Creativity and Thinking Game - Detailing

This game is designed using maim as a technique and would be useful for a group of 20 participants.

Objective: To encourage participants to use imagination and creativity to think of details related to a given situation

Preparation: Make paper slips, each carrying 2 topics written on it like....

Paper Slip 1 - Riding a bicycle & Riding a bicycle uphill

Paper Slip 2 - Taking photographs & Taking war photographs

Steps:

1. Divide the group into smaller groups of 4.
2. Then one by one ask two members from each group to come and pick a slip, they have to maim both the topics given on the slip, one topic by each volunteer.
3. The other members of their group are supposed to watch them and identify the topics.
4. The same thing can be repeated for any number of rounds.

Expected outcome of the game: The participants are forced to imagine and include more details while they are maiming. The difference between a normal maim act and this is that it gives more room for the mind to evaluate options to create multiple perceptions while including more details into the act.

Creativity and Thinking Game - Respond to Random Stimuli

This game uses random pictures as stimulus and would be useful for a group of 20 participants.

Objective: To encourage faster thinking and creativity through dynamic stimulus received from 2 different sources.

Preparation: Choose pictures which have a theme, it should not be pictures of individuals. Allocate at least 5 random pictures per group.

Trainer’s narration to the audience: A picture will appear on the screen and one of your team members has to come and start a story with the picture as stimuli. He will speak to the audience with his back to the screen. After a minute I will change the picture on the screen without informing the speaker. The speaker is not allowed to look back to see the new picture. The other members of his group have to link the story to the new random picture. As soon as someone from the team volunteers to continue he can stop the present speaker and replace him. This will continue with 5 different pictures for the same group. The next group will see a different set of pictures.

Steps:

1. Divide the group into smaller groups of 4.
2. Show one picture on the screen.
3. Call one member from a group and make him stand facing the audience, and then ask him to start a story with the picture as stimuli.
4. After a minute change the picture on the screen without informing the speaker.
5. Then let the game take its course

Expected outcome of the game: The participants face enormous challenge of quick idea generation, receiving stimulus from the speaker’s story and the picture, and then linking both of them to create a new story line. This is in harmony with basic objective of creative thinking – To explore and think out of the box quickly.

The natural preservative,Bisin,could lead to poverty alleviation

1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year when 50% of the world population sleeps without adequate nutrition. I was searching for an answer which can evolve into a better solution for poverty alleviation and luckily got a probable solution. Scientists in the University of Minnesota has discovered a natural preservative called Bisin which can keep food fresh for years.

I would recon it as a revolutionary discovery because it not only prevents rotting of food but could also give us a hope that billions of people living in poverty could be benefited. There are several benefits which I could think of:

1. The natural preservative can reduce food borne diseases among people living in unhealthy conditions. Most of them are earn daily wages and could afford to buy food for that day. In case of excess they have to throw it away or eat it in a half rotten condition the next day. Bisin will act as the low cost refrigerator for them.
2. The reduction in food wastage will lead to lesser consumption which in turn will reduce the price of food products. Food products will become affordable for the poor; they will live a healthy life and earn more. The reduction in consumption by the affluent class will get compensated by more consumers climbing up from the bottom of the pyramid. Overall the economy gains, thanks to the natural preservative – Bisin.
3. Imagine the amount of resources like water, electricity and fuel that would have been used to produce 1.3 billion tonnes of food. Add logistics and other costs to it, the amount would be mind boggling. Everything can change overnight, the world could save so much of energy and resources which can slowly percolate to the poverty stricken people and give them a better life.

Use Combination to generate new ideas

Any two or more things can be combined to get a product with enhanced features like a mobile phone with camera and MP3 player. This is the most widely used technique for creative thinking and product development. Many products of daily use are simple examples of combination. A pencil and an eraser, a music player cum recorder, a watch with a compass are all simple examples of combination.

We can have two different approaches. Either we work on a problem statement and try out various combinations or try combining different products to stimulate our imagination to create a new product.

What if we combine a sports shoe with a mini weighing machine to create an exciting product? What could be its impact on the buyers? Weight displaying shoes would certainly be a bold thing to wear; many would want to flaunt their weight as a style statement while others might reduce a few kilos to get into the shoe. The shoe might soon become an aspiration for the youth.

Poseidon Resort in Fiji combined underwater experience with a resort. It is the world’s first underwater resort which offers exciting adventures with luxury accommodation. Combine tree with hotel. There are many such hotels built on trees in different parts of the world, one such hotel is in Okinawa, Japan.

A fifth standard student came up with an idea of combining grass, leaves, and flowers with shoes. Perishable natural shoes could be used by ladies for special occasions, maybe for a special dinner or marriage evening. Imagination does not have any boundaries.

Rearrange to generate new ideas

Some restaurants are rearranged to get the customers to pay first and then have food. Editing in movies is done by rearranging shots and footages to make the movie more entertaining. “Rearrange” can be used as an innovation tool to identify possibilities of changing set patterns and realigning it to explore various solutions. Let us take the example of Olympic rings.

Olympic rings were designed by a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912; he is also the founder of International Olympics committee. The five multicoloured rings stand for five continents, the interlocking signifies unity between the nations. The five colours and the white background of Olympic rings have at least one colour of every nation’s flag in them.

Now, without changing the meaning and spirit of the rings, think of various ring arrangements. Some questions which can help us to change the pattern are as follows:

Why two rings at the bottom? Why there are gaps between the top three rings? Some people could think of as many as 20 different ring arrangements.

Computer keyboard used by us is a good example of problem solving by rearrangement. In 1860s the typewriter keys were in alphabetical order but it had problems with fast typing. Letters used to get tangled and the typist had to manually untangle the type bars. To solve the problem keys were rearranged in QWERTY format (it is the sequence of the keys) to facilitate fast typing. QWERTY is designed for English language after a lot of research. Layout of computer keyboard is rearranged according to the country where it is used. QWERTY layout is the most commonly used. QWERTZ layout is widely used in Germany and much of Central Europe, AZERTY layout is used in France and Belgium.

Ask any hotelier and they will tell you the importance of rearranging buffet tables to suit the occasion. Cricket teams are rearranged according to the playing conditions. Shopping malls rearrange their layout to enhance customer convenience. Can you think of anything else which you can improve by rearranging?  

Innovation through substitution

A brand of shampoo was cleverly advertised in Frankfurt, Germany. They substituted bus handles with artificial hair plait hanging from the bus rods. Commuters held onto the plait (with the product mentioned on it) as they stood inside the bus.

Have you ever experienced eating in a completely dark restaurant? A restaurant in London replaced waiters with normal vision with blind waiters. Turned the restaurant into a dark restaurant where guests are completely dependent on their blind guides as they enjoy the delicious cuisine. That’s adventurous, isn’t it?

Chewing gum was discovered while experimenting to find a substitute for rubber. Thomas Adams Sr. was experimenting on chicle, (a natural gum from Manilkara tree) with which he tried to make toys, masks and rain boots but could not succeed. Sitting in his workshop one day, tired and discouraged, he popped a piece of surplus stock into his mouth. Soon after, in 1870 he opened his factory making chewing gums - Adams New York No.1.William White introduced flavour in chewing gum in 1880. The first flavour he used was peppermint.

According to World Health Organization, 1 billion adults are overweight. Mismatch between calorie intake and exercise leads to obesity which is the root cause of various kinds of diseases. Inventors have found out a substitute for cream which can cut down calorie intake allowing people to live a healthier life.

Candles create a bit of mess with melting wax falling around it. Can we substitute wax with something which can solve this problem? Remember, we are not talking about electrical candles, poor people can’t afford them and they are the ones who use candles the most. Do a research on your own and try to find a solution.

Innovation through modification

How can we modify a product with the help of a new colour, form or shape? New models of car and bike keep hitting the market almost every week. Two wheeler and automobile manufacturers use the modification technique constantly to upgrade their product with a new look or design. Modern homes and offices are dotted with innovative modified furniture marking a new beginning in luxury and lifestyle.

Packaging of products is modified to retain the freshness of the products, to facilitate better usage of the product or to make it look more attractive. The concept of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is used in some countries to increase the shelf life of fresh food products. The modification process uses a gas mix inside the packaging to keep the food fresh.

Innovation through modification has taken giant leaps in the field of genetically modified animals. Scientists are experimenting on creation of animals for producing medicine and organs for transplant which could benefit mankind. Some researchers are trying to develop genetically modified mosquitoes to eradicate malaria. Same has been done for crops; scientists have genetically modified sweet corn so that it produces a poison which kills harmful insects, the farmers does not require insecticides to fight insects.

Kaizen is a concept developed by the Japanese to encourage small improvements on a regular basis. It is implemented in organisations to improve everything related to the organisation; it can range from a business process to a production process. These changes are brought about by making small modifications in daily activities, the cumulative effect of which is quite remarkable when reviewed over a period of time.

The concept of Kaizen can be applied to our daily lives as well. We can try to make small modifications to improve whatever we do. Think of enhancing concentration which would help in studies and job, a little bit of exercise daily can keep us healthy and energetic. The way we study or do our job can also be improved through modifications.

So, try to innovate by modifying.

Innovate by adapting to the environment

It is all about utilizing tools and ideas within new contexts and situations. Mc Donald sells vegetarian burgers in India, Pizza hut sells vegetarian Pizzas. Whenever any foreign car maker enters India, they adapt their car designs to make it suitable for Indian roads and families. Special types of education are adapted for children with special needs.

Kellogg’s failed miserably after it launched in India. They were the first to introduce branded corn flakes for the Indian middle class. With the increasing number of urban women going to work, it seemed Kellogg’s cornflakes are just the “right fit” for the situation, but it failed. What was wrong? Kellogg’s corn flakes were meant for cold milk, but Indians like hot milk. It is only after making a cereal suitable for hot milk that Kellogg’s started to get accepted by Indians.

If a product is not tailor made for the situation, it could lead to failures; at times innovative adaptation is needed to enhance acceptability of products. One American company tried to sell tables in Japan, the height of the table was 29-inch while the average table height in Japan is 21 inches because Japanese sit on the floor at the table and do not use chairs. General Motors introduced the Nova in Latin America.  Nova means, “it doesn’t go” in Spanish.  The car had terrible sales. GM finally figured out the problem, renamed the car Caribe and immediately started getting accepted.

Charles Darwin said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”Human race has to innovative quickly to adapt to the changing global climate.

Some companies in India have started to go green. Bajaj Auto launched innovative eco-friendly auto rickshaws (Three wheelers used for public transport), Lipton replaced wooden pallets with “slip-sheets” to ship teas.  It is us who has to drive the change. Try to adapt, improvise and conserve in every possible way. Nation’s resources, natural resources are an imperative for our survival.

A hotel in Copenhagen found out an alternate way of producing electricity for the hotel. They designed an innovative free meal offer for any guest who is able to produce electricity for the hotel on an exercise bike attached to a generator.

You can go to Google and type – best eco practices, then find out how many practices you can adapt as your contribution towards a greener earth. 

Innovate by Thinking Reverse

Everyone knows the story of the crow trying to drink water from a big jar with very little water left in it. When getting water out of the jar got difficult, the crow thought reverse - putting some pebbles in the jar to increase the water level. That’s how you can innovate by thinking reverse.

High jumpers preferred to jump over the bar with their body facing the bar but a revolutionary change happened during the 1968 Mexico Olympics when a young athlete, Dick Fosbury, crossed a world record height of 7ft 41/4 inches. He changed the way people think by thinking just the reverse of what others think. He jumped over the bar with his back facing the bar. The method of jumping is known as Fosbury Flop which inspired athletes across the world and is accepted as the best method of jumping over the bar.

I asked a group of students to suggest a new theme for restaurants. Restaurant is a place where you find various kinds of delicious cuisines. I asked the students to think just the opposite of what a restaurant is all about. One student suggested the opposite could be a place where food is restricted like a hospital. The answer came almost instantaneously and unaware about the famous hospital themed restaurant in Latvia. Hospitalis is the name of the restaurant where food is served in flasks and operating-room dishes by waitresses in nurse’s uniform. Furniture, utensils and the entire ambience of the restaurant is just like a hospital. Reverse thinking really helps to move out of the box, isn’t it?

Have you heard about reverse painting? It is an ancient art where a painter paints on one side of a sheet of glass and the painting is viewed from the other side of the glass, i.e. through the glass. In this case the painter has to paint in reverse keeping in mind the actual image when viewed from the other side of the glass. It is surprising the way these highly skilled painters use reverse thinking – the mind thinks of the painting and exactly it’s reverse, simultaneously. The mind is so well trained that that it can guide the hands of the painter to do just the opposite of what it thinks. Surprisingly Amazing!!! Want to try?

Great people thought just the reverse of what others thought. People feel that recession is not the ideal time to start a business, but some great entrepreneurs thought just the opposite. Thomas Edison started a small company called General Electric Company in 1876, in the middle of recession which went on to become one of the largest companies in the world. Bill Gates, a Harvard University dropout started Microsoft Corp. during recession. Walt Disney Corporation began during the recession in 1923-24. Hewlett-Packard Corporation began in 1938 during the great depression.

Innovate by using Magnification as a technique

Anything magnified always catches our attention. We are mesmerised by the architectural brilliance exhibited by the Taj Mahal, the Egyptian pyramids and the Titanic. New benchmarks in innovation are created when people try to achieve such brilliance. Magnification can be used as a useful tool for creative thinking.

Roger Bacon magnified human vision through a magnifying glass, the innovation which paved the way for invention of instruments like telescope and microscope. Audio amplifier is an example of magnifying the volume of sound. Hearing aid is a great innovative device which amplifies sound for people having hearing problem. These great inventors used the concept of magnification to overcome the limitation of humans associated with sight and sound. Do you know about the bladeless fan? It looks like a circular ring mounted on a vertical rod. It’s a great innovation called Dyson fans which use air multiplier technology to draw in air and amplify it, with no blades or grille they are safe and easy to clean.

Have you tried putting thread into a needle? I tried it a few times during my hostel days and got frustrated trying to push the thread through the small, almost invisible hole. An innovative needle with an adjustable hole would be of great help for people like me. Magnify the hole, put the thread in, then close the hole and start sewing.

The concept of malls is amplification of a shop, multiplexes magnified the concept of cinema halls, and cricket matches were never as big as Indian Premium League. The modern concept of entertainment, luxury and lifestyle are innovative magnification of traditional concepts. Location is no more a constraint for getting education. The concept of delivering education has been magnified to reach a wider audience. Education through internet and distant learning programs enables students to acquire knowledge even from foreign universities.

Try to magnify a concept which you like – probably an International College Fest and imagine the way you can make it a reality. Thinking is fun, so just enjoy it.

Innovate by finding new uses of existing products

This aspect of innovation had been a part of our evolution process. Right from the beginning of mankind, human beings have found out multiple uses for stone, trees and animal skin. Innovative minds keep exploring new uses of existing products.

Plants are used for decorating homes and offices. It is used as building material for making thatched roofs and cover walls, some plants are used as broom. The hollow stems of some plants are used as breathing stems to allow people to remain underwater. New window of opportunities open up the more we innovate.

During the Second World War Americans were exploring ways for inventing a substitute for rubber. James Wright, an employee in General Electric, invented a strange gooey mass by adding boric acid to silicon oil. It was considered completely useless since it could not serve any practical purpose. Several companies initiated efforts to find a practical use for the product. Everyone gave up. A toymaker called Peter Hodgson found it interesting and put the product into a new use - making of toys, thus Silly Putty was born. It became the most popular toys of all time. The invention which seemed to be useless in the beginning is also used by astronauts to hold pens and tools in their weightless environment.

During a visit to his family’s village near Pune,India, Mr. Santosh Ostwal saw his grandfather walk a mile every midnight to switch on the pump to ensure proper water supply in the farm. His deep desire to help his grandfather kept him thinking while he was studying engineering. After completing his engineering he worked out ways to find a solution and has to go through a lot of struggle and poverty in his pursuit to innovate. At last he came up with a solution which is saving water and helping farmers avoid several tiring, dangerous long walks a day.

His solution – a mobile phone adaptation that triggers irrigation pumps remotely. Villagers were surprised to know about the new use of mobile phone and so were the audience in Barcelona where Mr. Ostwal showed how he can control an electric pump with a mobile phone. He named the device “Nano Ganesh” which won the award in Nokia’s Mobile Innovation Contest in Barcelona and is now being used in Egypt and Australia.

Use ELIMINATION as an innovation technique

Elimination as an innovation tool is mostly used to control production or operational costs. Without affecting the quality of output, redundant functions and processes are reviewed and eliminated. Innovation comes into play to keep the quality of output in control.

Waste elimination is an important activity for every organisation. Controlling the wastage of small things like paper, electricity and other resources saves costs and adds to the profitability of the organisation. A Japanese company, Sanwa Newtec’s innovative printer use neither ink nor paper, it uses special thermal head and plastic sheets to print and erase document. You don’t have to discard the entire sheet for a small mistake, just put it back in the printer and it erases the ink and the sheet can be reused for printing. The need to eliminate paper and ink would have triggered the thought of such innovation.

Wireless devices has eliminated the use of wire, automation eliminates the use of human labour. The need to eliminate a tedious process or practice has lead to several innovations. Ball point pens eliminated the process of filling up ink from bottle. Some two wheelers start only with a self starter, the process of kicking and starting the vehicle has been totally eliminated. Such innovations open up new markets, like a self starter made it convenient for ladies to use two wheelers. Standing behind fifty people to get your railway reservation could be avoided by using the online reservation system. In mechanical clocks and watches there was a need of winding up the spring at least once in a day to store up potential energy. With the introduction of quartz technology powered by small batteries, the process got automated. Video conferencing eliminates the process of travelling and we don’t need television antennas anymore.

Elimination could be used as a tool to design low cost variants of products and services. All products and services could be purchased at different price levels. The variants with a low price tag would carry less features and benefits. Innovative minds manage to keep the “value for money” perception of the product even at lower price.

“No-frills” in this context means elimination of non-essential items to keep the price low. No-frills airlines might eliminate complementary drinks, snacks, in-flight entertainment system and compensate it with high quality customer service. No- frills supermarkets, found in many countries, do not decorate aisles and shelves, instead they would place pallets of the products along side the aisles. Such markets would think of innovative procurement policies to give high quality product at the lowest rate. Similarly, no-frills automobiles try to cater to the mass by offering especially designed cars.

Traits of a Natural Thinker

The best way of becoming creative is by becoming a natural thinker. Think of improving whatever you see around; ask as many questions to yourself. Why can’t we have eco-clinics in every locality? These clinics would be responsible for addressing all environment related issues for the locality. How can we recycle water and prevent wastage? Can we design a water recycler for households? We find so many people speaking loudly on mobile phone in public places, can we design a device so that mobile phone recognizes the voice and absorbs it completely so that we can speak freely without disturbing others or others over hearing our conversation.

Traits of a natural thinker:

1. He/She never looks for incentives while thinking.
2. Thinks for idea generation
3. Always carries a note book and records all new ideas.
4. Feels thinking is necessary since there is room for improvement in everything.
5. Enjoys exploring and experimenting.

The habit of thinking strengthens our mental abilities and we could perform much better in our studies, job, business and in life as a whole. The practice of exploration helps us to wriggle out of difficult situations and we can always find an alternate way of achieving what we want. This saves us from depression, anxiety and loss of confidence which are always burning issues among youth striving hard to become successful in their career. All successful people in their respective field have mastered the ability to think and it will help all of us to become successful as well.

Promote self Initiative in workplace

Every employee wants to become a supervisor because they want to achieve lower level of supervision and higher decision making power. A supervisor is expected to have a certain level of competency and should be able to think independently. A higher level of independent thinking evolves into the ability to take self initiatives.

Fostering self initiative in the workplace could lead to germination of better ideas and ownership of purpose. It helps enhance employee morale and works as a motivation catalyst. A lot of companies speak about self initiative but very few employees actually demonstrate it because there is a lack of organized recognition for inculcating and demonstrating the behavior, at the same time there’s no proper clarity on how the behavior will help them in moving ahead in their career. 
Altering the degree of supervision according to employees level of competency could encourage employees to demonstrate self initiative.

The W-O-G (White, Orange, and Green) belts can help achieve this….

Employees with Low Competency needs Most Supervision, they will start with a white belt. As their competency increases, they will be encouraged to achieve the orange belt by demonstrating higher level of self initiative. Once they achieve the orange belt, they become lesser supervised.

An orange belt employee is expected to retain his level of competency and independent thinking. They need periodic supervision.  At this level an employee should strive for achieving the prestigious green belt.

A green belt employee is supposed to have achieved the highest level of competency at his current level. They should have demonstrated self initiative consistently and need the least supervision. A green belt employee is ready to be considered for the next level and higher responsibility.

The red portions marked on the figure above are the blockers to independent thinking which triggers self initiative

Use innovation to fight poverty

“All human lives have equal value”, yet the majority of them live like creatures designed to perish by default. This You Tube video is an eye opener and a trigger for infinite thoughts about people and poverty. This video is the reason for writing this post because I believe a lot can improve through innovation at the grass root level. Though there are many aspects of poverty, in this post I have discussed some of the aspects which would directly affect survival.

Electricity: 24% of the world population have no electricity. India has more than 400 million people with no electricity. The people worst affected are in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. It’s hard to believe that a country which is considered one of major economies in Asia and the world have so many people living in the dark. Some fresh thinkers took the initiative of lighting up the lives of these poor villagers. They have found out a way of generating electricity from rice husks for feeding power into thousands of household spread across several villages. This fast growing electricity company called Husk Power System has shown the world that we don’t need rocket science to alleviate poverty through innovation. Effective application of old ideas and great execution can do the trick.

Safe water supply: 33% of the world population have no access to safe water supply and 6000 people die from water borne diseases every day. A simple flute like instrument can bring about a lot of change. It’s called the Life Straw which completely purifies water when sucked through the straw. It is extremely portable and can be hung around the neck like a pen. Priced at around $3.50 it should be affordable for millions staying in the developing world and waiting for the boon to reach them. In another innovation in Kenya people are using specially designed chlorine dispensers to treat contaminated water after it has been collected from inappropriate sources.

Sanitation: 63% of the world population have inadequate sanitation leading to contamination of water and water borne diseases. Some great initiatives by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation paved the way for innovative sanitation solutions for people living in extremely unhealthy condition in developing countries. They are trying to make a difference to millions living in poverty by driving projects which explores innovations in toilet technology. Challenged by poor sanitation, people in rural Africa started constructing Elephant Toilets, it allows people to defecate in an enormously deep and wide pit. The top of the pit has a concrete slab with a whole. The pit is surrounded with a proper enclosure to maintain complete privacy. That’s clever thinking from poor people who hardly get proper nutrition for their body and mind.

Malnutrition and starvation: 50% of the world population suffers from malnutrition and lot of them dies of starvation. Now let us look at some food wastage statistics.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the amount of food getting lost or wasted every year is a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes which is one third of the food produced in the world. The statistics shows that developed nations waste as much food as the entire food production of Sub-Saharan Africa. To me this is a real eye opener. It shows lack of public awareness about food wastage. The same food would have saved all people dying of starvation and given a better life to people suffering with malnutrition. Awareness campaigns to control food wastage have been initiated in some countries and we can only hope it becomes successful in creating the awareness. Reducing food wastage to fight poverty is not an innovation but “simple common sense”.

Innovation in a competitive environment

Innovation is the most potent weapon to counter any kind of competition. The same is true for individuals as well as organizations. In a competitive environment we find two different sets of people – reactive and proactive. Let us see what kind of results we get when we map them against – High Risk taking ability and Low Risk taking ability. Risk appetite is closely related to innovation. Let me clarify that risk taking ability does not mean financial soundness; it is just the state of mind I am referring to. Now, consider the following in a competitive environment:

Quadrant A:

Individuals or organizations in quadrant A look for opportunities which have a successful track record. These people are not very innovative but pick up successful innovations pretty fast and often race to success due to their higher risk appetite. When the first Bigbazaar (shopping mall) opened in India, people doubted its viability but its huge success prompted a lot of other entrepreneurs to jump into the retail bandwagon. Now Retail is a huge industry in India.

Quadrant B:

People in quadrant B are the most successful in a competitive environment because of their proactive nature and high risk taking ability. Being proactive is one of the essential traits of an innovator; this also includes intuitiveness and vision. Their high risk taking ability allows them to pursue their dream; they take the First Mover Advantage and out-smart competition by far. Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder of Bharti Enterprises, was the first person to introduce the push buttons phones in India. He saw the phones in a trade fair in Taiwan and immediately signed up an agreement which eventually lead to the roll out of Beetel range of phones in India. It is his proactive and intuitive nature which helped him to identify the need for such phones back in his country and his high risk appetite supported his instincts.

Quadrant C:

They are the last person to accept innovation. Fear of defeat prevents them from accepting new challenges. Their low appetite for risk keeps them away from anything which has not been endorsed by millions of people. These people suffer the most in a competitive environment and are generally not open to new ideas.

Quadrant D:

People in this quadrant are extremely receptive to innovation but takes calculated risks. They would generally look for low investment innovative business ideas or explore new challenges as a hobby. Some of these people generally carry entrepreneurial desires seeded deep inside them. This kind of people gets average success in a competitive environment in the beginning but always carries the potential to change the rules of the game.

Relation between Creativity, Execution and Innovation

Mark Twain quoted “The man with a new idea is a crank until the ideas succeeds”. An average idea with great execution succeeds better than a great idea with average execution. Successful execution of the idea is innovation.

VijayGovindrajan, Professor at Tuck School of Business,defines innovation as a function of creativity and execution where innovation is equal to creativity multiplied by execution. If one of them is zero, then innovation is zero. This is the most convincing definition I have come across which clarified my doubt about these two words – innovation and creativity. They are very different yet used interchangeably by most of us.

Execution is the framework which includes planning, implementation, reviewing and action. The person executing the idea could be an inventor or a first time entrepreneur but the process remains the same. Yet there are challenges which will give enough opportunities to get discouraged. Execution also requires great patience. For organizations, execution of new ideas is a bigger challenge primarily because of resistance to change and acceptance of new idea by people in the organization.

ITC’s International Business Division conceived one of greatest ideas impacting and enriching the lives of 3.5 million farmers in India. The e-choupal or village internet kiosks give farmers access to a wide range of information which would help them in growing better quality crops to be sold to ITC at the best possible price. The execution of the creative idea eliminated the need for intermediaries which reduced net cost of procurement and eliminated costs in supply chain. The initiative was inundated with several challenges like infrastructure and training the first time internet users but all challenges were overcome due to some top class execution making the innovation a grand success.

The IPod with 5 GB memory was marketed as “1000 songs in your pocket” – that is the Steve Jobs way of execution. I feel the greatest strength of Steve jobs is his simplicity which reflects in his execution style. The lesson learnt here is making the big plan simple to increase its acceptance which enhances quality of execution.

Difference between Creativity and Intelligence

People with high creativity are often mistaken as people with high IQ. People with high IQ might not be creative. High intelligence is required to build a robot but a lot of creative thinking was required to conceptualize and create the first robot.

IQ tests give us a fair idea about an individual’s intelligence but creativity is very difficult to measure. The highest IQ score  recorded is 228 and it belongs to Marilyn Vos Savant, an American magazine columnist, author and lecturer. Albert Einstein’s estimated IQ score is 160; Bill gates shares the same score with Albert Einstein. Are you surprised?  For most of the super geniuses it is their creativity which differentiates them from others.

Yet there is one more important difference, the one between creativity and vision. The geniuses we are talking about were also great visionaries. All creative people are not visionaries. Visionaries see things which others cannot see; they are highly intuitive as well. People might make fun of visionaries in the beginning but they are the ultimate winners. I was surprised to read in one of the sites that telephone could not be used for the first 15 years after invention because people thought it was not useful enough.

A vision is not enough to become successful. You need a lot of passion and courage to follow your vision. When you have the vision and have passion to pursue your dream, it’s time to use your intelligence in executing the idea. An idea is worth nothing until it is executed.

Have you heard about the Bill Gates think week? Bill Gates’ bi annual Think Weeks best exemplifies the power of creative thinking. He takes leave twice a year for a week to read ideas sent to him by Microsoft employees and ponders on avenues to improve his organisation. That is how visionaries function.

At the end it is hard work. Imagine the effort which went into building organizations like Infosys and Airtel. Sometime back I saw a television show on entrepreneurship where the Infosys co-founder Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy said “A ship is safest at the harbour, but it is not where it is supposed to be. It must go out into the high seas and face the challenges of nature.”  An entrepreneur is similar to the ship who finds true credibility by confronting challenges. That is the statement of a great visionary packed with the flavour of determination, passion and courage – all in one.

To conclude I must say that intelligence is just the one leg and you need the other leg - creativity to stand out and make a difference.

Using analogies as a thinking technique

Analogy is used to find a similarity between two different things or situation. It is like when we say - a thing is like something else. Some motorbike companies draw analogy with a muscular horse or a bull to emphasize the design or power of the bike.

Analogy is a very old technique which has been used consciously or unconsciously by many inventors and thinkers while problem solving. It is extremely effective because it gives us a new direction to think. Let us look at some famous analogies:

Dr. Rene Laennec was inspired to invent the stethoscope when he saw children playing with hollow sticks. While a child was scratching the stick on one end, the other child was listening to the amplified sound of scratching at the other end of the stick.

The inspiration from a spider got independence for Scotland. King Robert the Bruce was defeated six times and was forced to hide in a cave where he saw a spider fail six times trying to spin her web. She succeeded in her seventh attempt and inspired the king to launch a fresh attack for the seventh time which got them the much awaited famous victory. The King was able to relate to the perseverance of a spider and the great analogy got them independence. 

The word “productivity” was initially associated with factory kind of a scenario for measuring the amount of output per unit of input but now “employee productivity” is widely used by various industries as a tool to measure the contribution of employees towards their job.

The word “strategy” evolved from the greek word “strategos” primarily to be used for a war kind of a situation. Now “strategy” is used very closely with any kind of competitive situation, like a game or business.

How to find the appropriate analogies?

Whatever we see around us can be used to force an analogy.

A family can be compared to a human body in the following way.

Family                                 Defining the Attributes                                      Human Body

Father                     Main supply source for fulfilling family's basic needs            Heart

Mother                    Mental and emotional support                                            Brain

Children                  Dependents                                                                     Organs

Short stories are like T20 cricket matches. Ever tried to write a 40 line thriller? 20 lines for weaving in the plots and 20 lines for solving the mysteries. We can try to create maximum excitement in every line and mystery gets solved in the last line like a bowl out in T20.

Talking to a person who does not know the languages I speak is like talking to deaf and dumb person. Would learning some basic sign language help tourists and service providers in places where the local language is not known to the tourists? Imagine some travel companies starting classes for teaching sign language and the service providers using the sign language to enhance customer satisfaction.

Lets us try some exercise…..

Try to find similarity between the following two things and think of improving any one of them by analysing the attributes of each:

1. Coconut                  2. Mineral water         

                                                           

Purity of mineral water could be compared to coconut water. We can think of designing a coconut shaped mineral water bottle or a coconut flavoured mineral water. Should taste Yummy!!!

Perception is an important element in creative thinking

Perception is like seeing a glass half empty or half full. Different people perceive different things about the same situation and we assign different meanings to what we perceive. Perception is an important element in creative thinking and contributes towards developing different views for same or similar situations.

                                                      X

The above letter “X” can be viewed as an alphabet or it can be perceived as the alphabet “V” and its mirror image.

                                       

The above picture looks like a cat’s head but a closer observation would also create a perception of an outline of a human head wearing a cap.

Video conferencing could be perceived as a threat for airlines companies. Chocolates are competing with homemade sweets. The general perception towards jewelry has changed, wearing iron jewelries are in vogue. Shopping in Malls and Hyper malls are perceived as entertainment, people visit these stores with their family to enjoy on weekends. Red is perceived as the colour of danger and caution but we don’t have the same perception of Michael Schumacher’s red Ferrari or the red flag over Tiananmen Square in China.

We can use the power of perception to analyze  a problem from various angles and come up with a creative solution. Try it out....it's great fun as well.

Try to perceive the following as parts of a human body:

                          III          2011, 2012

Here, the Roman 3 can be perceived as three I’s , so that sounds similar to “eyes”. The next one year’s sounds similar to “ears”. With the change in perception we could connect two sets of totally unrelated elements and bring them to a logical conclusion.