Page 61 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

52 CREATIVITY = PROBLEM SOLVING

that awkward silence so long, and these individuals might stand up
and make weird faces or wacky gestures or offer up strange sounds
like a wounded duck or something. It’s not a pretty sight. Basically,
that individual created a problem to solve.

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A PROBLEM ISA MUST

I believe it’s impossible to be creative without a problem. We are all at
our creative best when we’re solving problems.
A real problem, that is.
You see, many things we call problems really aren’t. Let’s examine
this stuff, problems.
When you solve a problem what’s the language you usually use? “I
found a solution to my problem.” Or...“I created a solution.”
If you found a solution, did you really have a problem? I mean, the
answer already existed. You did find it, after all.
Here’s how this so-called problem-solving soap opera might play
out, for example:
“We have to do a holiday promotion to move some merchandise,”
someone in retail marketing might say. “We have a problem!”
“What did we do last year?” asks the white knight in wing tips.
“Yeah, you’re right,” admits the alarmist, then adds, “But we’ll do it
totally differently this year; we’ll take new photos, change the type-
face—totally different.”
This team of bozos didn’t have a real problem. They had a mis-
placed answer to a question they had asked many times before. They
knew the answer. It was in the known, so there was no creativity.
Sometimes the drama plays out like this:
“We have to do a holiday promotion. I wasn’t here last year. What
did you do?”
No, this time it’s not in the problem solver’s known. It’s in someone
else’s known. But the answer is still found. Therefore it’s not a real
problem.
If you can’t find a solution, if the solution does not already exist, then
you have a real problem and you have no choice but to be creative.
That drama sounds like this:
“We didn’t have this holiday promotion last year. It’s a new holiday.
No company has ever done this promotion. I wonder what we could do.”
BAM! The wonder gland kicks in. Now you have a real problem.
Now you are in the creative realm. Not finding but creating.