Creative Think

Don't Try This in Venezuela!

Know Your Audience!

In October, I'll be doing several large public seminars in Caracas, Venezuela. The audience will be primarily business people, entrepreneurs, and creatives.

When I do my "Four Roles of the Creative Process," I typically put on different hats to represent the different types of thinking (explorer, artist, judge and warrior). For example, I put on a red beret to symbolize the mindset of the artist. (At left is a photo from a presentation I did in Bogota, Colombia last year.)

Today I heard from my Venezuelan host asking me if I could possibly wear a different color beret to represent the artist. "No problem," I said. "But what's the reason?"

It turns out that the head attire of Venezuela's Presidente Maximo Supremo Hugo Chavez is a red beret! Indeed, the red beret is a glorious symbol of Chavez's revolution. I said that I would be happy to use a black beret.

I'm really glad I was warned. I can just imagine myself mindlessly donning a red beret in front of 1,500 entrepreneurs in Caracas, "Put this hat on to think like an artist. It will get your creative juices flowing." It would have been like wearing a sheet to an NAACP convention.

Live and learn!

Off-Beat Endorsement Ideas for Phelps

Okay creative thinkers, here's an exercise for you!

Michael Phelps has reached the pinnacle of sport. He also helped NBC makes tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue by boosting their ratings in his quest for eight gold medals. What now for Phelps? New product endorsement opportunities of course!

What new off-beat product endorsement ideas do you have for Michael? How can you help him cash in? Feel free to add a fun tag-line in as well.

Here's an example.

"Hi folks, Michael Phelps here. I swam so fast at the Beijing Olympics that it was a real pain in the butt for a lot of my competitors. But I don't want them mad at me. No, I want them to like me. That's why I recommend Preparation H to them. Quick and soothing. You should give it a try too. It'll put a gold-medal smile on your face."

What off-beat product endorsement ideas do you have for Michael?

"Russia Needs A New Motto" Contest

Last October, I ran a "Canada Needs A New Motto" contest in which I solicited your ideas for fun, off-beat mottos for our neighbor to the north.

Well, Russia has been in the news lately, and I thought it would be fitting to have a "Russia Needs A New Motto" contest.

Here's my challenge: what are some fun, offbeat mottos for Russia? [Shown, at left, is a Vlad Putin action figure I got when I was in Moscow last summer. He looks pretty calm here.]

Here are my favorite suggestions so far:

• "Russia: It's about time we acted like a superpower."
• After its activities in the Caucasus this week, Russia's motto should be "Putin' on the Blitz." (With apologies to Irving Berlin.)
• Russia's new theme song certainly is "Georgia On My Mind." (With apologies to Ray Charles.)
• "Russia: For those of you who are nostalgic for the Cold War, we thought we'd help you reminisce!"
• "Russia: Your endless supply of brides and orphans."
• "Russia: We Put the Putsch in Pushkin."
• Russia: You knew we were Russia when you let us in."
• "Russia: Home of the mail-order bride."
• "Russia: where you can find your wife without ever going."
• "Change You Can Count On" (No, wait - that's been taken.)

The Greatest Relay Race Ever!

The most amazing relay performance I've ever seen! That's what the American quartet of Michael Phelps, Garret Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak pulled off in the 4 x 100 Free Relay at the Beijing Olympics last night. [Shown below are Weber-Gale and Phelps.]

This event exceeded expectations. It was better than USA's Bruce Hayes coming from behind to nip Germany's legendary Michael Gross ("The Albatross") by 0.04 seconds in the 4 x 200 relay in 1984 in LA. Better than USA's Klete Keller defeating Australia's great Ian Thorpe by a similar margin in the same event in 2004 in Athens.

Five countries broke the existing world record. Australia's Eamon Sullivan set a world record in the 100 free (47.24) leading off. But the main drama was in lanes four and five between the USA and France. France was heavily favored, and had the lead going into the final led with current world record holder Alain Bernard anchoring for the French. (Before the race, Bernard had unwisely said: "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for.")

Jason Lezak (left) anchored for the Americans, diving in 0.69 seconds behind Bernard. Bernard churned a lightning fast 21.27 first fifty to extend the French lead to 0.82 seconds at 350 meters. But Lezak stayed with him. At 375 meters, Lezak began to reel in the world recorder. At 398 meters, Lezak caught Bernard and got his hand to the wall first to defeat the French by 0.08 seconds. It broke the world record by an astounding four seconds.

In earning the gold medal, Lezak split 46.06 for 100 meters, far and away the fastest relay time ever. Simply amazing.

Already swimming aficionados are changing Chuck Norris jokes to Jason Lezak ones. Here are some examples (from T-Ravi):

• When Jason Lezak dives into the water, he does not get wet - the water gets Lezaked.
• Jason Lezak only swims through the water because he considers walking on top of it too pretentious.
• Jason Lezak taught Moses how to turn water into blood - using French swimmers for examples.
• Big meets taper for Jason Lezak.
• Touch pads reach for Jason Lezak.
• Jason Lezak does not swim the backstroke for fear that the laser-like force of his steely gaze would damage aircraft overhead.
• E equals mass x the speed of Jason Lezak squared.

USA's Head Coach Eddie Reese (who was featured in this blog last month) said: "There's never been [an anchor swim like that] in my memory. "Not running down somebody who holds the world record, who's on their game. That was incredible. ... It has to be in the unbelievable category. That's the biggest word I know."

The Grandeur of the Lowest Common Denominator

You ever get a metaphor wrong? You know, you hear an expression and then use it without really thinking it through? All these years, I've been thinking the term "lowest common denominator" was a pejorative term often used when critics speak dismissively of low-brow culture. But today I learned that I'm wrong.

I've been reading Andrew Hodges new book One to Nine: The Inner Life of Numbers. [Hodges also wrote Alan Turing: The Enigma.] In his chapter about the number Nine, Hodges discusses the term "lowest common denominator," a term that many associate with something that is "small and cheap." But we've got it all backwards:

"A lowest common denominator is generally a rather grand number! This term arises in the context of fractions p/q, where p is called a numerator and a q a denominator.

"To add 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 +1/4 + 1/5 + 1/6 + 1/7 + 1/8 + 1/9, the trick is to find the lowest common denominator from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. That is the smallest number which can be be divided exactly by all of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 — which turns out to be 2,520. You are supposed to write 1/2 as 1260/2520, 1/3 as 840/2520 . . . 1/9 as 280/2520 and so add them up. [Amazing stuff: as it turns out the lowest common denominator is a special number.]

"In practice, few people add up fractions much more complicated than 1/2 hour + 1/4 hour, and I am not surprised that this complicated theory has left little trace on the collective mind. Probably the misuse of the metaphor [of 'lowest common denominator'] has arisen by people confusing it with the 'highest common factor' of a set of numbers, and this is typically something modest."

That's my lesson for today: over the years, the term "lowest common denominator" has gotten an undeserved bad reputation because it has been confused with something else.

Question: what other commonly used metaphors actually mean something quite different from the ideas we usually associate with them?