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Creativity and Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a way to add creativity to your work.

Creativity is a requirement, brainstorming is a method.

Creativity is a requirement, brainstorming is a method to achieve more creativity. Your mind, your brain, is ready to come up with new ideas once you free its thinking with a brainstorming session. It is important to use one or more of the brainstorming tools described on other pages of this site. You will want to use tools that can have timers or make you or others feel rushed in the brainstorming process. The reason for working fast is that it stops your mind from thinking up all the excuses why this won't work.

"Unboxed" Monthly Column in NY Times by Janet Rae-Dupree

Janet Rae-Dupree writes a column titled "Unboxed." The column appears on the first Sunday of each month in the NY Times. Her article entitled, "Let Computers Compute. It's the Age of the Right Brain." is especially apropos for the readers of this web site and blog though I think you will enjoy all of them back to the first one from December 2007.

Creativity is a requirement, Innovation is the intended result.

Creativity is a requirement, innovation in your products and services is the intended result. Innovation means new products and/or services differentiating you from your competition. Innovative offerings are needed for every business to move forward. Customers buy because of differences not because you are the same as every other offering. If customers can't see any difference they view the products or services as a commodity and then choose the one with the lowest price.

Constant Creativity

So constant creativity will result in many more ideas from which to choose to bring out innovative offerings to your customers and prospects.

Brainstorming for creative ideas can become a good habit, but don't let one brainstorming method become a habit because before long it will be boring and lose effectiveness. Innovation does not mean that you have to be doing state-of-the art or leading edge (or even bleeding edge) work. Innovation means that you have offerings that are different from what you were doing before and from what the competition is doing. And of course that these differences are ones that your target audience will value.

Problem solving requires creativity, too.

Creativity is also needed during problem solving. Obviously the same old method isn't working or the problem would already be solved.

Use brainstorming to come up with lots of different ways to view the problem before trying to come up with different options for solving it.

Ask:
How would your mother or father or grandfather have solved it?
How would it be solved if this was happening in a cartoon?
Who wouldn't care if it was solved and why not?
When might be the best time to solve the problem?
Why does the problem need to be solved?
How did you find out about the problem? How else could you have found out about it?
Who notices the problem? Who didn't notice the problem?
Where and when does or did the problem arise? When else might it arise?
How many different ways could this problem be solved? List even silly ones. Other web sites on your topic, and especially on other topics, can be a great stimulator of new directions and ideas. One such web site is WilyWalnut.com.

Get inspired by listed to these amazing young musicians. Visit From the Top at Carnegie Hall

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