Let Something Wonderful Happen

One of the plotlines of the classic Arthur C. Clarke book (and movie) "2010" is that as the long-lost Dave Bowman appears to current astronauts orbiting Jupiter, warning that … "something wonderful" will happen and they must leave (a new sun was soon born, which somehow led to the easing of cold-war tensions across the globe).

While a second sun is highly unlikely, 2010 can certainly be a year in which something wonderful happens to you. This isn’t just a sappy new age mantra.

Research has shown that people who expect great things are much more likely to receive great things. People who expect to come up with great ideas and are open to them, are the ones who develop the killer ideas.

So in this last year of 2009, resolve to have a more open mind in the coming year. Resolve to find a way to expect great ideas. Resolve to expect great things. Try it.

In this case, may life imitate art for you. Happy New Year.

Turning Primary Colors into a Kaleidoscope of Ideas

We all remember kindergarten (some more clearly than others); we were given three sheets of construction paper and ordered to “make something.”

Has that really changed? Isn’t that what coming up with ideas is all about: given a few primary facts and asked to make a kaleidoscope?

Think of the three primary colors as the building blocks of an idea – the who and what, etc. – and the cutting and pasting and arranging as coming up with the idea. Different combinations, shapes and gradients create new colors and make for new ideas. Ideas are all about connecting the unconnectable and linking the unlinkable. But only if you’re open to taking chances – at the risk of seeing wonderful new patterns and designs emerge.

Think of the slight turns of the kaleidoscope as important questions needed to change the lens and create a whole new picture… “What if…?” “Wouldn’t it be cool … ?” “If money was no object, what about…?”

So, the idea is to understand your building blocks – the primary colors – and be open to seeing all new combinations that come with the right questions and right frame of mind.

All it may take for a great idea to pop is a slight turn of your creative kaleidoscope.

Ideas Never Take a Snow Day

For many kids in the area, today is a snow day. Or, as I look outside, more like a slush day.

It’s amazing that within 30 seconds of finding out school is closed, kids have no shortage of ideas of how to spend the day. Okay, I do have two teenagers whose ideas are to immediately fall back asleep, but think back to when we were young. We were so grumpy to get up for school, but once it was called off, we had no shortage of energy – and ideas of how to fill the time. More plans were made with more ideas than we could fit into the day.

Now we struggle to get an idea. We get up and have no idea what to wear, no idea what to eat for breakfast, no idea how we will get to work on time, no idea what to tackle first, no idea how we’ll get through the day …

Why?

We’re not ready for ideas. We put our minds in a state that doesn’t welcome ideas. Ideas don’t pop into closed minds, irritated minds, grumpy minds. As many creative experts say, ideas come to those that expect them.

Getting ideas is not about superior creative brainpower – it’s about accepting the fact that you are more than capable of developing ideas and that you will do so.

If you have no idea, you will have no idea.

No Such Thing As Useless Information

What is it about life that allows some people to be creative and not others? Or, more specifically, some people interested in being creative and others not.

In thinking about this, I decided to examine my past all the way back to the log cabin and realized:

I loved maps; listening to faraway baseball games on my transistor radio (nothing like a crackling Ernie Harwell); the book series on space exploration at my grandparents’ house; my copy of Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels (from 1941, so much so that I bought the book on eBay a few years back); my first almanac in 1970; the private pilot manual I bought when I was 12; the chemistry set my parents bought me in the early 70s (the first thing I did was go into the back yard and just mix EVERYTHING together. I lived); zip codes; the dud Comet Kohoutek; baseball stats, including the ones I invented; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Senate Watergate hearings as a 13-year-old.

What does this say, other than affirm what my kids think – I was a bit of a nerd growing up? It said I had – and still have – an insatiable curiosity about the world. I had to know. And still do. (Before you label me, I also played baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey).

If a strong aspect of creativity is the ability to connect the unconnectable and link the unlinkable, doesn’t it make sense to fill a kid’s mind with as stuff as possible? The more stuff, the more links. The stuff commonly known as useless information – that suddenly becomes useful.

So, I say to parents: let the kids watch cartoons. Let them explore. Let them ask. (Please!!) Let them read … anything. I’m not saying create a nerd; I asking that you raise kids that are curious about what’s down the block, around the corner, in the next town and in the nearest galaxy. It's okay to mix in video games -- in fact, limits are actually hard to enforce.

You never know when the Banana Splits will help you sell the next product.

Thoughts?

What Would You Do With An Extra 300 Seconds?

What would you do if a genie suddenly appeared and gave you an extra five minutes today?

Watch an extra scene from your favorite reality show? A quick game of Madden? Tweet? Sneak in a Lady Gaga track? Me ... I'd think. Again, not in Pooh "Think. Think. Think." mode, but in the way in which I would sit back, unplug and give myself 300 seconds of something I rarely have time to do during the day -- take a break and let ideas come to me. The ideas are swirling around in your head and connections are being made all of the time. But unless you're in a position to receive these gifts, ideas will always be drowned out by the white noise that is the soundtrack of our lives (apologies to the great Swedish band).

We're all in need of an idea -- whether it's a marketing campaign, a thesis topic or a new dish for dinner. Set aside five minutes a day for personal idea time. It can be while driving, walking, exercising or just closing the door at work with a metaphoric back-in-five-minutes sign. It's a small investment with a big upside.

Agree?

An Idea About College

The same son I reference below (I only have one!) is in the midst of selecting a college. We've done all of the homework, visits, talks with baseball coaches and pretty much everything else involved in choosing the next step. Now it comes down to the gut check -- what feels right. The same can be said for selecting the big idea. You can do the right research, hold myriad brainstorms, test the ideas -- and it still pretty much comes down to the gut. Even in the business setting, you have to ask "what feels right?" If you're sure that you have done all the homework, many more times than not, you'll find the right answer waiting for you. Trust yourself.

Social Media and the Customer Experience

I had the pleasure of speaking with Blake Landau of Customer Management IQ about the convergence of social media and the customer experience. It's always a pleasure to work with Blake.

Take a listen! http://www.customermanagementiq.com/podcenter.cfm?externalID=251

Blake can be found on Twitter at @CustomerMgmtIQ

"Wouldn't it Be Cool...?"

I remember being in an agency brainstorm for one of the world's largest sports footwear and apparel companies about 8-9 years ago. We needed to come up with an idea to launch a new brand and products, and win the business. Of course, everyone in the room had their PR hat on, thinking of ideas that we had done before for other clients and how they could translate to this opportunity.

Let me add that my (then) 9-year-old son was in the room. I took him to work that day and told him we were having pizza and talking about sports and one of his favorite stars. I expected him to stuff his face and daydream.

But as we were piling up the ideas, we heard "wouldn't it be cool to invite the best 3-player teams to have a tournament and the winners play in New York City and coached by (the famous athlete)? The winners could win all the new stuff."

The room went silent. Here we were racking our brains to see what PR ideas would work for the client, and a 9-year-old kid cut through the clutter by just asking "wouldn't it be cool...?"

Whether we used the actual idea or not, the lesson was learned. Needless to say, we went on to create the killer idea. And win the biz.

Lesson -- stop thinking about fitting your thinking into the traditional PR (or advertising or promotional) boxes, and challenge everyone to finish the question "wouldn't it be cool if ...?"

9-year-old boys haven't learned to filter or limit their thinking. Why should we?

“Mommy, Where do Ideas Come From?”

As a parent and creative professional, I think it's easier answering the stork question. At least for the birds and bees, there's an actual answer. As uncomfortable as it may be.



Anyway, I often ask myself that very same question ... just where do these ideas come from. Even as they emerge, I'm not all that sure from where they arrive. Sometimes they just do. But that's not to say it's (all) magic.

It's not as if I sit around like Pooh, tapping my head and saying "Think. Think. Think."










For me, developing the killer idea is more about putting yourself in best position to receive it, as opposed to actively seeking it. For more often than not, this happens out of office and away from the work environment. There will always be idea time in the office, but keep an open mind to those opportunities away from the work setting.

Consider:

1. Exercise. Nothing like an hour on the treadmill or three hours on the bike to get the creative juices flowing. Maybe it's the endorphins, or maybe it's just the mind-numbing scenery (or just not having the phone ring for a while), but I've had more aha moments while exercising than any other way (think how successful I would be if I exercised enough!). You don't have to pressure yourself to have great ideas within the next hour; just recognize that you have a great opportunity ahead of you to develop a needed idea or solution to a knotty work problem. Tip: if you're on a stable machine, take along a note card and small golf pencil and jot the ideas down as they come.

2. Driving. Probably for the same reason as above. Whether you need the radio or not, the monotony or while line fever can draw your mind into a well-positioned place to receive great ideas. Tip: pull over before you write!

3. "Active Nothing." Oxymoron? Yes. Effective? Sure. All this means is taking a few minutes to unplug the TV and the computer and "do some nothing." Doodle. Walk. Vacuum. Rearrange the stack of magazines. You'd be surprised how open your mind becomes to ideas when you're engaged in a bit of nothing.

There is always merit for creative and strategic brainstorming, yet by just taking a break from the traditional work setting, you may find your mind in receive mode.

Just my idea ... what do you think? What are your best "idea settings?"