Page 153 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

144 AIDS TO CREATIVITY

Lee Iacocca is among many captains of industry who are noted for
taking notes (bad pun noted). Jotting down the ideas that come into
your mind is an aid to accomplishment no matter what field you’re in.
Random ideas are often the impetus for big breakthroughs, as we dis-
cussed in Chapter 9, “Intergalactic Thinking.” But if you don’t write
down a random idea, you might lose the inspiration for a huge solution.
Many years ago, when I was new to the ad business, I did a cam-
paign with Steve Allen, the great comedian/musician/philosopher.
Although this was back in the 1970s, Steve Allen had a mini–cassette
recorder in his top pocket, probably leading-edge technology at that
time. During the shooting of TV commercials, at lunch, or on a plane,
he would periodically pick up this little device and say something into
it; he had people at his home base transcribing his notes and cataloging
his thoughts.
There’s a wonderful story Keith Richards tells about conceiving the
riff that defines the song “Satisfaction,” which many people think is
one of the best rock ’n’ roll songs of all time (number one in VH1’s Best
Rock ’n’ Roll Songs of all Time Top 100). Keith woke up in the middle
of the night with this riff in his head. He grabbed a little tape recorder
and he hummed into it the melody of the eight notes. In the morning he
noticed his tape recorder on his pillow and he said, “What’s that?”
He didn’t even remember having conceived this riff and recording it.
He picked up the tape recorder, rewound it, and he heard the now
famous signature from “Satisfaction,” followed by 45 minutes of snor-
ing. If he hadn’t recorded his idea, hadn’t jotted it down electronically,
he would have lost it forever.
Rick Pitino, one of the greatest
basketball minds of all time,* in
The strongest memory is
an interview with Success maga- weaker than the palest ink.
zine, was asked, “What are your
secrets of success?” And this
basketball coach extraordinaire said that
one of his top secrets of success is that he Ancient Chinese proverb
writes everything down. The interviewer went on to ask why writing
everything down was one of the coach’s secrets to success. To which
Pitino replied, “Because, if I don’t write down important things, I
might forget.” We are all fallible in this regard.

*As I write this, Rick Pitino is between jobs, having left the Celtics. Many people who follow
basketball might say that he was a monumental failure in his tenure with Boston’s NBA franchise.
But mark my words: Rick Pitino learned more in his bad experience with the Celtics than he
learned from all his great experiences as a basketball coach. He will be back.