What are some of the best techniques for inspiring a creative
revolution – to more effectively to solve problems, make decisions,
achieve goals, and better fulfill our ultimate human responsibility,
which is to think? Here are a few I have learned:
Think Combination. Everything you see, hear,
touch, taste, and smell during the day offers you the opportunity to
consider new combinations. When you brush your teeth, you might think
of a toothbrush that contains the toothpaste in the handle. You might
combine your mirror with a motto reminding you to start the day
right. It might read, “How can I increase my service today?” or
“Have no small dreams!” That’s thinking combination. A simple
pencil is a combination of wood, carbon, rubber, paint, and metal.
You can come up with great ideas that can lead to profits, patents,
and even billiondollar companies by finding new combinations
yourself. Here are a few ways entrepreneurs have profited from
thinking combination.
A French company invented an ordinary snorkel combined with a
radio the first battery-powered snorkel with an FM radio
receiver built in, and it doesn’t even require an earpiece. The
product, AQUA FM, uses unique bone conduction technology to transmit
sound through the teeth and into the inner ear, providing clear,
amazing sound.
In another example, companies like Vonage and Skype have
revolutionized telephone service by combining a telephone and the
Internet, and the big telecom companies are clambering to keep up.
Telephone companies have always charged by the minute for long
distance services, but the Internet is different. Broadband is
charged at a standard monthly rate for unlimited use. VOIP (Voice
over IP) start-up companies have used this to their advantage and
thought differently about telephone service. Why pay by the minute to
send data via your telephone service when you have a data tunnel you
are already paying for — your broadband connection? Simply
piggyback on that by connecting your phone to your broadband and talk
to anyone in the world for a fraction of the cost.
Think Adaptation. Velcro was created through
adaptation. In 1948, George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, returned
from a walk through a field of weeds one day and found some
cockleburs [burrs] clinging to his cloth jacket. After studying one
of the cockleburs under a microscope, he noticed it was a maze of
thin strands with burrs (or hooks) on the ends that cling to fabrics
or animal fur. He then recognized the potential for a practical new
fastener. It took eight years to experiment, develop, and perfect the
invention, but now Velcro is a well-known, incredibly useful product.
Velcro has even been further adapted for making all kinds of products
better — from shoes that use Velcro instead of laces, to
adjustable Velcro wrist straps on boxing gloves.
In another example, designers took tiny flexible optical fibers
developed for high-energy physics experiments and wove them into
ordinary fabric. This adaptation created a new fabric called Luminex
that glows, literally. It’s not shiny and it’s not glow in the
dark; it gives off its own light. Now Luminex is being used in stage
costumes, handbags, and curtains as well as clothing.*
During the next year you are going to see the result of people
thinking adaptation and coming up with ideas worth millions of
dollars. Why couldn’t one of these people be you? The only limit to
what you can achieve by adapting old products to new uses ”
old methods to new applications" is the limit of your own
creativity.
Think Substitution. When you think substitution,
ask yourself how you might substitute a different idea, product, or
material for the one now used. For example, soy burgers are the
vegetarian’s substitute for meat products.
And plastic lumber is now used as a substitute for concrete, wood,
and metals. Yes, recycled plastic lumber (RPL) is a woodlike product
made from recovered plastic or recovered plastic mixed with other
materials. This plastic lumber can then be transformed by consumers
and manufacturers into a wide range of products, including decks and
docks, landscape timbers, parking stops, picnic tables, benches,
trash receptacles, planters, and numerous custom applications (think
adaptation!).
You can also take an existing product and make it better through
thinking substitution. Take, for instance, luggage with wheels. This
was a wonderful invention because it eliminated the need to carry
luggage. But, for years the wheels were made of cheap plastic, often
only a step better than dragging your luggage on the ground. It
wasn’t until recently that someone decided to replace these cheap
plastic wheels with the high-speed ball-bearing efficient wheels from
Rollerblade skates. This substitution created a better wheeled
suitcase and made for happier travelers.
In short, don’t assume because a particular thing has always
been used in the past, that you have to use it now. Perhaps there’s
a substitution that will work better or last longer, or cost less, or
be lighter, or more colorful, and so forth. Think substitution.
Think magnification. Think big! Examples include
skyscrapers, the Pentagon, king-size soft drinks, and the IMAX
theatre. IMAX was started by Canadian filmmakers/entrepreneurs who
wanted bigger and better theaters. Now IMAX is the ultimate movie
experience, helping people see more, feel more, and hear more.
Vehicles are getting bigger too. We’ve had trucks and vans for
many years. But in recent years soccer dads and carpool moms have
demanded a different large vehicle” the SUV. The Hummer,
Lincoln Navigator, Cadillac Escalade, and Suburban are just a few of
the behemoths that safely courier our children to and from their
daily activities.
Yet, while most car companies are going larger, BMW went the
opposite way, which takes us to our next thinking strategy
Think Minification. Think small! In the midst of
the SUV explosion, BMW was thinking small and acquired the rights to
the Mini Cooper. This just proves that magnification and minification
can succeed in the same market concurrently.
And beyond the car industry, we find technology striving for
minification. The iPod is a small portable digital audio player
designed and marketed by Apple Computer. And even though it’s
already a small product, Apple continues to release smaller and
smaller versions of the popular iPod with larger and larger hard
drives (thinking minification and magnification!).
Clothing designers are thinking small too. There are entrepreneurs
who specialize in baby clothes and small dog clothes, such as the
Baby Ultimate Child Clothing and Baby Clothes Boutique
(
www.babyultimate.com) and the Pure Country Pet Boutique
(
www.purecountry.net).
Think rearrangement. Turn things around,
backward, upside down or inside out. James Dyson, founder of Dyson
vacuum cleaners, was tired of buying vacuums that lost suction as
they filled up. Rather than improve on the existing designs, he
started from scratch and rearranged the entire vacuum in a new and
different, and ultimately highly successful, way. Dyson’s new
arrangement used cyclonic separation instead of a bag. Eight
cylindrical cyclones whirl dirt and air at speeds up to 600 m.p.h.
The machine uses centrifugal force to trap the dirt and expel the
air. And, there is no filter to clog, which means the Dyson stays
powerful. How successful has it been? In the past few years, he has
sold over $10 billion worldwide. I’d say his rearrangement was a
success!
How about turning something upside down? What’s the problem with
typical ketchup, mustard, and salad dressing bottles? It’s hard to
get the contents out, especially when the contents are running low.
The solution? Manufacturers are now creating the bottles to stand
upside down so the contents are always easy to get out.
What do you work with that can benefit from this kind of thinking?
What can you turn around, revolutionize?
Rearrange things, change pace, alter sequence, start from scratch.
This type of thinking works for everyone. For instance, salespeople
can use these creative techniques to discover new applications for
products or services, new ways to emphasize customer benefits, new
ideas or product combinations to solve customer problems, better ways
to organize their time and effort.
If you want to spur your mind to new action, think combination,
adaptation, substitution, magnification, minification, and
rearrangement. You’ll be amazed with the ideas you’ll develop.
Before long, you’ll be thinking in each of these ways as a matter
of daily course. This kind of thinking increases the scope of your
mind power and enables you to achieve fuller use of your mental
capabilities. Let your mind work for you. Take nothing for granted.
Everything can be changed, improved. The only thing you can count on
for certain is change. Don’t wait for it be an agent of
change. Help bring change about.
6 Techniques for Creative Revolutions:
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Think Combination
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Think adaptation
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Think substitution
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Think Magnification
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Think Minification
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Think Rearrangement
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