might give you a different insight, even though it might
not be immediately relevant;- switching yourself or other people from problem to
problem; - arranging for the cross-fertilization of ideas with other
people; - using analogies to spark off ideas. The analogy should be
suggested by the problem but should then be allowed to
exist in its own right to indicate a different way of looking
at the problem; - ‘re-framing’, placing the problem in a different context to
generate new insights.
Delaying judgement
Your aim in creative thinking should be to separate the evalu-
ation of ideas from their generation. The worst mistake you can
make is to kill off new ideas too quickly. It is always easy to find
10 ways of saying ‘no’ to anything. For example:
■ It won’t work.
■ We’re already doing it.
■ It’s been tried before without success.
■ It’s not practical.
■ It won’t solve the problem.
■ It’s too risky.
■ It’s based on pure theory.
■ It will cost too much.
■ It will antagonize the customers/the boss/the union/the
workers/the shareholders, etc.
■ It will create more problems than it solves.
Some of these objections may be valid. But they should be held
back until you have generated as many ideas as possible. Allow
ideas to grow a little. Don’t strangle them at birth.
It is too easy to say ‘no’, too easy to ridicule anything new or
different. In creative thinking it is the end result that counts, and
if you want it to be original you must not worry too much about
the route you follow to get there. It doesn’t matter if you stumble
sometimes or take the wrong turning, as long as delays are not
protracted and you arrive in the right place at the end.
As de Bono (1971) says:
50 How to be an Even Better Manager