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Creativity and the Big Idea!

Anyone reading this is capable of coming up with a brilliant idea every 60 seconds. Do you believe you can do it? It depends on your perception of what a ‘brilliant idea’ really is. A brilliant idea might be defined as the notion that there is no such thing as a stupid idea.   How many stupid ideas have you had that were acknowledged as ’stupid’, as opposed to ‘brilliant’.

For over 30 years, I have been ‘finding’ ideas, rather than ‘coming up’ with them – and I don’t mean that I plagiarize; although there is an organic, cumulative experience that one might compare to a form of natural, creative, shop lifting. It’s about searching for ‘inherent values’ within something. I will provide some examples of inherent values and how they are at the heart of inspiration; but, rest assured, from this pool of inherent values comes the creative grist that leads to fresh, bold, and inspired thoughts and ideas.

The “big idea” is the property of Brahma, Allah, God, or, for you quasi-existentialists, the entity or force that compels the electron to keep spinning in the vacuum of the atom it is bonded to.

We can agree, I would think, that if anything unites us all, even as we debate the differences of our diverse faiths or beliefs, it is that ‘creativity’ is at the heart of our existence. Presumably, we were created in the image of the Great Creator, whichever brand you subscribe to. “And then there was light …” And then came light switches. And so on.

We are not Gods. We can’t invoke a universal reality with a time-space continuum, which keeps everything in chaotic sync. Nor can we burn like bushes, reincarnate ourselves, or work mysterious miracles. We walk on solid surfaces, not on water. If we could, it would take the fun out of the vulnerable humanity embraced by the statement, ’sink or swim’.

The “big bang” is a triumphant, God-like exercise of ideas. Whereas, our own efforts to swim to the distant shore and reach it (against the odds) is a triumphant exercise inspired by human desperation. In fact, that’s how many of us feel when we are given the task of coming up with creative ideas – especially in the workplace. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

What we can do is think and, as we do, connect dots planted within our thoughts and feelings, stimulated by our spiritual, intellectual and emotional experiences. These dots connect us to ‘inherent values’. So, what is an ‘inherent value’?

Some examples:

1. It could be something superficial and visible on the surface. For example, I have found other words and expressions within words. I found “I’m possible” within ‘impossible’.

2. I needed to find an idea for my daughter’s birthday party. I went into her bedroom and looked at the things that inspire her. Anything one sees – from posters on the wall to the play-list in her iPod is an inherent value.

3. A head hunting company needed marketing ideas to find worthy employment candidates for companies searching for ‘heavy hitters’. We asked ourselves, what are some of the values we see around ‘heavy hitters’? They are upwardly mobile and, when they are, they buy new houses or real estate. Real estate agents are a channel of connection to talented people. A marketing campaign was built around that inherent value.

4. The industry of fast food was built around one simple inherent value: two working parents have less time to cook. Domino Pizzas took it a step further when they realized that, the faster they could deliver pizza, the better they could position themselves with the same time-challenged people who preferred to go home and then order their meal.

5. Years ago, my life went into the ditch. I hung a picture of myself as a one-year old on the bathroom wall. Every morning, I told the little boy in the picture that I would take care of him. And I did. That photo of me as an innocent, creative human being represented the inherent values of my life.

Inspiration is like that electron, spinning endlessly around and so vital to our existence. It is not the “big idea” that you need to look for. It is the idea you just came up with a moment ago that are brilliant.

Like the one-year old in the photo, give that idea an opportunity to grow. It is an inspiring experience. In the end, it’s brilliant – every 60 seconds.

 

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The Nature Of Creativity

A little personal history always hurts or humbles.  Your own history has left powerful implants that are hard wired to your imagination.  How has your life experience affected your own creativity?  The idea here is to find out and change it or enhance it.  Resurrect it.  Improve it.  Unleash it.  DO it!

Up to the age of 5 (more or less),  a child’s natural creativity is influenced by Mom and Dad, siblings, as well as the pre-school environment and the first friends in life.  There are other influences, but there are books out there that flesh it out with authority.  I assume you get the point.

After the 5^th year, things really change.  We begin to remember more things we see and hear.  The values we place on these things vary, but they guide our thinking, feeling and imagination.  More importantly, we begin to make more defined creative choices.

Our first, more defined creative experiences happen when we play or pretend as children.  In other words, we start to move from playing randomly as toddlers with something designed for a simple purpose — such as grabbing something and winging it across the room or shaking a noise maker — to creating simple stories often incorporating  toys or props.

Within those stories we become something: a character or simply the force behind the manifestation, such as the hand that moves a racing car or the hand that moves the doll and the voice that speaks its thoughts.

Of course, at that point in our growth, we don’t suddenly stop and say, “Gee, I’m creative.”  It comes out more as, “Look at what I did with Sparky, Mom.”  And it is Mom who, after savouring the image of Sparky dressed as the big bad wolf and strapped to a toy stroller, will say, “Gee honey, that’s very creative.”  The truth is, the child won’t really understand what Mom meant.  What they want to hear is, “Wow, Sparky looks like the big bad wolf.  Well done!”  For children, it’s about the result as much as it is about the recognition; it’s about validation on several levels.  But, hey, I’m a writer, not Freud.

 

A Brilliant Idea Every 60 Seconds – A Primer

Is it really possible to come up with a brilliant idea every 60 seconds?  Early in my career as a professional creative (adjective as noun), I established a 60-second time challenge: to state a creative idea within 60 seconds in a meeting, which would make at least one person at the table take notice.  This powerful connection would eventually draw in all the other participants and a far different meeting would unfold.

What kinds of ideas have the power to get this kind of attention?  The answer to that question is not necessarily about the ‘Big Idea’.  In fact, it’s more about the not-so-big idea, which, when examined closer, can yield incredible things.

What many people think about creativity, whether it is associated with art, music, advertising, fashion, writing, films — even business and sports —- is heavily influenced by the creative machines in Hollywood and New York as well as radio and television

Films, TV and radio programs, commercials, music videos — they all take us somewhere, creatively; they all shape our perception of what we think is highly creative and, by implication, what we think — or don’t consider — about our own creativity.

Ask the pedestrian on the street what he or she thinks is an example of creative thinking, and rarely does anyone say anything about an idea of their own.  What do you think about your own creativity?  Have you had a good idea lately?  Would you know if you did?

I wish I had a quarter for every person who has said to me, “I wish I could be as creative as you.  How do you come up with ideas like that?”  The truth is, I don’t really “come up with ideas”.  I find them.  Sometimes, they find me.

 

A Few Creative Truths

1.  There is no such thing as stupid idea.  This is not a rule of my invention.  It was stolen from the public domain.

2.  Only God, Allah, Buddha, Brahman — all capital ‘C’ Creators — actually “come up” with big ideas.  I mean — I just don’t have the qualifications to create a universe of reality with spirituality as a subliminal influence.  Do you?

3.  Creativity is a thousand doors.   Pick one.

4.  Your children, mother, father, grandparents and favorite school teacher think you are creative.  Are they wrong?  On this rare occasion, they are right.

5.  The moment you yell, “I’m such an idiot!” and whack yourself on the side of your head, is a moment of pure, absolute creativity.

6.  Have you ever lied?  C’mon, it doesn’t take creativity to tell the truth, which is why politicians and lawyers are the most creative people I know.  (How many lawyers become politicians?  Crazy circle, isn’t it?)

7.  When you were a child, you pretended to be someone else at Haloween. (Some of us still do.)  You also turned an inanimate object into a weapon of destruction, transformed yourself into royalty with a handful of clothes, and managed to convince your parents that you were too sick to go to school.  In some cases, you did this all on the same day.

8.  Creativity is not exclusive to one person.  It is a shared process, an ongoing collaboration that happens either by design or spontaneously.

9.  Everyone is creative.  People who say they are not creative are lying to themselves, and that’s very creative.

10.  Perfection is imperfection at work.  Just as there is no such thing as a stupid idea, there is no such thing as a perfect idea.

 

Sexual Harassment – What Do You Do?

Hunters are selfish. They act through instinct and are often blind to standards of conduct. Hunters prey on the weak. They also prey on the ones that are out in the open, easy to see, appealing – standing still. The hungrier the hunter is – the more desperate he or she is – and sometimes even weaker than we know.

Lawyers will tell you that the abuse of an employer or supervisor, although unacceptable, is difficult to prosecute. And if you’re feeling vulnerable about your job, you’re in a difficult situation if you are the subject of unwanted, relentless harassment.

If you are a woman, then you might do something a friend of mine did. She asked one of our male friends – a big, hulking, brute – kinda’ good looking – but definitely intimidating to other men – to pick her up at work one day at the end of the day. She organized it so that she would have the “harasser” engaged in a conversation near the end of the day just when “boyfriend” arrived.

The “BF” was coached to eye the harasser intensely upon arrival, so that the harasser might sense that he knew something. The BF’s plan was to start talking to him, keeping the subject quite general. Somewhere in the conversation, he was to fit in the following dialogue: “Gosh, I’m so crazy about (girlfriend’s name) – another guy looks at her and I just go crazy – you know. It really pisses me off. Don’t you just hate that shit? You got a girlfriend, right? You know what I’m talking about.”

BF already was informed that the harasser was divorced. The harasser never bothered the lady again. The reality is that harassers are usually cowards. It’s easy to scare them. And more often than not, they are easily intimidated by other men.

Other tricks include – play the same scene out and have a friend (either woman or man) play the part of a lawyer friend stopping in to pick you up for lunch or dinner. The same person could play the part of a cop or detective.

Any role that is intimidating can work – as long as the actor is willing and reasonably good at it. If you don’t know someone, hire an actor. There are plenty out there that will play a part for a reasonable fee.

But the reality is that if the company does not have an iron clad harassment policy and plan, then you either leave the company, or learn how to turn the hunter into the hunted.

 

The Difference Between Men and Women

Men are primarily hunters and scavengers. We take our spears, and we assume that we are the only ones who know how to use one, and go out in search of the Wooly Mammoth. Then, after a long time in the forest, return to the village (no Mammoth usually) to grab a hunk of bread, and then join the elders around the fire perpetuating hunting stories that, for the most part, probably never happened.

We are natural story tellers. But we must be doing something when we relate to others. Arms and legs must flail in defiance of gravity as we promote our unique view of the world.

Ever notice how, at a party, men gather at the pool table waving beers and cue sticks while telling inflated stories that incite grunts of laughter? Ever notice how women sit in a tidy crescent around the coffee table waving hands and stir sticks telling cat stories that incite peels of laughter.

Oh yes. The question. Maybe change the question. It’s waaaay too feminine. You must direct the man firmly, but gently, to do specific things. The trick is to pick those things that he will like in spite of his best efforts to make faces and generally communicate his unwillingness to cooperate.

Boys like to play. The first tasks you assign should involve play. “Honey, please play with little Jo or Joette for 20 minutes while I (pick something he’d hate to do) empty the hamper.”

Next time, you can ask him to a) play with Jo, and then b) empty the hamper while you start the wash. The list can get longer, but this is not really the point.

It’s about setting the context to teach a Neanderthal new tricks. The opportunity is there to make him a hero in his own mind. As he plays with little Jo, you find the right moment to come into the room with a camera and take a picture. “Oh honey, I couldn’t resist. You are such a Father. “

This is, albeit, a very simple example of manipulation. But ladies – it’s in your genes and your jeans. Men must be manipulated through single-minded tasks. Don’t paint the global parenting picture for them. Use your brain to get them to DO things with the little one, things they will probably excel at.

And when they do something that makes them feel good, they tend to be more easily involved in many other facets of family life. Perhaps it is better to assume a lower expectation of Fathers in some respects. They love their kids of course. But men do not respond well to nagging. We are task oriented. You manage and we do.

Reward us when we do. Thriow him a compliment. Give him a beer.
Of course this is where most women will say, “Forget it. I shouldn’t have to do anything.” Crap! It’s a two-way street, lady!If you want HIM to do something, then YOU have to do something.
And the pain is minimal. A little feminine manipulation is all it takes. (I thought women liked that kind of thing, anyway.)

Women have this nasty habit – remember I’m a man so let me finish – of expecting us to -well – just – KNOW what we’re supposed to do. We don’t! Please, get the concept. We sense, we avoid, we forget AND we just don’t know – you know?

However, we can be taught.

But puh-lease – don’t ever ever ever EVER say – “Honey, now don’t get defensive, but I really need you to support me with our child.”

We’ll get defensive and we won’t really support you all that well because now we feel guilty. Nothing worse than a guilty Neanderthal.

I don’t need as much coaching anymore. I even dry and brush my daughter’s hair at night. And you know something? She makes me feel like a hero.

 

Does God Exist?

What if God didn’t exist and we all believed it in the same way.

Would the Jihad wage a war that kills inncocent children, men and women?
Would we be motivated to help the poor?

Much of what happens in the world is the result of those who manifest him, whether he exists or not. People are dying because people believe in God. The poor and the weak are being helped because people believe in God. People are getting rich because others believe in God. Paintings and music that have survived for centuries have been created because people believe in God.

God exists to those who believe because they believe.

Is there a God as an entity located at some heavenly address? Is God a ball of light, a burning bush, a disembodied voice?

If we were made in his image, then God is like us. So maybe the question is – does God think we exist? Does he still believe in us?

For those who believe he exists, God believes in them, because they choose to believe that he does. Does he really exist? The only real answer is to have faith – and realize you have a 50 – 50 chance of being right.