1. 2
Bill Gates and Paul Allen are
the two people who founded
Microsoft (makers of the world’s
most used desktop operating
system, Windows) in 1975.
Bill, who was responsible for
Microsoft’s product strategy for
more than 30 years, was number
one on the Forbes list
of The World’s Richest
People from 1995 to
2007 and 2009.
450
Pencils were invented more than
450 years ago and were used in
space in the 20th century because
they could write in zero gravity.
Leaders 19
Careers
Life doesn’t come with
an instruction manual,
so learning some
creative thinking skills
can help you face those
unexpected challenges
efficiently, elegantly and
with little fuss…
BY brent smith
Make
your day
In the face of danger, 70% of people will
stop dead, according to a theory known
as normality bias. How do you become
one of the people who take action? The
solution is in the way you think.
Picasso said, “Every child is born an
artist. The problems begin once we start
to grow up.” We’re all capable of being
creative – we just need to rediscover the
spark lurking within.
We checked in with those in the know in
Cape Town, World Design Capital 2014, for
some inspiration. Here’s what we learnt.
1 A GOOD MORNING!
Start at the beginning: breakfast
The monthly Creative Mornings talks in
Bree Street make up Cape Town’s chapter
of a global movement that discusses a new
topic each month. Anyone can drop by for
a high-fibre, high-inspiration breakfast
packed with talking points and tips to
get you through the day. Philipp Schmid,
marketing manager at Friends of Design,
co-ordinates Cape Town’s chapter. He says
people rock up hungry “for food and for
inspiration” and leave satisfied. Creative
Mornings also has a Joburg chapter.
PechaKucha, a similar global event
18 Leaders
Keep an
open mind
Tune in to
what’s going on
around you.
Brainstorm
solutions
Apply your technical
knowledge in the morning
and think out of the box
in the afternoon.
Discuss ideas
Surround yourself with
people you respect and
who believe in you. Bounce
ideas off them. Be open to
feedback. If you’re rejected,
restart and repair.
Stockpile
ideas
Make a note of your
ideas as they strike.
Identify
problems
What irritates you?
Ask yourself what can
be done differently.
2 MID-MORNING MATTERS
Know what you’re capable of
– and when…
According to www.hongkiat.com, there are
two kinds of creativity: practical creativity
and fantastic creativity. Practical creativity
involves anything where you apply technical
knowledge. The best time for this, they say,
is mid-morning.
Practical creativity is complemented
with fantastic creativity, or “inventing
entertainment”. You’re primed for this
when you’re a bit run-down after lunch. This
is when the more left-field ideas come.
What this means is that you’re capable of
coming up with useful solutions all day.
Sometimes you just need to allow yourself
a little time to think.
3 WORK THE WATER COOLER
Once you’ve thought of an idea,
start talking!
So you’ve come up with a great idea, a
real doozy of a solution for your problem.
What’s the next step? You may snicker, but
old-time rapper Vanilla Ice said it best:
“Stop, collaborate and listen.”
where 20 slides are displayed for 20
seconds each while a presenter talks
you through them, is active in Cape Town,
Joburg and Durban.
But if you can’t make it to these talks,
there are plenty of other ways to find
inspiration in your environment. Philipp says
you should keep your mind open to new
things. “There’s so much happening in the
city: exhibitions, galleries, festivals. Any
big city can inspire you on a creative level,
whether that be from its urban or natural
environment. If you have an office job, go
outside at lunch time. You may be inspired
by what you see and hear on the streets.”
Thinking alone is not a way of thinking
creatively. You have to work in a team
to achieve your goal. “You can only go
so far if you work alone,” says Philipp.
“The input you get from others takes you
so much further. Even if you are split up
into different teams, you’re all working
towards a common goal for the company.”
4 AFTERNOON SLUMP
Store ideas like nuts. Seriously.
Sometimes we hit creative hurdles –
especially as closing time approaches!
You can’t control when inspiration strikes,
but you can save an idea for later. Have
a notebook handy at all times to jot
things down for when you need them.
Or, if you know you succumb to the
slump, work your day so that tasks that
demand creativity are done when you’re
at your freshest. You can still work
through the slump, just pick work that’s
not so demanding creatively, like admin.
5 Food for thought
Lose the ego.
Philipp says the biggest obstacle is to
understand that you are not the best
in the world and that you can always
improve. Be open to feedback from
others and your ideas could take off.
You can’t control when
inspiration strikes, but you can
save an idea for later. Have a
notebook handy at all times…
Creativity can’t exist in a
vacuum – so collaborate!
Doing something
inspiring over
breakfast boosts
your day
CREATIVE-THINKING
FLOW CHART
CREATIVE THINKING
BY NUMBERS
5 000
The Egyptians used reed straws with split nibs
to write 5 000 years ago. This “pen” gradually
transformed to quills, then metal dip pens and
fountain pens. In 1931, Laszlo Biro invented the
first ballpoint. Today, more than 150 million pens
are sold each year.
images thinkstock and www.creativemornings.com