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October 13, 2005
Creativity is like chili
A primary benefit of our Lumin collaborative is shared knowledge: whippersnappers like me get to season our thinking with the hickory-cured wisdom of pros like Patrice Tanaka of PT&Co. We just had an online lesson from her on Creativity in Public Relations. In the session, she mentioned holding multiple brainstorm meetings until you come up with that breakthrough idea.
[sound of record needle ripping across vinyl] Multiple brainstorms?
When do we ever get the luxury of multiple brainstorms? Or . . . I mean . . . struggle that much?
. . . And then a Grinch attack . . . my heart grows three sizes this day . . . . Maybe brilliance doesn't happen in one meeting.
Maybe it's like chili. Good the first day, but better the day after, and even better the day after that.
Too often, we expect creativity to happen in a single session. The team gets briefed on the spot and we try to blanch the ideas out of everyone's brains before we lose them to another meeting. And when we're done spanking the last drops out of the coffee pot, we better see some brilliance! More meetings means impending failure and we go back to the drawing (and quartering) board or bring in a fresh team of Thoreau-bred geniuses. And we're betting they're faster!
Somewhere, a VP stews . . .
I like this slow cook approach. Hereafter, our process forever should include:
* Ingredients-gathering (background and research)
* The soak (the team is briefed and then we let it seep into our beans for a day or so, showers are encouraged, etc.)
* Let's cook! (quick-fire brainstorm for rapid boil and extraction of top-level ideas; heat 'em up; move 'em out!)
* Simmer break (we go away, a summary is distributed and reviewed, we play with the kids and our spouses, sleep, listen to Stevie Ray, etc.)
* Back for seconds (next day, we savor the goodness that we created and coax out new combinations and subtle nuances)
* Heat and repeat (we do it again till we're satisfied and we're fired up that we've got some truly gut-seeking ideas)
[roll guitar music: Texas shuffle]
Or maybe creativity is like beer . . .
Bob Brin
Posted by Bob Brin at October 13, 2005 4:26 PM