talks - Want to be more creative? Go for a walk & The surprising habits of original thinkers
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of creative thinking.
Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of creative thinking.
Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of creative thinking
Apply -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with respect to creative thinking
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills
- cognitive skills for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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