Page 217 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

208 STORMING THE BRAIN

again, these companies have called us for our expertise. So maybe they
know they are way off base in this process. (I can only imagine how
messed up some of the companies who don’t call in the creative medics
might be.)
“Okay, smarty brainstorming guru,” you ask, “if we’re doing it all
wrong, then why don’t you share some of your wisdom and tell us how
it is done?” (See, I know so much about the human mind, I know
exactly what you are thinking.)

THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF BRAINSTORMING

Well, to be honest with you, if I tried to cover everything I know about
brainstorming in these pages, that chapter alone would be larger than
this entire book. But I can give you a quick list of do’s and don’ts that I’m
sure will shed a good deal of light on this murky, misunderstood process.

Do: Set aside at least two hours (I prefer three) to make sure you
get beyond the surface in your thinking.
Don’t: Expect to blast in and find the holy grail of answers after
taking a few minutes to just scratch the epidermal layer of
thought.
Do: Invite 20 to 30 people to the meeting. The more people, the
more ideas—to a point.
Don’t: Expect three or four people to provide the energy, momen-
tum, or mental leverage to make big leaps, or you’ll be very dis-
appointed.
Do: Invite a wide array of people to participate in your brainstorm-
ing session. The broader the cross section of players, the wider
the variety of ideas.
Don’t: Expect a group of people closely associated with the area
being brainstormed to be the most freethinking bunch. In areas
such as new product exploration, I often convince clients to
keep their people out of the room altogether and assemble a
group of customers or potential users of the product in question.
The further away the participants are from the realities of mar-
keting, the less encumbered the players are by what can and
can’t be done. Some great ideas have been discovered by people
who didn’t know “it couldn’t be done.”
Do: Divide the group into smaller teams of four to six people so you
get more diverse thought and to dilute the negative impact of the