Three Creativity Challenges from IDEO’s Leaders
People often ask us how they can become more creative. Through our work at the global design and innovation firm IDEO and David’s work at Stanford University’s d.school, we’ve helped thousands of executives and students develop breakthrough ideas and products, from Apple’s first computer mouse to next-generation surgical tools for Medtronic to fresh brand strategies for the North Face in China. This 2012 HBR article outlines some of the approaches we use, as does our new book, Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All. One of our top recommendations? Practice being creative. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
Of course, exercising your mind can sometimes feel more daunting than exercising your muscles. So we’ve developed ten creativity challenges to jump-start your practice. Some you can do by yourself; some require a team. Some seem incredibly simple; others you might find more challenging. Three are presented below; we hope you’ll try at least one.
CREATIVITY CHALLENGE #1: PUSH YOURSELF TO THINK DIVERGENTLY
Mindmaps are a powerful way to overcome fear of the blank page, look for patterns, explore a subject, come up with truly innovative ideas, record their evolution so you can trace back in search of new insights, and communicate your thought processes to others. While lists help you capture the thoughts you already have, mindmaps help to generate wildly new ones. They are extremely versatile, and we use them all the time, not only at work but also at home, for example, to come up with dinner party ideas. (See illustration.)
TOOL: Mindmap
PARTICIPANTS: Usually a solo activity
TIME: 15-60 minutes
SUPPLIES: Paper (the bigger the better) and pen
INSTRUCTIONS:
CREATIVITY CHALLENGE #2: JUMP-START AN IDEATION SESSION
We learned this 30 Circles exercise from David’s mentor, Bob McKim. It’s a great warm-up and also highlights the balance between fluency (the speed and quantity of ideas) and flexibility (how different or divergent they are).
TOOL: 30 Circles
PARTICIPANTS: Solo or groups of any size
TIME: 3 minutes, plus discussion
SUPPLIES: Pen and a piece of paper (per person) with 30 blank circles on it of approximately the same size.
INSTRUCTIONS:
CREATIVITY CHALLENGE #3: LEARN FROM OBSERVING HUMAN BEHAVIOR
You’ve gone into the field in search of knowledge, meeting people on their home turf, watching and listening intently. Now synthesize all that data by creating an “empathy map”.
TOOL: Empathy Map
PARTICIPANTS: Solo or groups of two to eight people
TIME: 30-90 minutes
SUPPLIES: Whiteboard or large flip chart, Post-its, and pens
INSTRUCTIONS:
Tom Kelley is the general manager of IDEO and an executive fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. David Kelley is the founder and chairman of IDEO and the founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, where he is the Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering. They are co-authors of Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All (Crown Business, 2013).
Three Creativity Challenges from IDEO’s Leaders
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