Business
the ART of … TM
Creative Thinking By Bryan W. Mattimore
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ryan Mattimore is Cofounder and Chief Idea Guy at Growth Engine, an 18-year-old innovation agency based in Norwalk, Connecticut. He is most recently the author of 21 Days to a Big Idea: Creating Breakthrough Business Concepts. What are the chances that you devise an innovative new product or business idea before you finish reading this 750-word article? Pretty good, actually. Why am I confident in your creative abilities? Because I know that rediscovering the connection-making ability that we exercise so effortlessly in childhood only requires a little help from a few simple techniques. Not so sure you can do it? Let’s look to some Chicago librarians for inspiration. Every year, the Chicago Public Library closes its doors to the public for a “day of enrichment and skill training” in which all 600 members of the staff participate. After the publication of my second book—Idea Stormers—I got a call from Joan Levey, their
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Photo Credit: Growth Engine
Project Coordinator. “Our educational theme for this year’s staff enrichment day is creativity and innovation,” Joan said. “We’ve read your book and would like to know if you’d be available to give a 60-minute keynote to our employees.” Teaching librarians about creativity sounded like a fun challenge, so I decided to bring out a few of the magic tricks that I use to train corporate executives to be imaginative and creative problem solvers. I began my presentation, which was held in the atrium of the downtown Chicago’s Harold Washington Library, by asking five volunteers to come onto the stage. “How many of you think that these coworkers can create an invention in the next 30 seconds?” I asked the audience, who responded with guffaws, catcalls, and quizzical looks—but no raised hands.