breakthrough thinking on creativity and innovation

Tips on Breakthrough Thinking

Creativity can be taught, nurtured and enhanced

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly

unconnected”

-William Plomer

Matthew May’s Books

Elegant simplicity

Beautiful imperfection

Effortless effectiveness

Shibumi

Shibumi’s 7 Habits of the Highly Creative

Emphasizing the disciplines

of restraint, exclusion, and

omission

Koko (Austerity)

Refrain from adding what is

NOT absolutely

necessary in the first place

“Innovation is not about

saying yes to everything.

It’s about saying NO to all but

the most crucial features.”

- Steve Jobs

• You are donor unless you opt out

• 4X participation over US

• No physical branches

• Most highly recommended bank in UK

Beauty and utility need

not be overstated

Kanso (simplicity)

Eliminate what doesn’t

matter to make more

room for what does

Simplicity …

The achievement of maximum effect with minimum means

-Dr. Koichi Kawana

• Hide complexity from user

• User interface … pick it up and use it

Apple iPad

“ I wouldn’t give a fig for simplicity on this side of

complexity, but I would give my life for simplicity on other side

of complexity” - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

“Perfection is achieved NOT when there is

nothing left to add, but when there is nothing

left to take away”

- Antoine de Saint Exupery

Balance between being of nature

yet distinct

from it

Shizen (naturalness)

Before taking action, look for

naturally occurring

patterns and rhythms, and

construct your ideas to fit them

• The busier a street, the safer it becomes

• Mixed use means must slow down, use intelligence

“Creativity is just connecting things”

- Steve Jobs

Power of suggestion exalted as authentic creation

Leave something to

the imagination by

limiting information

• Limiting information seduces viewer

• Tantalizing suggestion over exactitude

• Demonstrated once in Janurary 2007

• No more information until it went on sale in June 2007

Incomplete renderings … …goal is to

create viewer

collaboration

Appreciate the beauty of natural

imperfection… Leave the door

open for others to co-create with

you

Seek a philosophy and a process that

fosters personal collaboration

between

Your team

Clients

And their customers

• Target Gen Y customers

• Toyota dropped hundreds of standard options allowing customers to maximize customization

In active calm and tranquility

one finds essence of

creative energy

Learn to quiet your mind; designate a

time and place for creative

solitude

• Study of Buddhist meditation

• Abnormally high gamma brainwaves (which proceed aha! moments)

“Stand still when the hippos charge”

-Boyd Matson

Doing something isn’t always better than doing

nothing

Transcending the ordinary

and conventional

Re-energize your creativity by

taking regular ‘timeouts’ every

90 minutes

• Tony Schwartz use of ‘pulse’ method in his writing

• First book took 12 months, 10 hours day

• Second book, using 3 90 minute segments per day, took less than 6 months

“Best new year’s

resolution? A stop doing

list”

-Jim Collins

• Ingenuity in craft

• Pursuit of perfection

• Rhythm of fit

• Companies don’t

innovate, people do

• Simple question … is

there a better way?

• No challenge, no

creativity

• Whatever your work,

make it your art

• Ingenuity is starting

point, perfection the

vector

• Focus on chasing, not

achieving perfection

• No best, only better

• Discipline of big leap

through small steps

• System thinking …

understand context,

cause and effect

• Find and fit rhythm

of change

happening around

us, in larger context

Final thoughts

Practice and nurture your creative skill

strengths

About Dr. Schoultz

Dr. Schoultz has thirty five years of business development, marketing, technology, and business operations experience.

He served as VP / President of Distribution Technologies, a company he helped to found and grow to a 700 M + / year market leader.

Dr. Schoultz Ph. D. is from the University of Virginia.

Thank You !

• digitalsparkm@gmail.com

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• Twitter: mikeschoultz