Creative Thinking: What, Why and How

Creative Thinking: What, Why and How - One of the several thousands of situations NASA was tasked with solving in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the US began sending people into space was the situation that ball point pens did not work well in a zero gravity environment. You can simulate this if you write on a piece of paper with a pen pointing up. The US spent millions of dollars on prototypes created by teams of brilliant mechanical, chemical and hydrodynamic engineers and a truly remarkably effective 'space pen' was created which not only could write in space and on earth but even underwater, thus ensuring America's dominance as the most technically advanced civilization to ever walk the earth. The Soviets', NASA's arch rival, cheaper and arguably more effective solution was to use pencils .

The Americans defined the situation as how do we make pens work effectively in zero gravity? The Soviets defined the situation as how do we write in zero gravity? The Americans solved the wrong situation. When the engineers addressed the situation they either assumed what the situation was or they inherited it.

When using creative thinking a rule of thumb is to spend as much time defining and redefining the situation as you do solving the situation . Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself a little bit. Let's back track a bit, shall we?

What is creative thinking?

Creative thinking is a process, such as brainstorming or lateral thinking, which improves the ability to be creative and be able to look at situations from a fresh and sometimes unorthodox perspective. Creative thinking is a process that helps you be in an optimal state of mind for generating new ideas, unique-to-you ideas that you did not practice earlier. This process of creative thinking entails reviewing relevant information, ideas and/or solutions to create new novel ideas and perspectives.

Creative thinking transforms closed-ended situations into open-ended situations, freeing solution providers from their strict logical confines allowing them to think in other than logical terms avoiding blocks by bringing flexibility into the situation definition.

Why should we use creative thinking?

Creative thinking allows us to not only solve problems, but it allows us to progress and to create better solutions for already solved problems. Creative thinking allows us to create solutions for situations before they become problems. Creative thinking allows us to recognize that a situation is going to manifest, to understand the ramifications of solutions before we implement them. Creative thinking allows us to unlearn that which we have already learned.

We have all been subjected to witty quotes, sayings and apothegms for our entire lives and more often than not we do not question these otiose sayings. We accept them as gospel or some noble knowledge. "If it is not broken, don't fix it", "Treat others the way you want to be treated" or "the early bird gets the worm." If there were no creative thinkers I would not have a microwave or a barbecue or for that matter a stove, I would still be cooking over a fire. Masochists would hate me and belittle me because that's what makes them feel good, not me. We would be searching for worms in the morning for fishing instead of at 10 pm at night when these legless, burrowing, brainless, lizard-like invertebrates are truly easy to catch and who knows, no worms, no fish, we might starve if we actually accepted this as a truth!

Creative thinking validates "bad faith" and frees us to pursue the illogical if it leads to attaining the end goal. "Bad faith is the attempt to escape anguish by pretending to ourselves that we are not free," according to Jean Paul Sartre, "In bad faith I am hiding the truth from myself". This acceptance of bad faith is paramount to the need society today has in creative thinking.

The inventor of dynamite, also known as the "merchant of death" secured a positive legacy for himself by establishing one of mankind's greatest awards. The inventor is Alfred Nobel and the awards are, of course, The Nobel Prizes.

Albert Einstein and other great creative thinkers have been quoted numerous times in regard to why we need to be creative thinkers. "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination", and "The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking". Mark Twain says "Never let formal education get in the way of your learning."

In 1975, 37-year old Gary Dahl felt he had the perfect product. His friends thought it was a ridiculous idea, but Mr. Dahl pursued his idea with some creative thinking, he added an instructional training manual and packaged his product in an attractive gift box. His product garnered more attention than monumental products such as Rubik's cube or the Cabbage Patch Kids. Mr. Dahl's product was the Pet Rock .

You might think, justifiably so, that we as humans can survive without these products, but the point is the creative thinking behind these products attained the goal, supplied a solution for a situation, albeit a financial goal but a solution for the goal all the same. Using creative thinking is vital for long term attainment of goals to particular situations.

How can we learn creative thinking?

Everyone can think creatively and for some of us it comes naturally. Creative thinking helps the accomplishment of tasks associated with product versioning and advancements to run smoother. Creative thinking should not be confused with replacing logic, hard work, information or training but should be associated as a factor in getting the job done better.

There are many techniques and methodologies as to how one can stimulate creative thinking and it should be mentioned that most techniques or methodologies facilitate the breaking down of a situation into specific parts and following a repeatable process.

Five techniques you can use in the creative thinking process are (Tanner, 1992):

1. Lateral thinking

2. Metaphoric thinking

3. Positive thinking

4. Association triggering

5. Capturing and Interpreting dreams

Lateral Thinking is a technique that shifts our current problem solving skills to new starting points. Insights, through movements direct us to different approaches to the goals of a situation which might have otherwise not conceived.

A lateral thinking insight technique used by Du Pont, called "escape", required participants to list current applications for a product. Some of the current applications were for apparel, for people, for transportation products, etc. and reverse the statements. Some of the new statements that came from the exercise included applications for non people which lead to a list of suggestions as apparel for animals and toys as well as materials for machines, tools and equipment.

Another lateral thinking technique utilized was a "random word" technique where a word was picked from a dictionary randomly. The word was "beach" which led to water, then swimming meets, then competition and eventually led to "give the product to the competition." From here a discussion about what the competition would do, such as assign a proven manager with the ability to quickly push the product to market. This direction of thinking how a tough competitor would performed focused the attention to this direction, a person was appointed, a team was structured and the product was delivered to the customer 2 to 3 years faster than the average time span.

Metaphoric thinking connects a situation to an unrelated system, usually nature. After several failures in how to dye a fiber with minimal procedure changes in the production mill, a researched asked what makes it possible for people to enter a coal mine. The answer was supports in the mine that keeps the shaft from collapsing. When applying this solution to their situation they resolved that by imbuing an organic chemical molecule into the fiber during the manufacturing process, standard dyes could enter the fabric structure using current mill dyeing processes. The outcome is that this fiber for aircraft interiors now comes in a variety of colors

Positive thinking views negative situations from different positive angles. To illustrate an example of positive thinking, a shoe company sent two representatives to a developing country to decide whether or not to build a factory there, one representative said "Nobody wears shoes here, don't build" the other said "Nobody wears shoes here, unlimited opportunity! Build two factories!" In the Metaphoric thinking example above, when trying to modify the fiber chemically, the results were unsuccessful and unreceptive to the dyes. The researcher took a positive view and a new successful dye resistant nylon carpet yarn was born.

Association Triggers are used by associating needs to solutions. One aim of one of Du Pont's subsidiaries was "fun rather than drudgery." One employee was a fan of a cartoon and noticed the cartoon had themes, specifically, creativity and innovation. These cartoons were screened and 150 were found to be pertinent enough to launch a companywide contest to pair the pertinent cartoons to the employees' creativity and innovation ideas or experiences. The result was a light hearted copyrighted cartoon book entitled "Are We Creative Yet?" Over 20,000 copies of the book have been distributed with an offering in the foreword of the book for employees that help creativity and reduce marketplace product delivery times.

Du Pont

Capturing and interpreting dreams are important because the mind is less inhibited in a subconscious state and continues to function during sleep. Many people have gone to sleep thinking about a situation and woke up with a clearer view of the situation. Keeping a pencil and paper by your bedside to write down your dreams helps you to interpret them in relation to a situation. A problem a team of engineers and a vendor could not solve was solved by a manufacturing employee who dreamt about a slinky toy and because had learned to pay attention to his dreams, he wrote it down. It occurred to him that a slinky-like spring in a tube would keep it from collapsing and excitedly, he rushed to work before sunrise to successful test his idea.

As previously mentioned there are many different processes and techniques available to help us break free from our traditional 'bad faith' thought patterns to help us in considering new patterns and ideas. Another method is the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) thinking model .

CPS separates a situation into two sections: divergent and convergent thinking. CPS tries to get the thinker to spend 50% of their efforts thinking about the situation and the other 50% thinking about the solution, thus, 50% of the solution is to think about the situation (Christensen, 2009).

Divergent thinking stipulates to think of many different and creative ideas about the situation. Convergent thinking then forces the determination of key connections between ideas to best solve the situation at hand. It is important to note that most people stop thinking about solutions after they find one that is good enough. This limits the quality of ideas for solutions. By using the word "else", quality alternative ideas can be stimulated. Ideas such as hiring blind workers to solve a situation of lost productivity because of the reading of newsprint used to cushion glass shipments for a supply company. Convergent thinking critically evaluates which solutions are best. CPS is systematic and provides an intuitive, repeatable process to generate new alternative and a better class of ideas in all aspects of your professional and personal life; in short it is a path to better thinking .

Creative thinkers exhibit key characteristics important for any organization. Recognizing your creative thinkers is just the beginning to solving situations more effectively with a longer lasting effect on the bottom line of your organization. Some of these important characteristics are:

o An absolute discontent with the status quo

o Always seeking alternative solutions to situations or opportunities

o Prepared minds

o Positive thinkers

o Hard workers

Just learning creative thinking techniques is not enough, a learner needs to practice them to get satisfaction for their efforts and the more you progress, the more you are motivated to intensify your creative thinking efforts.

On a final note, Hurson's anecdote in regard to NASA solving the wrong problem is used from a metaphorical sense in order to emphasize a point. The first NASA missions used pencils. Project Gemini used mechanical pencils, however, NASA order 34 units (pencils) from Tycam Engineering Manufacturing, Inc. in Houston at a cost of $128.89 USD per pencil and the ensuing controversy spawned NASA to use less costly items in the future. In the meantime, Paul Fisher, of Fisher Pen Co. designed a ballpoint pen that operated with a pressurized ink cartridge, functioned in a weightless environment, underwater, in multiple liquids and in temperatures from -50 to +400 F.

Fisher's space pen was developed for about $1 million USD from its own funds and not NASAs. As a result, the company patented the pen, cornering the market. A hesitant NASA agreed to eventually equip the Apollo astronauts with these pens. It is reported that the 400 pens NASA purchased from Fisher cost $6 USD per unit for the Apollo Project. The soviets had been using grease pencils. They purchased 100 pens and 1000 ink cartridges in February 1969 for the Soyuz space flights from the Fisher Pen Company . Both American and Soviet cosmonauts continue to use these pens and Fisher, who continues to market them as the pens that went to the Moon, has created a separate corporation called the Fisher Space Pen Company (http://www.spacepen.com) where you can purchase the pens from $25 to $800 USD .

Barbara Bogue, Rose Marra. (2006). Sponsors. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network: http://www.x-cd.com/wepan06/sponsors.html

Business Dictionary. (2009). Creative Thinking. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from BusinessDictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/creative-thinking.html

CBS Interactive Inc. (2000, January). Creative Thinking, from University of Nevada, Reno. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from Bnet: http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=84422&tag=content;col1

Collins, J. (1981). Creative Analysis of Judicial Decisions. American Business Law Jornal, 19 (3), 360.

Fisher Spacepen Co. (2008). Fisher Space Pen Co. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from Fisher Space Pen: http://www.spacepen.com/

Flat-d Innovations Inc. (2002). The Flatulence Deodorizer. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from www.flat-d.com/ : www.flat-d.com/

Forsythe, M. (2005, March). The Illustration and Cartooning Blog. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Drawn! Iluustration and Cartoon Art: http://drawn.ca/?s=podcasts

Garber, S. (2004, August 3). The Fisher Space Pen. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from National Aeronautics and Space Administration: http://history.nasa.gov/spacepen.html

Hurson, T. (2008). Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Infinitive Innovations . (1997). Defintions of Creative Thinking, lateral Thinking, Brainstorming and Probortunity. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from Brainstorming: http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/definitions.html

mirrorservice.org. (2006, December 21). vertical Lateral thining. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Mirrorservices.org: http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/Business-stat/opre/%5Bpage=2%5D

Mondout, P. (2009). 1970s Fads: Pet Rock. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Super70s: http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Culture/Fads/Pet_Rocks.asp

Nieman, P. (2006). More Invention Mysteries: 52 Little-known True Stories behind Well-know Inventions. Quincy: Horsefeathers Publishing Company.

Stevenson, L. (1959). Seven Theories of Human Nature. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

The Bicycle Forest. (2009, September 20). The Treadmill Bike. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from http://www.bikeforest.com/tread/index.php

Weitner, A. (2009, June 30). Success, Positively. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Life After the Year 2000: http://adamweitner.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/success-positively/

Tanner, David. (1992). Applying Creative Thinking Techniques to Everyday Problems. The Journal of Consumer Marketing,9(4), 23. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 575892).

Christensen, D. (2009). A Framework for Creative Thinking. Review of 'Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking'. Strategic Finance,90(7), 25. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1626514161).