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Logic Can Kill Creativity |
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Friday, 20 August 2004 |
No logic allowed. This one kills the engineers. Of course logic is the foundation for many decisions and is essential to the problem solving process. However logic can kill the creative flow of new ideas in brainstorming sessions. As part of the brainstorming rules, I always tell participants to "leave their logic at the door, there is no room for logic in these sessions."
Am I crazy? No. There's a time and place for logic in the problem solving process, but that time is not now. There is plenty of time for logic later on. Most of us spend 99 percent of our time in the completely logical phase. What we need is a "time out" from logic so we can get as many ideas as we can, no matter how crazy – the crazier the better.
Most creative thinking brainstorming sessions only last an hour at most. Why can't we take an hour out of our jobs and be totally unrealistic? What will it hurt? It doesn't cost anything. What will it gain? Most likely a lot. You're almost certain to generate plenty of new innovative and creative ideas.
This may be tough for you to swallow. I know it was for me. But after I allowed my staff to let loose during the creative thinking process, some amazing things started to happen. Completely ridiculous and outrageous ideas suddenly generated even more crazy ideas. Before you know it, we stumbled across a concept that – with a few tweaks here and there – developed into a wonderful new and creative concept. I was sold and you will be too.
Logic doesn't allow us the freedom to generate new and creative concepts. Don't allow logic to enter into your brainstorming sessions. If it tries to creep in, take a time out. If participants say, "That's not logical," respond with, "Maybe you're right, but lets hold off on the criticism for the rest of the session. We'll have plenty of time to analyze it later."
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 November 2004 )
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