Creative Think

Does It Feel Like the 1970s to You?

Mark Twain once said: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes."

I'm now getting old enough to recognize certain things in this decade — the 2000s — that "rhyme" with things from another decade, the 1970s. See if you agree.

      

• Both the 1970s and the 2000s have an unpopular but twice-elected Republican president (Nixon in the 70s; George Bush in the 00s).

• Both decades have an unpopular war (Vietnam in the 70s; Iraq in the 00s).

• Both decades have significant rise in petroleum prices (the 70s had the "oil shocks" of 1973-74 which raised prices from $2.50/barrel to $10/barrel; the 00s have spot oil prices approaching $150/barrel).

• Both decades witnessed a rise in environmental consciousness (the 70s had the birth of the "environmental" movement; the 00s has its own apocalyptic religious vision of "global warming").

      

• Both decades had the democratic party nominate a previously obscure liberal as its candidate for president (Jimmy Carter in the 70s; Barack H. Obama in the 00s).

• Both decades saw the rise of a transformative media technology (the 70s saw the beginning of cable television which began the fragmentation of media centralization away from the "Big Three" networks; 00s have widespread WIFI that allows bloggers and Twitterers a final assault on our attention span).

• The mid-to-late 1970s saw a significant growth in inflation rates; inflation growth is just beginning at the latter part of the decade.

Of course, we should be grateful we don't have "big hair," "bell bottoms," or "swingers" to the same degree that were present in the 1970s.

Question: What other similarities do see between the current decade and the 1970s?

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?

Good Intentions

Sometimes good intentions can lead to unintended consequences.

Creative challenge: What does this cartoon remind you of?

Air Travel's Unintended Consequences

To help offset rising jet-fuel prices, American Airlines recently added a $15 per bag fee for passengers checking more than one bag on their flights.

So, how is this working out? How does human behavior factor in? Here's one story.

Last night, I flew on an American flight from St. Louis back to San Francisco. The in-bound connecting flight from Miami was two hours late. Thus, all 152 passengers were ready and eager when it finally came to board the flight (the plane was a single-aisle 757).

It took 40 minutes to get all of the passengers on. Why so long? Since passengers didn't want to check their luggage, they brought larger than usual bags on the flight. Since there's only so much overhead storage space, it took passengers longer to rearrange the bags in the over-head space so they could get their bags to fit. And, of course, they did this while they were standing in the aisle so that no one could pass them.

Here's the juicy unintended consequence: since we pulled out so late, the pilot came on and said, "We'll try to speed things up for you, and fly a little faster to make up up some of the time we lost getting out of the gate."

So, in effect, American's new checked bag policy ended up costing them money in extra jet-fuel use. Wow!

QUESTION: What unintended consequences have you noticed lately?

Death Notice of A Creativity Metaphor

[Note: I first posted this over a year ago, and it was one of my most commented upon pieces. Alas, since the "light bulb" is still the conventional symbol for "new ideas," I think its message is still relevant. Any replacement suggestions are much appreciated.]

* * * * * * * * * *

Today, I'm announcing the death of a long time metaphor for creativity and innovation: the light bulb.

If you think about it, it's really quite amazing that a 125-year-old invention has had such longevity as a symbol for fresh thinking.

Imagine, for example, if the Long Play (LP) phonograph album (the 33 RPM version popularized in the 1950s) had become the metaphor for "new ideas." It would have been laughed out of existence no later than the early 1980s.

This hit home to me in a recent conversation I had with an art director with one of my publishers. We were reviewing cover mock-ups for one of my upcoming projects. One of them had a light bulb — symbolizing a "new idea."

I told her: "We can't use the light bulb for two reasons. First, it's a very, very, very old metaphor for a new idea. And second, the environmentalists are going to vilify the incandescent light bulb in coming years."

So long, trusty innovation metaphor. You served well! But it's time to find something new.

Question: What are your suggestions for the new creativity metaphor?

[Note: I first posted this over a year ago, and it was one of my most commented upon pieces. Alas, since the "light bulb" is still the conventional symbol for "new ideas," I think its message is still relevant. Any replacement suggestions are much appreciated.]

* * * * * * * * * *

Today, I'm announcing the death of a long time metaphor for creativity and innovation: the light bulb.

If you think about it, it's really quite amazing that a 125-year-old invention has had such longevity as a symbol for fresh thinking.

Imagine, for example, if the Long Play (LP) phonograph album (the 33 RPM version popularized in the 1950s) had become the metaphor for "new ideas." It would have been laughed out of existence no later than the early 1980s.

This hit home to me in a recent conversation I had with an art director with one of my publishers. We were reviewing cover mock-ups for one of my upcoming projects. One of them had a light bulb — symbolizing a "new idea."

I told her: "We can't use the light bulb for two reasons. First, it's a very, very, very old metaphor for a new idea. And second, the environmentalists are going to vilify the incandescent light bulb in coming years."

So long, trusty innovation metaphor. You served well! But it's time to find something new.

Question: What are your suggestions for the new creativity metaphor?

London's Underground Menagerie

It's always fun to stop over Tim Siedel's Bad Banana site for a nice dose of visual stimulation and creativity. His recent post about animals whose outlines can be made from route lines of the London Underground system caught my fancy. These animals were first "discovered" by Paul Middlewick in the late 1980s. Go here to see the full list of animals.

These delightful animals are a great example of creative thinking: "Looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different." (Albert Szent-Gyorgyi)

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!

Your Ideas for a Calendar Redesign

It's time for one of my favorite "What If of the Week!" questions.

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! I'd love to hear your ideas.

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

The 25th Anniversary Edition (completely revised, redesigned, and updated) of the book "A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative" will be published by Business Plus on May 5, 2008. It is currently shipping from Amazon. The retail price is $16.99 ($11.55 at Amazon). Yowie! Zowie!

It's time for one of my favorite "What If of the Week!" questions.

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! I'd love to hear your ideas.

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

The 25th Anniversary Edition (completely revised, redesigned, and updated) of the book "A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative" will be published by Business Plus on May 5, 2008. It is currently shipping from Amazon. The retail price is $16.99 ($11.55 at Amazon). Yowie! Zowie!

Father of the Acid Trip is Dead at 102

Albert Hoffman, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD, died this past Tuesday at the age of 102 in Switzerland.

Hoffman discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while working as a chemist at Sandoz, the pharmaceutical giant.

This is a great example of the unpredictable twists and turns of the creative process.

Hoffman thought he was looking for medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat. Instead, he helped to create the 1960s!

So, now in death, Hoffman is entering the "mother of all trips."

So what was an acid trip like?

By sheer coincidence, today my son Alex sent me the following link about High Dynamic Range-technique (HDR) pictures.

This is what the blurb about HDR says:

It can create incredibly beautiful pictures which blur our sense of the difference between reality and illusion. . . . [Sounds like an acid trip to me!]

The intention is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows. . . .

Interesting technique. See for yourself. Go to the link for more examples.

This is a cosmic landscape (God is getting ready to reveal Himself from behind the clouds).

Yes, those childhood memories! It was all innocent and warm.

I feel transported back to antiquity (how ya' doin' Plato).

Something is about to happen to the Golden Gate Bridge (feels like something out of an Indiana Jones film).

Your dinner guest has been transformed into a bass (Kafka would love it).

Today's Forecast: Five-Ninths Daylight

I read in the paper that today, where I live in northern California, there will be 13 hours and 20 minutes of daylight. (And 10 hours and 40 minutes of darkness.)

Intriguing numbers I thought. It turns out that 13:20:00 is exactly five-ninths of a 24 hour day.  That means that 5/9 of today will be light, and 4/9 be dark. That's a nice comfortable balance especially in April.

I'll get to experience 5/9 daylight again in late August, but it will feel a lot hotter then.