Page 255 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

246 Appendix

and you’ll simply have more ideas from which to choose the best. You’ll
have more good ideas and, sure, more bad ideas. But bad ideas can
often be fertilizer for the creative process. The best creative thinkers
produce more fertilizer than most people. (Maybe that’s how they got
to be great thinkers.)
If your answer is 1 or 2 or 3–5, this is a problem area for you since
you are not generating anywhere near enough quantity of ideas to bet-
ter ensure a high-quality outcome. Remember that bad ideas can be
fertilizer. Using quantity to get to quality is one of the easiest ways to
overachieve creatively. Most great thinkers were prolific ideators.
Plus, it diffuses that destructive judgment element.
If your answer is 6–12 or 13–25, you are generating as many or more
ideas than the average person, but could push it even further to better
ensure a higher-quality result. Keep in mind that in areas of creative
pursuit, quantity usually leads to quality.
If your answer is more than 25, you are ready, willing, and able to gen-
erate many fresh ideas. You probably generate a lot of fertilizer, too.
If you haven’t already checked it out, you may want to explore the
Creative IQ test for organizations below.

EXHIBIT 2:

The 2-Minute Creative IQ Test for Organizations

This is a quick, universal test that I have developed to help managers
gauge the creativeness of their organizations: entire companies, depart-
ments, work groups, or teams. You can take the test here or go to
www.Do-It-YourselfLobotomy.com/book. The test offers fairly general-
ized results, driven by the answers you provide. The gauges used are
modeled after common thinking habits of some of the greatest creative
minds throughout history. There is certainly a margin for error, and
exceptions to almost every rule, creativeness being as elusive as it is. But
the feedback can be extremely valuable, particularly if you’re honest
with yourself in answering the questions, have an open mind, and are
looking to improve your abilities in this area. This test cannot measure
the creativeness of any specific idea, nor does it measure artistic talent.
As with the test for individuals, simply circle the most applicable
answer. Then tally your score at the end. You’ll see how your group
rates, followed by helpful suggestions for improvement. As with the
test for individuals, better understanding of the creative strength and
weaknesses, in this case relating to your organization, will give you
heightened insight into which sections of the book you should focus on