breakthrough thinking on creativity and innovation
TRANSCRIPT
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 !
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