Dr. Edward de Bono devoted his life to creativity.
- He advised NASA, Google, IBM.
- He coined the term ‘Lateral Thinking’.
- He wrote more than 70 books on creativity.
These are his greatest lessons:
1. Dig Wide
Logic means digging in the most probable place until you find what you’re looking for. Creativity means digging in random places, accepting that you’ll know what you’re looking for only when you find it.
2. Quantity = Quality
Creativity lives beyond the first few bad ideas.
Set a quota (e.g., 20 headlines) and keep going ‘till you meet it.
3. Cultivate Creativity
Creativity is a skill. Practice daily, and you’ll improve.
Here’s how you can practice on the go:
4. Think Laterally
Vertical thinking will lead you to obvious results.
Instead, open any book, pick a random word, and try to connect it with your problem. Magic will happen.
5. Avoid Crazytivity
Creativity must have value. Don’t do something differently only for the sake of being different.
6. Yes! And… vs. Yes, but…
Never reject your partner’s ideas immediately. Instead, develop them.
The dumbest ideas often lead to a breakthrough. Also, people will share more ideas with you if they know you won’t judge them.
7. Think Now. Search Later.
Google shows almost the same results to everyone. So before googling, brainstorm by yourself, or you’ll end up doing the same as everyone else.
8. Control Your Ego
We often cling to a bad idea because we’re defending our self-esteem, not the idea. Wear different thinking hats to evaluate ideas objectively.
9. Fix What Ain’t Broken
Even if something is good, it doesn’t mean it can’t get better. Identify the most dominant ideas in your field, and challenge them.
10. Use Fractionation
Break down your problem into components and try to solve each part separately or rearrange it differently.
11. Make Mistakes
Schools reward those who are never wrong.
The real world rewards those who dare to be wrong.
12. Think Visually
Language is the biggest barrier to creative progress. Old perceptions are frozen into words, making us see things in an old-fashioned way.
