The document discusses creative thinking and provides 4 steps to improve creative thinking: 1) Be curious - play, suspend judgement, ask questions 2) Make connections - talk to different people and try new things 3) Challenge yourself - take risks, accept failures, and question assumptions 4) Cultivate your ideas - daydream, give ideas time to grow, and consider all possibilities. Creative thinking can provide a competitive advantage and is important for business success.

1. Creative Thinking:
Your Edge
http://workincolour.com.au/
Saturday, 30 May 2009

2. Recent Harvard Business blogs:
12 May 2009: 'It's the single
biggest error firms make in times
of crisis: repeating the past. When
the world around you is undergoing
discontinuous change, repeating
yesterday's mistakes is the quickest
path to decay and dissolution.'
11 May 2009: 'Today's turbulent
times make mastering innovation a
competitive necessity.'
8 April 2009: 'Innovation has
never been more important.'
Saturday, 30 May 2009

3. 'Creativity is one of the last
remaining legal ways of gaining
an unfair advantage over the
competition.'
Ed McCabe
Saturday, 30 May 2009

4. Everyone can do it, not
just architects + people in
ad agencies.
Saturday, 30 May 2009

5. Left brain, logical, linear
thinking is essential in business.
(It's 'in the box' thinking...)
Saturday, 30 May 2009

6. But for 21st
century success
you also need
right brain,
creative, big
picture thinking.
(That's the 'out
of the box'
bit...)
Saturday, 30 May 2009

7. It’s about
using your
whole
brain, not
just one
side or the
other...
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8. Creative thinking
is natural + quite
easy to
tap into
...with a
few tips +
tricks
Saturday, 30 May 2009

9. Follow these
4 steps +
change how
you work...
today.
Saturday, 30 May 2009

10. Step 1: Be Curious
Saturday, 30 May 2009

11. 'Curiosity is one of the
permanent and certain
characteristics of a vigorous
intellect.' Samuel Johnson
Saturday, 30 May 2009

12. be curious:
Play
Saturday, 30 May 2009

13. be curious:
Suspend
Judgement
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14. be curious:
Ask (lots of) Questions
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15. Step 2:
Make
Connections
Saturday, 30 May 2009

16. 'Creativity is the power
to connect the seemingly
unconnected.'
William Plomer
Saturday, 30 May 2009

17. make connections:
Talk to
People in
Different
Fields
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18. Try Something
(Anything) New
make connections:
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19. Step Sideways &
See Another Angle
make connections:
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20. Step 3:
Challenge Yourself
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21. 'A person who never made a
mistake never tried anything
new.' Albert Einstein
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22. challenge yourself:
Take Risks
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23. challenge yourself:
Accept Failures
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24. challenge yourself:
Question
Assumptions
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25. Step 4:
Cultivate
Your Ideas
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26. 'Courage does not always roar.
Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at
the end of the day saying, I will
try again tomorrow.' Unknown
Saturday, 30 May 2009

27. cultivate:
Daydream
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28. cultivate:
Give Ideas
Time to
Grow
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29. cultivate:
Consider all the
Possibilities
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30. 'The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for
what you really want. Don't go back to
sleep. People are going back and forth
across the door sill where two worlds touch.
The door is round and open. Don't go back
to sleep.'
Mevlana Rumi
Saturday, 30 May 2009