Top Takeaway:

Creativity can be learned and fostered individually as well as in teams and organizations.

 

Overview

This is the second book in my creativity series here in the Takeaways. If the first one was a ‘short and cheerful guide’ this next one takes us deeper into how to apply creativity and the creative process to our projects, product development, teams, and careers.

It’s written by the Kelley brothers who founded the world-reknowned d.school at Stanford as well as IDEO, a design studio famous for helping top companies design iconic products. They helped with one of the first Apple mouse designs for instance, and a more recent product would be SimpliSafe.

This book is PACKED with tactics and tops for getting just about anyone to think differently, experiment boldly and confidently be creative and innovative.

There are so many practical exercises to take meetings from stifled and dreary to open and flowing fountain of ideas.

One of my favorite exercises from the book is a great one to use at the start of an individual work session or a team meeting. It’s also fun to visit the exercise after about 20-30 minutes of doing something else, like that meeting. OK, so the exercise is called 30 Circles.

30 Circles

Start by creating 30 same-sized circles on a blank sheet. Digital is OK, but our brains just work better when there’s pen to paper. Start a timer for a set amount, say one or two minutes, just to give urgency and a creative constraint to the exercise. Then start making something of each circle and see how many you can do. For instance, the easy ones would be to make a circle a softball and then the next circle a basketball. So do those and then quickly create something in the others! How many items can you make?

This exercise helps to fire up the brain waves and get us thinking outside of our usual patterns. It’s fun to come back to the exercise after about 20-30 minutes to see what else the right side of the brain has come up with while the left side of the brain was engaged in the meeting.

Along with the exercises, the Kelleys also provide first-hand examples of how the tactics and exercises are used in real world situations to unleash creativity and innovation. Between d.school and IDEO they have plenty of case studies showing just how effective these tactics are, that anyone can learn how to be creative.

And that’s really my top takeaway – that creativity can absolutely be learned and fostered for our own fulfillment and for the betterment of teams, organizations and the world at large!