What Made You Think of That?: Thinking Differently in Business

WHAT MADE YOU THINK OF THAT?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Bertwistle is Australia’s new pioneer in creative thinking. Not only has he built the country’s first true creative thinking venue, The Ideas Vault, at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, he is changing the way people think about thinking.

Gary’s books and keynote speeches have encouraged audiences all over the world to think differently about innovation, brand, strategy, problem solving, creativity and personal performance. His down-to-earth, straightforward approach enables everyone from the CEO to the secretary to think differently about their approach to thinking and unlocking great ideas.

Gary has also co-founded Australia’s Tour de Cure, a cycling foundation which raises significant funds, awareness and support for a cure for cancer.

WHAT MADE YOU THINK OF THAT?

THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT BUSINESS

GARY BERTWISTLE

First published by Allen & Unwin in 2009

Copyright © Gary Bertwistle 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

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National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Bertwistle, Gary.

    ISBN 978 174175 999 0

    A catalogue reference can be found at the National Library.

Set in 10 on 14 pt Sabon by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

1 Behind the thinking

Why is thinking differently important?

What is creativity?

Barriers to creativity

Thinking differently

Creativity versus creative thinking

Drilling for oil

Stay inside the box

It’s nothing new

The easy way

2 Rebuilding your creative identity

Make it a priority

Colour your world

Exercise your brain

Do something every day

Constructing a creative council

Control the voices

Change your vocabulary

Don’t prairie dog

Be silent, be still

Don’t just do something…sit there!

Clean desk or cluttered desk?

Listen

Watch and observe

Live in the moment

Just do it

3 Leading Innovation

Business is war

Recognise that a fish goes bad from the head

Back the leader

Build a creative philosophy

Take some risks

The role of a leader

Removing constraints

Two buckets

Let go

Make time

Reward

That’s bloody brilliant

Green frogs

Big talk little talk

Get with the process

Back your stars

Trent’s story

The R & D team

Access all areas

Walk the talk

Leadership checklist

4 Tips and tools

Using your subconscious—forget about it

Using your subconscious—let me sleep on it

Visualisation

Complex simplicity

Smaller pieces

Tinkering

Walk away

Get up and out

Ask around

Rituals

Journaling

Clutter

Be a thief

The Power of questions

PPC

How to set up an effective brainstorm

Brainstorming guidelines

The brainstorm session itself

Brainstorming

Creative DANCEA

Brainwriting

Ask Einstein

Forced connections

The Spin Cycle

Spider’s Web

BiGNOA

How do you judge a good idea anyway?

5 Keeping it Going

The story of David

Appendix

Psychology of Rock

Endnotes

DEDICATION

Enough said…

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who presents you with a really interesting idea? As you think about their idea you shake your head and you say, ‘That’s a really great idea. What made you think of that?’ This book has been written in response to all those individuals who are fascinated with the creative process and who yearn to be ‘more creative’ and come up with their own great ideas.

It is important to state from the outset that no one can make you creative. Each and every one of us is born with the ability to create, the question is why do some people seem to have better or more ideas than others? It is a topic that has fascinated me for many years. I truly believe you are your own best resource and that by changing the way you approach creativity and the process of creative thinking, you can improve the process by which you generate ideas, therefore coming up with better ideas and more of them. Creative genius will come about when we learn how to ‘think differently’.

There has been a great deal written about creativity and innovation and in many cases academics end up making the whole process seem difficult and only for a gifted few. The truth is that it is possible for everyone to be creative and think differently—it’s really not that difficult! PT Barnum, the famous 19th century circus showman who created the Barnum & Bailey Three Ring Circus, famously said, ‘Genius is the ability to see what’s been there all the while to be seen, but no one else could see it.’ The whole basis for thinking differently is seeing what everyone else is seeing one way and then challenging your mind to see it differently. This is something we can all do and with access to tips and tools such as the ones I have outlined in this book, it is something that we can all get better at.

In my everyday life I am fortunate to be able to speak to audiences in many countries around the world on the topic of creative thinking. The more speeches I do, and the more people that I speak to, the more I am inclined to stop using words such as ‘creativity’ or ‘innovation’ and instead replace them with the words ‘thinking differently’. In actual fact, it’s impossible to use your creativity to innovate or to be imaginative if you’re not thinking differently.

Many people feel somewhat intimidated by the terms creativity and innovation, and are held back by the belief that an idea must have some measurable value to be of any consequence to themselves or their business. However, I believe that if we focus on the process of thinking differently, then creativity and innovation will be the end result. People who are perceived as being creative or particularly innovative are simply those who have thought differently to everyone else, and I encourage you to do the same.

I hope that reading this book motivates you to challenge your current perception of creativity and provides you with the necessary tips and tools to unlock your creative potential. I’ve written it as an easy-to-read handbook for any individual or business to use to fire up their creative spirit, and get them moving down a path of increased creativity and innovation. Feel free to highlight sections that are of particular interest to you or make notes on the blank pages at the end of each chapter, and I hope you refer back to it any time you find your creativity needs a kick-start.

I hope one day soon, someone asks you, ‘What made you think of that?’

CHAPTER 1

BEHIND THE THINKING

WHY IS THINKING DIFFERENTLY IMPORTANT?

In today’s fast-paced and competitive environment we are faced with a multitude of problems and issues on a daily basis that need to be addressed in a timely manner. These issues range from choosing where to have lunch or how to process the payroll, to improving conversion rates on sales or developing a new product. Quite often the thinking behind the solutions to these problems is reactionary. We tend to grasp at the first thing that comes to mind in order to quickly fix the problem and move on, instead of taking the time to find the best possible solution.

The better you become at problem solving, the more successful you will be and the more valuable you will become to those around you. Businesses today are in fierce competition for market share, staff, shelf space, distribution, and even store windows (hence the prevalence of terms such as ‘marketing warfare’, ‘the supermarket wars’ and ‘guerrilla tactics’ in our business vocabulary). The people and companies that will prosper in the future are the ones who are able to challenge the status quo and think differently. There is a saying, ‘If you do tomorrow what you did yesterday, you’ll be beaten. If you do today what others are doing today you’ll be competitive. To win you must seek to do today what others will be doing tomorrow.’

The difference between you, your business, product or service of today, and that which will exist tomorrow is you, your people and their ideas. So it is vital for you to have the right people with the right thinking and the right processes to support an environment of thinking differently. As a member from the Clinton administration stated, ‘The work of the future will be thinking work.’

Once we have covered the basics of ‘thinking differently’ in this chapter we will then move on to exploring the concept of rebuilding your creative identity both personally and for your company. Later in the book we’ll talk about leading innovation and how you can foster an environment of creativity. I will then outline some tips and tools which will help both you and your staff think differently, before finally touching on ways to maintain that level of creative spirit into the future. Firstly though, lets get started with the definition of creativity.

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Not long ago I was listening to the Managing Director of one of Australia’s leading advertising agencies address his team about the philosophy of creativity and innovation within the agency and it’s associated subsidiaries. Although he made a point of saying that creativity was a core driver and differentiator of their business, he also admitted, ‘I’m not really sure what it means.’ Now you may find this hard to believe, but personally I’ve found that many people, both in and out of traditionally creative fields aren’t quite sure how to define creativity. They recognise that it is vital to their business but even the experts can’t seem to put their finger on exactly what creativity or innovation are really all about (and they are the ones who are doing it every day!)

If you’re someone who thinks that creativity is only for those select few who work in creative or innovative industries such as advertising, then think again. Every day we’re faced with many problems, choices and opportunities that require us to think creatively, and many of us are already doing it without consciously being aware of it.

When I speak to an audience, I find that people typically see those who work as artists, musicians, creative directors, architects or designers as ‘creative’. But its important to know that creativity has many faces. Creativity is in the face of an accountant who is looking for a way to balance the books and provide a healthy cash flow for the company’s presentation to the Board. This accountant has to think differently about how to solve the many problems hidden within the numbers, graphs and figures of a corporation. Creativity is also used by an account director who is looking for an innovative way to solve problems for his client in order to secure a large order.

Prior to addressing an audience in Queenstown I happened to read an article in a New Zealand newspaper about five of the best lawyers in Auckland. Naturally this caught my attention given that being a lawyer, accountant, solicitor or financial controller, automatically has you destined to a world of left brain, systematic, analytical and logical thinking. Lawyers are a classic example of people who don’t see themselves as being creative and certainly aren’t considered by the general population to be so, yet they are the masters of thinking differently. What separates the best lawyers from their peers is simply how they go about thinking, the standards they set, the questions they ask, the people they surround themselves with and the options they explore for their clients. Lawyers and accountants can quite happily think differently inside the box with the outcome automatically being creativity and innovation. However if you asked most of these lawyers, financial controllers or tax consultants, ‘Are you creative?’ most would say, ‘Heck no.’ What they do however, is think differently to others and that is why they earn the big bucks. Some of the greatest entrepreneurs I know are former accountants or lawyers who have adapted their typically logical approach and combined it with imagination to create a new product, service or financial structure, to enormous success.

When the former Chief of Australia’s Macquarie Bank, Alan Moss, retired from the bank in 2008 he walked away with an estimated $100 million in cash, shares, options and bonuses and was reported to be Australia’s richest retiree. Just prior to his departure, I was fortunate enough to work with a team from Macquarie Bank. As we discussed creativity, innovation and