Creative thinking is a necessity, not a luxury

The computer isn’t good, it isn’t bad, it’s brainless. As a living, thinking human, you have no excuse.

1+1=3 is mathematically incorrect, but in creative thinking, it is a possibility. Here’s how: 1 (an old idea, knowledge, experience) + 1 (something you learned or encountered) = 3 (experience + something you just learned + your new lightbulb idea or Aha! moment).

Dave Trott, multi-awarded creative agency head and author of the book One+One=Three, A Masterclass in Creative Thinking, explains that the creative thinking equation is about making connections and seeing things that are not obvious on the surface. As world-renowned creative maverick Steve Jobs said, “a new idea is nothing more than a new combination of old elements, and the ability to make those new combinations depends on your ability to see relationships. And that’s what makes some people more creative.”

Jobs believed that any individual who has had wider, more varied experiences is bound to be more creative. A true creative person needs to be a know-it-all — a curious lot. The more experiences one has had, the more dots one could connect and thus, the more ideas one could produce.

Whatever your industry is, innovative ideas are considered the glue that will hold your brand together and ensure that it gets to compete well in the marketplace. Creative thinking is the lifeblood of both marketing and innovation. Everyone now needs to think flexibly and deliver solutions outside of the box. American writer and filmmaker Susan Sontag stated, “Creative people are forever surprising us by challenging assumptions, flipping ideas, and expanding, contracting and recombining things in their heads. It’s a three-ring circus in there.”

One+One Equals Three is divided into nine chapters, and each chapter has several narratives with varying ostensibly disparate themes. The experience is akin to reading blogs on Facebook, but without the fear of encountering fake news. Here are some key takeaways:

• You can be successful not by being better or tougher, or faster, or richer or better than other people.  Not by trying to beat other people at their own game. But by looking at other people and thinking, “What aren’t they doing?”

• Beating your own imagination is where reality starts. Nothing can harm you so much as your own thoughts untamed. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

• The computer isn’t good, it isn’t bad, it’s brainless. There are many things that can go wrong as you use technology. As a living, thinking human, you have no excuse. It’s worth taking a moment to think how to carefully use it. Otherwise the result might be catastrophic.

• Regret is worse than embarrassment. By being unreasonable, by insisting on being heard, by speaking up now instead of speaking up too late, you can avoid disappointment.

• Your reputation is how you make it. Alfred Novel was once described by a newspaper headline as “the merchant of death,” the man who got rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before. In his reality, he was a humanitarian for discovering dynamite. But to other people’s reality, he was a monster for discovering this destructive invention. That wasn’t how he wanted to be remembered. Nobel decided he would dictate the way he’d be reminisced, so he founded the Nobel Awards, which is now seen as the ultimate prize, the one every scientist and statesman really wants to win. The impact of the award was mind blowing. For that, the name Nobel is now associated and recalled the way he wanted, “the most prestigious humanitarian prize in the world.”

• You don’t have to try to force or nag people into doing what you want. Accept that they are free to choose. But you help them choose what you want. That’s choice architecture. You don’t have to threaten, restrict or dictate anyone’s choice. If you’re clever, you can just rearrange the architecture.

• Conventional wisdom should be challenged. Don’t keep repeating the same old solution even though you know it doesn’t work. Get upstream and change the problem. Find a new solution, one that works.

• Is the glass half-empty or half-full? The answer is always, compared to what? The glass is half-empty if the person next to you has a full glass. The glass is half-full if the person  next to you has an empty glass. You live your life in a constant state of comparison; it’so constant that you don’t even notice it. And that should be the main purpose of all planning and research. Control the context and you control the choice.

• Working within limited resources can make you think more creatively. Spend absolutely the least possible amount you can get away with. Do the job as tight a budget as possible. Skimp and call it efficiency. Stop thinking under-spec and start thinking over-spec.

• Real creativity often comes with risk. In other words, use your brain instead of just enforcing the letter of the law, where no risk is involved. So, don’t just blindly follow the words themselves. Take a gamble. Think.

• The only thing that may be stopping you is yourself. You are too smart. You listen out for all the rules. You very carefully pay attention to every detail. You worry about being correct. And that can be the problem. It’s not thinking. It’s over-thinking.

• When you come along with a good idea, it is completely ignored in the beginning. If you go on about it you are considered mad and possibly dangerous. Then when it is eventually recognized as good idea, nobody can be found who does not claim to have thought it of in the first place.

• If you want your idea to get bought, mind your presentation. Don’t expect it to be judged purely on what you think are its merits. Work out beforehand how you can get it taken seriously and judged in their world, in their language. Not in the language it has to work in. Present your idea on toothpicks.

• Form follows function. That’s what real creativity is. It’s not just making something attractive that wins awards. It’s solving a problem in an unexpected and innovative way. Winston Churchill summarized real creativity best: “We have no money, we shall have to think.”

•  Sometimes confidence comes from ignorance. In any presentation, other people may be more eloquent, they may be able to shout louder, they may be more plausible, even get more agreement. All that makes them appear confident. And if you are impressed by their confidence, you begin to doubt. And you fold even when you shouldn’t. But what if their confidence is misplaced? What if they’re wrong?

• Real creativity doesn’t come from struggling to answer a difficult brief. Real creativity comes from getting upstream of the brief and finding a different answer. Reinterpreting the brief is often solving the problem.

• Chasing sales isn’t always the right thing to do. If you have a premium brand, people have to be willing to pay a premium for it. But they won’t do that if everyone in the world has it. Part of the value of a premium brand is perceived exclusivity.

• You don’t tell me you’re a comedian, you make me laugh. The product creates the experience. The experience creates reputation. The reputation creates the brand.

• Writing is editing. Get most from the least by pruning your language. Use short sentences, short paragraphs and vigorous English. By stating the bare minimum, you let the reader’s imagination add the part unsaid, the part below the surface. Ernest Hemingway put it differently. He said, “Writing is architecture, not interior decoration.”

• Star quality is about confidence. If you don’t have the confidence to be different, to stand out, you’ll want to be part of the herd. The reassurance of looking in the same places as everyone else. But then, of course, your work will end up looking like everyone else’s.

• Life is a pitch. The sale happens when you stop expecting your client to understand your idea rationally, and getting your client to feel it. Move the sell from what is called System Two thinking (the slow, rational mind) to System One (the fast, emotional mind). As in any sell, desire must precede permission.

Creative thinking has become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. It is an indispensable aspect in making discoveries, in innovating the way you build your brand and in making something out of nothing — prerequisites for an enduring business.

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