Critical Thinking Cafe

Fresh Creativity from the Disney Imagineers

A week of laughing, screaming, and eating through the world of Disney leaves you with a fresh appreciation for the word creativity. The innovative expressions of the Disney Imagineers capture you the moment you get anywhere near anything they've touched. While you can't bottle that amazing feeling you have at a Disney park, you can take home some of the concepts that propel the creative waves that hit you when you are part of the "wonderful world of color" and any other world Disney offers.

When you find yourself big on problems and short on solutions, you'll get out-of-the-way ideas, new approaches, and a good dose of hope from reading The Imagineering Way, by the Imagineers. I came across this practical and relevant manual on creativity a few years ago and I benefit from every trip I make through its pages.

A collection of Disney innovators teamed up to create this little volume. It's easy to read, loaded with illustrations and one-liners, and small enough to carry in your briefcase or backpack the next time you hop on a plane. Some of my favorite lines include--

• If you find your logic is talking you out of a good idea, question the logic first, then question the idea (Luc Mayrand, p. 46).
• Most naysayers aren't malicious. They are the ones who need the affirmation. . . think of them as having aesthetic pneumonia.
• Good ideas sell themselves. They don't always fund themselves, but they do sell themselves.
• Many people never allow their creative abilities to surface because they fear what might happen.

If you're facing a project or challenge and you need some fresh ways to approach what you're doing--grab a copy of this book.

Walt Disney went broke at age 21. He slept on chair cushions in his studio and ate cold beans out of a can. Today, the sun never sets on the empire that carries his name. Maybe his team's ideas can help your business become more than you every imagined.

Jump-start Your Creativity

This morning I came across an insightful article about ways to stimulate creativity written by a talented writer named Ryan Paugh, co-founder of Employee Evolution. Paugh and colleague Ryan Healy have built a website and more importantly, a network of people dedicated to helping the Millennial generation answer some of the questions they face as they move forward in life. These guys have some good stuff for any generation and their site and blogs are worth your time.

Anyone engaged in this mystery of communication knows the fear that overcomes you when your writing or your speeches begin to look, sound, and smell like that slice of last week's pizza growing strange life forms in the back of your frig. Ryan's ideas reminded me of a deck of cards on my bookshelf called the Creative Whack Pack developed by creative wizard Roger von Oech - a guy that has spent the last 30 years helping people develop their creative capabilities. (His Ph.D. from Stanford is in The History of Ideas.)

One of the cards in this amazing little deck of stimulants quotes Robert Wieder when he said, "Anyone can look for fashion in a boutique or history in a museum. The creative explorer looks for history in a hardware store and fashion in an airport."

If you're looking for a fresh solution or a new idea for a problem you're trying to solve perhaps you need to look for possibilities in new places. When I was a kid and I'd lose something, I remember being told to look for the lost item in a place where I'd least expect to find it--a bit of advice I've found very useful.

Maybe that's good advice for those who need a fresh wave of creative ideas. Look for possibilities in unexpected places and you might be surprised with the results.

The Risk of Creativity

What happened the last time anyone took a risk on your organization? Is that person now a "former employee" of your company? According to a recent survey by the Princeton-based consulting firm BlessingWhite breaking with corporate norms can be a way to open up new career opportunities (get fired) in some organizations.

BlessingWhite's survey of nearly 700 U.S. employees found that only 26 percent are encouraged to take risks while 41 percent said they are never asked to do it. Only 40 percent of the respondents said it is even safe to speak openly where they work.

The results of this survey remind me of Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer's comment in his book, The Human Equation, "Many organizations want change, but nobody wants to do anything differently" (page 41).

Companies that want people to introduce creative ideas and innovative solutions must accept the risks inherent in any creative process. Genuine creativity (not just an old idea dressed in a new suit) can only take place in a culture that accepts--even encourages-- risk taking and doesn't punish people when a solution doesn't always turn out as planned.

Corporate leaders will give a nod to Einstein's belief that, "To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires a creative imagination and marks the real advances in science." But step carefully if you're the person (even as CEO) asking the hard questions, pushing new possibilities, or trying to get long-term stakeholders to look at an old problem from a new angle.

Every creative initiative carries with it a degree of risk. But in a rapidly-changing, competitive environment the greater risk is doing nothing.

Harvey Mackay on Problem Solving

One of business legend Harvey Mackay's recent columns provides some valuable insight into solving business problems. Mackay's sharp wit and keen insight are always valued. His article is worth a quick read.