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Creativity Quotes
"Creativity
requires the
courage to let go of certainties."
– Erich Fromm...
More
The Starting Point of Innovation and
Growth
Assumptions play a vital part in
creative thinking.
Challenging assumptions means
questioning the everyday things you
take for granted. "The best assumption to have is that any commonly held
belief is wrong," says Ken Olson, CEO of DEC.
The natural thing to do is the thing you have
always done. Every time you approach a problem you bring your accumulated
experience, knowledge and training to bear on it. But this includes you
accumulated assumptions and biases – conscious and unconscious. The more
experienced and expert you are, the more likely you are to assume outcomes
by extrapolating from the known facts and experiences to predict a result.
This mental baggage can prevent you from accepting innovative ideas.
Sometimes the way you frame a problem contains
an assumption that prevents you from solving it. In Middle Ages the
definition of astronomy was the 'study of how the heavenly bodies move
around the Earth', i.e. the Earth was considered to be the centre of
universe which resulted in the chain of wrong explanations of various
phenomena. "Similar ideas exist in most businesses – assumptions that
underpin most strategies and decisions, and that are so fundamental that
they are never challenged," says
Paul Sloane.3
Toyota's 10 Management Principles
Exercises
Checking Your Assumptions
Source:
Effective Innovation, John Adair
Relatives
A doctor in London had a brother
in Manchester, who was a lawyer. But the lawyer in Manchester did not have a
brother in London who was a doctor. Why? (See
the answer)
Bottled Money
If you put a small coin piece in
an empty bottle and replaced the cork, how would you get the coin out of the
bottle without taking out the cork or breaking the bottle?
(See
the answer)
The Restaurant
Meal
Three women each have two
daughters, and they all go into a restaurant for a meal. There are only
seven vacant seats in the restaurant, but each has a seat for herself. How
do they manage it? (See
the answer)
Tips for Challenging Assumptions...
A Reminder for Managers...
Managing Assumptions...
Ask Searching Questions...
Making Conscious Assumptions...
Turning Accidental Discovering Into
Habit...
Case in Point
Albert Einstein's Method...
Case in Point
Silicon Valley Firms...
Case in Point
IDEO...
Case in Point
Jack
Welch...
Case in Point
Apple Computers...
Case in Point
Coco
Chanel...
Case in Point
Michael
Dell...
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