Creative Think

The Future of Air Travel?

Creative Challenge Question: "What do you think will happen in commercial air travel in the next three years (by 2011)? What are the ramifications for other industries such as tourism, etc.?

With petroleum at record highs of near $140/ barrel, the airline industry is among the hardest hit.

• United Airlines just announced that it is laying off 950 pilots.
• Aviation experts predict that air capacity will shrink by 20% beginning this fall.
• Airlines are un-bundling services such as checked luggage and are now charging for them.
• Boeing and Airbus face having up to one-third of their new orders canceled.

It certainly seems like the end of an era. So, how do you think this will all shake out in the next three years?

In your opinion, what things will change dramatically? Who loses, and who benefits?

An Arm -or- A Leg?

Question: If you were forced to make the choice between having:

     A) One arm and two legs
     B) Two arms and one leg

Which would you select (assuming you would be otherwise able-bodied)? What criteria would go into your selection process? Which do you take more for granted: your arms or your legs?

It's not my intent to be macabre or insensitive with this question. 
Rather, for the past few weeks I've trying to come to grips with the idea of which limb is more important in my day-to-day life.

Natalie du Toit, "My Inspiration of the Month" (at left). Natalie is a 24 year old South African swimmer who lost part of her left leg in a scooter accident in 2001. But she never gave up on her swimming dreams! Last week, in a grueling two-hour swim in Seville, Spain, Natalie placed fourth in the Women's 10K Open Water Swim against the world's top international competition. As a result, Natalie qualified for the Beijing Olympics (that's Olympics, not Paralympics). An amazing story!

What Would A Fool Say?

Exercise: Read the following post, and then answer one or more of the following questions:

What would a fool say about the current race to be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party?

What would a fool recommend to stimulate the economy?

What would a fool recommend to make paying taxes more enjoyable?

What would a fool recommend to improve the quality of public education?

Have fun with it!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

It's that time of year again! And it's time for one of my very favorite creative thinking strategies:

Think Like A Fool

Image from the Creative Whack Pack

Carrying the strategy of "looking at things differently" to extremes brings us to the realm of the fool, the being for whom everyday ways of understanding have little meaning.

It's the fool's job to extol the trivial, trifle with the exalted, and parody the common perception of a situation. In doing so, the fool makes us conscious of the habits we take for granted and rarely question. A good fool needs to be part actor and part poet, part philosopher and part psychologist.

And throughout history, the fool has been consulted by Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian kings, Chinese emperors, Greeks tyrants, and Hopi Indian chiefs.

The fool will reverse our standard assumptions. He'll say, "If a man is sitting on a horse facing the rear, why do we assume that it is the man who is backwards, and not the horse?"

The fool notices things that other people overlook. He might ask, "Why do people who pour cream into their coffee do so after the coffee is already in the cup, rather than pouring the cream in first and saving themselves the trouble of stirring?"

The fool can also be irreverent. He'll pose riddles such as,

"What does a rich man put in his pocket that the poor man throws away?" When he answers, "Snot," he forces us to re-examine the sanctity of our everyday rituals.

The fool can be cryptic. He'll say the best way to see something is with your ears. Initially, this may seem weird, but after you've thought about it, you might agree that listening to a story conjures up more images than watching television.

The fool can be absurd. Having lost his donkey, a fool got down on his knees and began thanking God. A passerby saw him and asked, "Your donkey is missing; why are you thanking God?" The fool replied, "I'm thanking Him for seeing to it that I wasn't riding him at the time. Otherwise, I would be missing as well."

The fool will take the contrary position in most conversations. Whereas many people would agree that, "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well," The fool might say,

"You don't have to do things well! Indeed, it's okay to do them poorly; otherwise you'll never let yourself be a beginner at a new activity."

The great benefit of the fool's antics and observations is that they stimulate our thinking. They jolt us in the same way that a splash of cold water awakens us when we are drowsy.

Exercise: What ideas do you have for the questions at the beginning of this post? Where has "thinking like a fool" helped you look at a problem in a helpful way?

©Roger von Oech

Exercise: Read the following post, and then answer one or more of the following questions:

What would a fool say about the current race to be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party?

What would a fool recommend to stimulate the economy?

What would a fool recommend to make paying taxes more enjoyable?

What would a fool recommend to improve the quality of public education?

Have fun with it!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

It's that time of year again! And it's time for one of my very favorite creative thinking strategies:

Think Like A Fool

Image from the Creative Whack Pack

Carrying the strategy of "looking at things differently" to extremes brings us to the realm of the fool, the being for whom everyday ways of understanding have little meaning.

It's the fool's job to extol the trivial, trifle with the exalted, and parody the common perception of a situation. In doing so, the fool makes us conscious of the habits we take for granted and rarely question. A good fool needs to be part actor and part poet, part philosopher and part psychologist.

And throughout history, the fool has been consulted by Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian kings, Chinese emperors, Greeks tyrants, and Hopi Indian chiefs.

The fool will reverse our standard assumptions. He'll say, "If a man is sitting on a horse facing the rear, why do we assume that it is the man who is backwards, and not the horse?"

The fool notices things that other people overlook. He might ask, "Why do people who pour cream into their coffee do so after the coffee is already in the cup, rather than pouring the cream in first and saving themselves the trouble of stirring?"

The fool can also be irreverent. He'll pose riddles such as,

"What does a rich man put in his pocket that the poor man throws away?" When he answers, "Snot," he forces us to re-examine the sanctity of our everyday rituals.

The fool can be cryptic. He'll say the best way to see something is with your ears. Initially, this may seem weird, but after you've thought about it, you might agree that listening to a story conjures up more images than watching television.

The fool can be absurd. Having lost his donkey, a fool got down on his knees and began thanking God. A passerby saw him and asked, "Your donkey is missing; why are you thanking God?" The fool replied, "I'm thanking Him for seeing to it that I wasn't riding him at the time. Otherwise, I would be missing as well."

The fool will take the contrary position in most conversations. Whereas many people would agree that, "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well," The fool might say,

"You don't have to do things well! Indeed, it's okay to do them poorly; otherwise you'll never let yourself be a beginner at a new activity."

The great benefit of the fool's antics and observations is that they stimulate our thinking. They jolt us in the same way that a splash of cold water awakens us when we are drowsy.

Exercise: What ideas do you have for the questions at the beginning of this post? Where has "thinking like a fool" helped you look at a problem in a helpful way?

©Roger von Oech

Name This Decade Contest!

Update: We've got some winners! Go to the bottom.

*** *** *** *** ***

Well, this decade is almost gone (or 82% gone to be precise). And still no name!

A little over eight years ago in January, 2000, I thought this decade would be known as the "oohs" (pronounced "ooze") because it every year in it had two (or more) zeroes and they looked like the "o's" in "oohs." So obvious!

If that didn't happen, then at the very least I thought this time period would come to be called the "ohs" (pronounced like "those" without the "th").

Well, neither of those caught on. Hmmm.

I guess we've got an opportunity.

Flex your creative muscles and come up with a fun and/or descriptive moniker for this decade. (I'm interested to see what you come up with.)

*** *** *** *** ***

Thanks for the great suggestions (keep 'em coming). My two favorites are:

• "The Double Ohs" (I think I'd even use this one, such as five years from now I might say, "Do you remember what you were doing with Jim back in the early double ohs?"
• "The Pre-Teens" (This is just plain clever and funny. I don't know, though, if I would actually use it.)

Seven-Fingered Hand

Here's a "what if" question for you to think about:

What if we had seven fingers on each hand?

Would we have two finger-opposing thumbs on each hand? If we did, would we have a better "grasp" on things?

We could name our fingers after the days of the week, and if we didn't like something, we could flip that person a "Wednesday."

If you were clumsy, you could say, "Sorry, I'm all weekends."

How would seven fingers on each hand affect sports? How would we catch balls? Would we be more surehanded? Can't you just see some players, after a good play, saying: "Gimme seven, gimme fourteen."

That raises an interesting point: maybe our number system would be Base 14 instead of Base 10.

Would more people be in the jewelry business? What kind of piano music would be written? What would hand tools look like? What would computer keyboards look like?

Question: What if we had seven fingers on each hand? How would that change things? What would be possible? How would your profession or business change? What new things would come into existence?

Canada Needs A New Motto

Here's a creative exercise for you.

I'm in Vancouver, Canada, and things are jumping!

What's especially noticeable is the rise of the Canadian dollar. It's at parity with the US dollar! Indeed, Canada is "The Land of the Soaring Loonie." (The Loonie is the affectionate term for the Canadian dollar.) 

This got me thinking about mottos. Canada's current motto (as you can see on the Canadian coat of arms at left) is: "A Mari usque ad Mare." It's from, Psalm 72:8 and it means: "From sea to sea."

This motto feels like it's from another era. Actually, it is — it was adopted in 1921. At the very least, with melting ice opening up the "Northwest Passage" in the Arctic Ocean, they could change the motto to "From sea to sea to sea."

But this is still pretty tame. What Canada needs is fun, new motto that screams with excitement and a "can-do" spirit!

Here's my creative challenge to you: What are some fun upbeat, offbeat new motto suggestions for Canada? Everyone from all over the world is invited to submit their ideas!

------------------

Update: My favorite so far (from Tomas at Blogaloo) is : "Canada, we gave the world Celine Dion . . . but we also produced Gretzky so we can call it even."

Check out the comments to add yours or to see them all. 

"He's Got A Lot On His Plate"

Here's an exercise for you.

We've all heard the following expression many times:

"She's got a lot on her plate."

      

Too many times, in fact.

What does it really mean? I guess it means she's really busy, or got a lot of projects to manage. Something to that effect. But we've heard it so many times that it ceases to light up our minds with a graphic image.

Here's my challenge to you:

Can you think of some fresh expressions or metaphors to communicate the idea that "a person is really busy."

For example, if you wanted to say that somebody is mentally slow, you might say that:

"He's a few bricks shy of a load."

But there are also other ways. For example:

"His belt doesn't go through all the loops."
"His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top."
"His bell has no clanger."
"He's a few French fries short of a Happy Meal."

What are fresh, colorful expressions for saying a "person is really busy"?

[Fun Fact: The plate on the left is a meal I ate in Rabat, Morocco, and the one on the right is a meal my wife had in Takayama, Japan.]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Update: Here are some of my favorites so far (be sure to check comments both to see and to add more):

• Jim Ley: "His calendar is writing checks his clock cannot cash."
• Katie Konrath: "He's got too many songs for his playlist."
• Craig Bruce via John E.: "His to-do list is so long that it doesn't have an end; it has an event horizon."
• Bill: "Busier than a teenage boy with two penises."
• Maria Helm: "I'm so busy I'm thinking of having a catheter installed so I can pee."

A Tattoo for the Dalai Lama

Here's a Creative Exercise for you.

Next month, the His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is coming to New York. How should he mark the occasion? How can he connect with a younger market?

I suggest that he get a tattoo. As you can see, he has plenty of room on his arm. And not only that, check out the clothes he wears: his apparel leaves lots of room for either a bicep tat or a shoulder one (or both!).

Here's my question for you: what tattoo would you recommend for the Dalai Lama? The tattoo can be permanent (ink) or temporary (henna).

(He probably won't get a Chinese symbol, or maybe he would.)

Note: I saw the Dalai Lama in 1976 in Pomona, California. My wife Wendy has heard him two additional times: in 1989 in San Diego and in 2005 at Stanford. Interestingly enough, Wendy gave him a Creative Whack Pack in 1989 and the next day he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Coincidence? Or something more cosmic?

Design A New Calendar

It's time for another "What If of the Week!"

What if the world's authorities got together
and asked YOU to re-design the calendar?

What would you come up with? How many months would your design have? How many days in a month? How long would a week be? Would they vary by season? Would there be some weeks that weren't part of a month? Would you add special days? What would your reasons be? What's something really different?

How would your calendar affect business and commerce? What impact would it have on family life? On religious festivals and celebrations? Who would be threatened? What new features would you design into your calendar?

Have fun with this!

Reverse Your POV on Proverbs

Reversing your viewpoint is a great way to sharpen your thinking. Try disagreeing with people whose ideas, principles, and beliefs you usually agree. You may find that the opposite view makes more sense.

If you don't have anyone handy to disagree with, try taking the contrary position on common proverbs. For example:

Proverb: "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link."

Reverse POV: "Weak links are wonderful! As a matter of fact, many systems have weak links designed into them. They're called "fuses." When a system gets overloaded, the fuse blows and saves the rest of the system. After all, which part do you want to break the $50,000 or the 5 cent one?"

I'd love to hear your ideas for the virtues of the opposite point of view to these two common proverbs:

1) "Look before you leap."

2) "As you make your bed, so you must sleep in it."

See if you can make a case for the reverse. Have fun with this!