Increasing Your Creativity

- Questions and Learning The importance of innovation What are the characteristics of creative Ideas? How to measure creativity? Have you had flow experience? Build your DNA for innovation How to apply lateral thinking to produce lots of ideas?

The Importance of Innovation (I)

It is all because of innovation that we have the opportunity to live a modern life today. Innovation moves human beings forward, creates new technology, new products, new services, and brings us fortune and wealth. Famous quotes
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. -- Michael Porter Without innovations, no entrepreneurs; without entrepreneurial achievement, no capitalist returns and no capitalist propulsion. -Joseph Schumpeter Innovation is the only way that Microsoft can keep customers happy and competitors at bay. -- Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

General publics in current time are enjoying a better standard of living than emperors hundred years ago. This can all attribute to the continuous efforts of generations of innovators.
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The Importance of Innovation (II)

Sir Isaac Newton once remarked: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. The remark highlights a fact that innovators develop new ideas based on the knowledge in past works created by their peers. Innovative productive is improved, extended, and combined continuously in the course of its development.
Rickshaw bike horse-drawn carriage automobile train ship airplane space shuttle Radio tape recorder TV cassette recorder CD VCD DVD MP3 iPod Sliding rule calculator mainframe minicomputer PC laptop computer iPad Postal mail telegraph telephone fax machine mobile phone instant messenger smart phone (iPhone) Lithography impact printer inkjet printer laser printer 3D printer
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What is Innovation?
Innovation, in short, is to produce a good idea and implement the idea. The idea has to be unique and be able to produce value. Implementation is an essential part of innovation because otherwise innovative ideas will remain only as wonderful imaginations.
Innovation = Creativity + Implementation 3M defines innovation as new ideas plus action or implementation which result in an improvement, a gain, or a profit. "Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. American economist Theodore Levitt (1925-2006)

Reference Bettina von Stamm (2003) Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity, John Wiley & Sons, p. 6.

Characteristics of Creative Ideas (I)

What do creative ideas have in common? Creative Ideas Creative ideas are usually a clever combination of materials and elements from completely different domains. In other word, creative ideas borrow concepts in other field and fit them nicely into what we are working on. Famous quotes
Robert Wolcott: Innovation is to put ideas of different disciplines into a good combination. Steve Jobs: creativity is just connecting things. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest. -- T.S. Eliot An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom 5 nobody can imitate. -- Franois-Ren de Chateaubriand

Characteristics of Creative Ideas (II)

Meaningful and valuable ideas are usually ingenious connection of remote concepts.
Intersection () Cross-pollination () Mash up, mix and match () Crossover, transboundary () Fusion () Collage () Old is new () East meets west () Associating () Analogy ()

Characteristics of Creative Ideas (III)

What to combine or mix? We want to mix things or concepts which are in sharp contrast, for example
Old vs. new Classics vs. pops: Taiwanese rock East vs. west: wine in Chinese food Static vs. dynamic Beauty vs. ugly: Local vs. global Literature vs. folklore: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (novel) Democracy vs. authoritarian: PRC style capitalism

Frans Johansson, the author of the book The Medici Effect said: all new ideas are combinations of old ideas, but not all idea combinations are created equal.
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Measuring Creativity
Can your creativity be measured? Paul Torrance is a psychologist who is best know for his research in creativity. He developed Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to measure creativity. The test is designed to measure the volume and quality of the ideas you are able to generate. It includes four dimensions: fluency, originality, flexibility, and elaboration.
Fluency (): The ability to produce large amount of ideas Originality (): The statistical rarity of the responses Flexibility (): The number of different categories of relevant responses Elaboration (): The amount of detail in the responses

ReferenceTorrance, E. P. (1979) The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited

Fluency
Fluency () House Ad Acrobats Pumpkins Face1 Face2 Bikes
The ability to produce large amount of ideas Measurement: the total number of interpretable, meaningful, and relevant ideas generated in response to the stimulus Keywords: compare, convert, count, define, describe, explain, identify, label, list, match, name, outline, paraphrase, predict, summarize Examples
Trace a picture and label the parts. Outline an article you find on your topic. How many users can you think of for a clothes hanger? List 15 things that are commonly red or contain red. Apple, blood, brick, caboose, cherry, Christmas stocking, exit sign, fire alarm, flag, heart, red nose reindeer, rose, tomato, wagon
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ReferenceTorrance, E. P. (1979) The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited

Originality
Originality () Karate Japanese Show Kitchen Ad

Drink Ad
The ability to produce distinct ideas Measurement: the statistical rarity of the responses Keyword: compose, create, design, generate, integrate, modify, rearrange, reconstruct, reorganize, revise Examples
Find an original use for_________. What would be the strangest way to get out of bed? Design a new___________ that is better than the one you have. Write an unusual title for the ideas about red. Example: Revolutionary "Red" Representation

ReferenceTorrance, E. P. (1979) The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited

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Flexibility

Flexibility () Helmet Professor Football Boredom

The ability to produce ideas in various categories Measurement: the number of different categories of relevant responses Keywords: change, demonstrate, distinguish, employ, extrapolate, interpolate, interpret, predict Examples
What would happen if ... there were no automobiles? How would a ... dog look to a flea? How is _______ like ________? How would you feel if ... you were invisible for a day? How would you group the ideas about "red" into categories? Fruit, safety features, vehicles

ReferenceTorrance, E. P. (1979) The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited

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Elaboration

Elaboration () Vase Basketball Ping pong

The ability to produce ideas with details Measurement: the amount of detail in the responses Keywords: appraise, critique, determine, evaluate, grade, judge, measure, select, test Examples
Tell your neighbor about your last family trip using as many details as possible. What can you add to_______ to improve its quality or performance? Describe all the possible characteristics of the red quality in a wagon. Example: Shade, finish, texture, uniformity

ReferenceTorrance, E. P. (1979) The search for satori and creativity. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited

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Flow (I)
Psychologist Mihaly Csiksentmihalyi 11:11 describes a state of complete absorption in what one does. When that happens, ones creativity is maintained at its peak. He calls such mental state flow. In flow, people experience a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment. In flow, there is
Intense and focused concentration on the present moment Merging of action and awareness A loss of reflective self-consciousness A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity A distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience of time is altered Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic () experience
Reference Mihaly Csiksentmihalyi (1997) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, HarperCollins.

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Flow (II)
There are three conditions to achieve flow. Goals are clear
One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. Creative artists always know what to do next.

Feedback is immediate
The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.

A balance between opportunity and capacity

To avoid boredom and anxiety, one must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. It is very important for one to have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
Reference Mihaly Csiksentmihalyi (1997) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, HarperCollins.

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Flow (III)
Flow often happens in the following activities. Computer programming
The fact that computer is able to provide Immediate feedback makes software engineers works long hours.

Music performance
Performers in a flow state have a heightened quality of performance as opposed to when they are not in a flow state.

Education
The principles and practices of the Montessori Method of education seemed to purposefully set up continuous flow opportunities and experiences for students.

Gaming
Flow is one of the main reasons that people play video games.

Standup comedy, sports, and more

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Associating ( )
Associating is the ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields. Steve Jobs: creativity is just connecting things. Two keys to increase your associating capability are to cultivate good habits and to use systematic methods. Good habits
Questioning, observing, networking, experimenting

Systematic methods
SCAMPER, attribute listing, challenging assumptions, the reversal method, analogies, random stimulation, etc.

Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 16 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Questioning ()
Questioning is critical in the process of problem solving. The important and difficult job is never to find the right answers, it is to find the right question. Peter Drucker "What people think of as the moment of discovery is really the discovery of the question." - Jonas Salk Ask why at least five levels deep to find a good solution to a problem. For example:
Machine oil is spreading on the factory floor. Why? because the machine is leaking the oil Why? because the sealing pad has worn out earlier than expected Why? because the quality of the sealing pad is not good Why? because we purchased a low price sealing pad Why? because we have limited budget Why?

Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 17 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Questioning ()
Human beings are born with curiosity but that wonderful nature is gradually delimited as one grows older. We need to ask why?, why not?, and what if? as if we are a six-year-old. Famous quotes
"In school, we're rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question." Richard Saul Wurman "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." - Pablo Picasso "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." Voltaire "My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions." - Peter Drucker

Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 18 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Observing ()
Most successful innovators are keen observers. Observing the details of our daily life is a great way of producing ideas. Tom Kelly in his well-know book The ten face of innovation suggests an innovator can play the role of an anthropologist to observe human behavior for particular contexts to obtain ideas for new products and services. We are used to what we do and see everyday and lost the interest on observing the environment we are familiar with. It is therefore important to force ourselves to do regular observation on different subject.

Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 19 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Observing ()
For example:
Which way does most people go after they entering MRT platform? What are the structures of most of the ceilings? Do any of your friends have any particular usage pattern on Facebook? Select a color and observing how the color is used? Select a shape and observing how the shape is used?

Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 20 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Networking ( )
Good ideas can come from interactions with other people. It is therefore important to establish a personal network. The more diverse your personal network is, the higher the chance of creating intersecting ideas ideas from your network. This is in parallel to the strength of weak ties concept proposed by Sociologist Mark Granovetter which suggests that people are more likely to hear information about new jobs from acquaintances than from close friends. It is very likely that your ideas are determined by the background of the person you know. Did you try to make friend with people that have very different background with you?
Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 21 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Experimenting ()
Experimenting is the best way to push your ideas forward. It includes disassembling a product, making a prototype, and gaining new experiences, etc. Disassembling a product, process, or a concept will help us to learn from other peoples good ideas. Making a prototype will help stimulate inputs from target users. Gaining new experiences or skill will improve the chances of idea intersection. We can intentionally put ourselves into a unfamiliar environment. For example
Travel abroad Visit a place or organization that you are not familiar with Play as if you are a toddler or a senior citizen
Reference Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen (2011) The Innovators DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of 22 Disruptive Innovators, Harvard Business Review Press.

Lateral Thinking (I)

Lateral thinking () was proposed by Edward de Bono in 1967. It suggests that if you are not able to find a solution from one angle then try from another angle.
You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper. Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and perceptions. The brain as a self-organizing information system forms asymmetric patterns. In such systems there is a mathematical need for moving across patterns. The tools and processes of lateral thinking are designed to achieve such 'lateral' movement. The tools are based on an understanding of self-organizing information systems. In any self-organizing system there is a need to escape from a local optimum in order to move towards a more global optimum. The techniques of lateral thinking, such as provocation, are designed to help that change.
Reference Edward de Bonos Web Site, http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm.

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Lateral Thinking (II)

Edward de Bono suggests several lateral thinking techniques including:
The generation of alternatives Challenging assumptions () Suspended judgment Dominant ideas and crucial factors Fractionalization The reversal method () Analogies () Choice of entry point and attention area Random stimulation () Concepts/Division/Polarization The new word po Blocked by openness Description/Problem solving and design
Reference Edward de Bono (1967) The Use of Lateral Thinking, Jonathan Cape, London.

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Checklist Technique ()
SCAMPER is a typical checklist technique. Applying the method one by one will help generate many unexpected ideas. Substitute ()
What materials or resources can you substitute or swap to improve the product? What other product or process could you use? What rules could you substitute? Can you use this product somewhere else, or as a substitute for something else? What will happen if you change your feelings or attitude toward this product?

Examples
Temporary grooms boss in Japanese weddings Materials for tennis racket
Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Combine ()
What would happen if you combined this product with another, to create something new? What if you combined purposes or objectives? What could you combine to maximize the uses of this product? How could you combine talent and resources to create a new approach to this product?

Examples
Cement glass Bike with stereo sound Bread fermented with Mozarts music

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Adapt ()
How could you adapt or readjust this product to serve another purpose or use? What else is the product like? Who or what could you emulate to adapt this product? What else is like your product? What other context could you put your product into? What other products or ideas could you use for inspiration?

Examples
Put pump on bath tub to become Jacuzzi Changed Book Club to Silk Socks Club

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Modify ()
How could you change the shape, look, or feel of your product? What could you add to modify this product? What could you emphasize or highlight to create more value? What element of this product could you strengthen to create something new?

Examples
Remote control with extra large buttons Slightly reshaped model of Taipei 101

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Put to other use ()
Can you use this product somewhere else, perhaps in another industry? Who else could use this product? How would this product behave differently in another setting? Could you recycle the waste from this product to make something new?

Examples
Use coke can as a penholder Use PET bottle to build a house

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Eliminate ()
How could you streamline or simplify this product? What features, parts, or rules could you eliminate? What could you understate or tone down? How could you make it smaller, faster, lighter, or more fun? What would happen if you took away part of this product? What would you have in its place?

Examples
No-fat milk Gym with no mirror Donut (dough center is removed)

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Rearrange/Reverse (/)
What would happen if you reversed this process or sequenced things differently? What if you try to do the exact opposite of what you're trying to do now? What components could you substitute to change the order of this product? What roles could you reverse or swap? How could you reorganize this product?

Examples
Impossible is Nothing Underwear worn on the outside Ice cream price reduces with the temperature

Reference MindTools, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

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Checklist Technique ()
Lets say that we want to design a light and small. We can obtain following ideas from SCAMPER.
Substitute: change the handle to a car like steering wheel to reduce the overall size, change the main material to magnesium alloy, etc. Combine: add an umbrella support so that we can ride the bike in the rain. Adapt: redesign the main tube so that they can be folded. Modify: modify to reduce the size of wheel. Put to other use: use seat as the bike support. Eliminate: eliminate one brake handle so that both the front and rear brake are controlled at the same time. Rearrange/Reverse: park the bike in a reversed manner, use seat as the support.

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Attribute Listing ()
When conducting the attribute listing method, we list the attributes of an object and then check how we can improve them one by one. Attributes of an object usually include color, material, shape, operation methods, etc. For example, we want to design a rip-your-brain-off jean. Attribute listing method can help us obtain a combination of all weirdest attributes of a jean.
Waist design Fit Length Material Legging Button Support
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Challenging Assumptions ()
A birthday cake is going to be shared by 8 persons but you can only cut it 3 times. How are you going to cut it? How to plant 4 trees in a garden and have all four trees at the same distance to each other? The key to solve the above two riddles are the same. That is, challenge the assumption that we have unconsciously made to limit our think. Break the 2-dimensional thinking and we can then solve the problems easily. Virtually everything we do have assumptions behind it. We boil water because we assume that fountain water have bacteria, or we drink bottle water because it is clean. But, these assumption may not always be true. Challenge the assumptions can sometimes bring us unexpected new ideas.
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Challenging Assumptions ()
Many great ideas are created by breaking the original assumptions. Examples
Why do circus need animal show? Cirque du Soleil Why do restaurants need menu? no-menu restaurants Why do we need text book for a course? How about a course without text book Why domino show has to use dominoes? Human domino show Components Can mobile phone have another uses? Uses of a mobile phone

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The Reversal Method ()

The reversal method asks for reversing our habitual thinking. Some good ideas which is completely different from conventional wisdom may find us with a surprise. Most of the people buy stocks at market optimism and sell at pessimism. Those who think reversely made a big fortune in the period of SARS and 911 when the stock market were in maximum pessimism.

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The Reversal Method ()

Following are examples for the reversal method.
Clock in for on-time workers clock in only for those who are late Traditional high jump Dick Fosbury "back-first" technique A photographer who shot withered flowers Dentists provide tools patients prepare tools Honk the horn Help start the car Fish suicide Reverse-Mermaid

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Analogies ()
Analogy is drawing a comparison between different things. The method of analogies creates an virtual context to stimulate our imagination. For example, we are trying to improve a classroom and ask what if the classroom is like a movie theatre? Many ideas on equipment and services that is need in a modern classroom will be produced automatically. Example analogies
What if the lenses of a digital camera is like human eyes? What if airplane wing is like a birds wing? What if a computer is like a moving desk? Heart is like a house, a job career is similar to riding a bus CatCerto, RobotMeal, Typewriter, Wash Maching, Human Auto, Bright Teeth, Instant Tent Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Adversitys sweet milk, philosophy.

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Analogies Examples
Business opportunities are like buses; theres always another one coming. Richard Branson Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulation it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value. Louis LAmour, an American author

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Random Stimulation ()
We, as human beings, cannot always be in good condition in associating. A little external stimulation will certainly help to connect to remote concepts. The more random the stimulation is, the better the chance to connect to interesting concepts. To obtain random stimulations
Randomly pick a word from dictionary, try to associate your problems with the meaning of the word. Randomly pick a word from a magazine, try to associate your problems with the meaning of the word. Connect to Wikipedia, select Random article. Try to associate your problems with the meaning of the word. Connect to Visuwords (http://www.visuwords.com) , hit Random button to get a word randomly. Try to associate your problems with the meaning of the word. Randomly combine words and see if you can create meaningful 40 sentences.

Summary (I)
What are the characteristics of creative Ideas?
Creative ideas are usually a clever combination of materials and elements from completely different domains.

How to measure creativity?

Fluency: The ability to produce large amount of ideas Originality: The statistical rarity of the responses Flexibility: The number of different categories of relevant responses Elaboration: The amount of detail in the responses

Have you had flow experience?

Flow is a state of complete absorption in what one does. When that happens, ones creativity is maintained at its peak.

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Summary (II)
Build your DNA for innovation by maintaining following habits
Questioning Observing Networking Experimenting SCAMPER Attribute listing Challenging assumptions The reversal method Analogies Random stimulation

Use systematic methods to produce lots of ideas

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