Page 53 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

44 THE FIRST REAL CHAPTER (FINALLY!)

It’s not just a matter of going beyond what we know without effort
or thought. If it were only that easy, we’d all do it.
The part that takes no effort is the part you already do too well:
rational thought, staying in the known.
Don’t think you’ve been
doing it wrong all these years.
If we want to solve a problem that we
This is the way the brain have never solved before, we must
works. Known data is the leave the door to the unknown ajar.
raw material for rational thought.
But you need to go beyond rational
thought to be a consistently creative
Richard P. Feynman
thinker. 20th-century U.S. physicist
The following chapters are an armchair
version of the acclaimed creativity workshop that my associates and I
conduct for thousands of people in hundreds of companies in scores of
industries annually. The workshop is called The Do-It-Yourself Lobot-
omy. It’s a proven method based on a few basic insights and the use of
a few simple creative thinking power tools. We’ve used this method to
help airlines find new and better ways to make their passengers more
comfortable. We’ve used it to help a major computer company perform
better phone support. We’ve used it with dozens of advertising agen-
cies to help them create better advertisements and find new business-
building ideas quicker. We’ve helped the world’s largest snack maker
explore new tasty treats. We’ve used it to help one of the world’s
largest computer textbook companies bring better learning to children.
The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy works. Heck, you’ve been doing it
for years. On your best days, that is.
Don’t tell me you’ve been unconscious about it.

7

BEA TIGER

A very good friend of mine, Richard Wilde, who understands creativ-
ity like few people on this planet, tells a funny story about how adults
so often lose touch with the imaginative child within.
A number of years ago he was asked to address his daughter’s sec-
ond grade class. As department head of advertising and design at the
School for Visual Arts in New York City, Richard is skilled at design-
ing problems, asking questions, and creating challenges for students to
bring out their creativity. Richard gave this roomful of seven-year-olds