Good Morning Creativity is launching a collaborative challenge called “CREATIVITY EQUATION” that will be published on our Facebook Page each Friday.

What is it about? CREATIVITY EQUATION is YOUR definition of what happens when we combine Creativity + Something Else. The objective is wake up your creativity by sharing your ideas and thoughts and creating your own definitions. Don’t forget, here is no wrong answer.

How to participate?
- go to Good Morning Creativity FB page each Friday
- add your result answer for the Creativity Equation of the week
- check the last week definitions and vote for the best ones with your “Like”
- check the monthly summary of the best equation results on our website

And here you can find some of your answers on Creativity Equations:
Creativity + Higher Education = revolution, Sir Ken Robinson, fun, …
Creativity + Problem = several creative solutions, innovation, mother of innovation, …
Creativity + City = Paris, Milan, New York, Singapore – meaning Light of the South, …

This week Creativity Equation: Creativity + Fridge = ? (write your answer on our FB page)

Before introducing innovation at work, first thing you need to do is finding creativity fans hidden in your company! The problem is that they are not easy to identify at first sight. We have an idea. You are about to discover 5 ways to recognize any creativity fans around you!

« Fan is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. It comes from the Modern Latin fanaticus, meaning “insanely but divinely inspired.” » (wikipedia)

It is easy to spot fans, if you know what clues to look for. Think about ‘Star Wars’ fans, ‘FC Barcelona’ fans, ‘Lady Gaga’ fans, ‘Call of Duty’ fans, ‘Ferrari’ fans, ‘Chanel’ fans or ‘Apple’ fans. They express their enthusiasm and support their idols in many different ways, for example by:

- using a coded language
- worshiping idol’s work and results
- having an extensive knowledge in the domain
- wearing special clothes and accessories
- attending fan events, creating clubs
- and being proud about it!

Here is the list of 5 different ways to identify all creativity fans living and working around you:

1. SPY WAY: when a spy needs to identify another spy, he never met before, he uses a coded language. Creativity fans reveal their identity as soon as they hear someone else speaking their language. There is a long list of codes that ‘creativity spies’ would spot right away even without saying word “creative”! Try some of them when talking to others and observe their reaction:

“imagine, pioneer, dream, differently, unusual, innovation, original, outside the box, Bono, 6 hats, SCAMPER, lateral thinking, analogy, novelty, trying new things, inspiring, doodling, visual thinking, right brain, game storming, idea, risk taking, TED, crowdsourcing, 9 dots, vision board, Michalko, CPSI, etc.”

2. ARTIST WAY: creative people tend to admire artistic work of others or even create something themselves (often outside of their work!). To discover ‘artists’ among your colleagues or friends, propose them going for a cocktail in a new gallery, visiting a museum exhibition or going for a new product launch show. Check if there is any left-handed person in your team. Find out if anyone is doodling in his or her notebook during the meetings. Ask if anyone writes a blog, takes photos or makes videos in his or her free time.

3. DIAMOND WAY: diamonds are rare and unique. Just like creativity fans that like to be different from the others. They like to rebel against rules, desire to create something new, they push the limits of current reality. ‘Diamonds’ don’t like when someone else in the team is doing the same job. Try to think about people invented a new job role, or simply people who came to you and proposed something new in last 6 months.

4. SCIENTIST WAY: scientists are constantly looking for new solutions and all they do is thinking up new ideas and then experimenting. The same happens with creativity fans, they like trying new things. ‘Scientists’ in your company could be very calm people who like discovering things alone or in small team. Try to find out who likes going to new restaurants, traveling, meeting new people, discovering new music bands, trying new hobbies, cooking new meals, etc.

5. VISIONARY WAY: people with a vision certainly belong to creativity fans. They like to imagine the future, fantasize about impossible things or think about a purpose or big picture behind everything they do. To identify ‘visionary people‘ you just need to let your team members dream during a day. You can ask ‘what if questions’, you can create a ‘vision board’ with your team, you can bring visionary speaker to annual meeting and find out who was inspired, etc.

Creativity fans are everywhere around us but as they don’t wear T-shirts with sign “I am creative”, we need to discover their hidden talent and enable them to apply it everyday. If you have more ideas how to spot creativity fans, share them with us here.

Last week, I facilitated creativity workshop for a group of 16 professional women. One of the tips on creativity development that I mentioned in my closing summary, was the need to READ BOOKS! After the workshop, several participants came to me and asked for good tips on related books. Therefore I created a selection of 10 amazing creativity and innovation books in English and in French (ENG/FR). Each of them is different so you will certainly find what you are looking for:

Out of the Box (ENG)
Penser Malin (FR)
Author : Rob Eastaway
Who will like it ? Creativity beginners, curious people looking for simple ways to generate original ideas. Small book demonstrating that creative thinking can be applied everywhere by everyone.
Pros :
- has large number of simple techniques and tips on creative problem solving
- includes short descriptions that are easy to understand
- brings diversity – stories, instructions, drawings, games, quotations, etc.
- can be read in 1 day and then used as a handbook for inspiration
Cons :
- no instructions and tips for creativity facilitation

Thinkertoys – A hanbook of creative thinking techniques (ENG)
Thinkertoys : 30 jeux pour dégourdir l’esprit (FR)
Author : Michael Michalko
Who will like it ? People who are serious about creativity development and want to learn various techniques to be used individually or in a group.
Pros :
- has detailed descriptions of 30 different creative techniques
- includes blue print summaries explaining each technique step-by-step
- has creative drawings and visual exercises
- presents real business examples of applied creativity
Cons :
- introduction is very long and some text descriptions are not very clear

The ASTD Trainer’s Sourcebook – Creativity & Innovation (ENG)
Author : Elaine Biech
Who will like it ? Experienced trainers and facilitators who would like to enlarge their portfolio of competencies and start facilitating creative idea workshops.
Pros :
- is a complete sourcebook for creativity facilitators
- includes large number of exercises, games, facilitation tips and materials
- has customizable training designs for ½ day, 1-day and 1-hour workshop
- presents large number of simple creativity techniques
Cons :
- redundancy of few exercises and materials, available only in English

La Boite à Outils de l’Innovation (FR)
Author : Géraldine Benoit-Cervantes
Who will like it ? Innovation experts and practitioners looking for toolbox of methods, processes and techniques to use. It can be used for any types of innovation: product, service, processes, people management, etc.
Pros :
- is a complete toolbox for innovation process from A to Z
- each description explains why and how to use the tool
- contains advantages and as well precautions to take
- has visual demonstration by using tables, mind-maps and charts
Cons :
- available only in French, not suitable for beginners

Service Innovation (ENG)
Author : Lance A. Bettencourt
Who will like it ? Innovation or marketing experts specialized in the development of new services. This book is great inspiration for all service companies trying to create a unique customer experience.
Pros :
- has strong focus on discovering innovation opportunities
- combines author’s academic and consulting experience in service innovation
- presents number of real case practices very much focused on customer
- includes tables and maps visualizing the key concepts
Cons :
- sometimes long and unnecessary descriptions, available only in English

The Future of Management (ENG)
La Fin du management: Inventer les règles de demain (FR)
Author : Gary Hammel with Bill Breen
Who will like it ? Visionary managers, decision makers, CEOs and entrepreneurs. As author of the book said: “this book is for dreamers and doers.” One of the most inspiring books on innovation of current management models and practices.
Pros :
- its content will change your understanding of management
- includes number of real business examples of creative organizations
- presents key principles how to nourish creativity and innovate everyday
- is a book which is far ahead of its time!
Cons :
- missing visual demonstration, graphs, charts, tables, drawings

Business Model Generation (ENG)
Business Model nouvelle generation (FR)
Author : Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur and 470 practitioners from 45 countries!
Who will like it ? Game changers and challengers ready to defy outmoded business models. Book about Business Model Innovation designed for future generation of entrepreneurs.
Pros :
- has amazing visual design enabling reader to imagine and retain the content
- includes step-by-step explanations of business model innovation
- presents real case examples demonstrating different types of business models
- includes working canvas for innovation workshops and discussions
Cons :
- difficult to read in one shot like a book, it is rather an innovation handbook

Manager la créativité (FR)
Author : Thomas Paris
Who will like it ? Innovation managers and creative directors looking for inspiration from creative industries. This book describes how companies like Pixar, Hermès or Ducasse balance creativity and organization.
Pros :
- is explanation of contradiction of creative and organizational powers
- contains examples on creative talents, processes and organizations
- tells real back stage stories from creative industry
- dispels the most common prejudices on creativity
Cons :
- examples and ideas are sometimes disconnected, hard to understand the link

Six thinking hats (ENG)
Les six chapeaux de la réflexion (FR)
Author : Edward de Bono
Who will like it ? CEOs, decision makers and executive managers who facilitate team meetings and discussions on complex problems. This book describes creative and powerful method for making better decisions.
Pros :
- is detailed description of a single method and its application
- includes step-by-step explanations with tips and ideas
- contains examples of decision making discussions and questions
- can be read in 1-2 days and then applied directly
Cons :
- some parts are long and repetitive, missing visual elements

The back of the napkin (ENG)
Convaincre en deux coups de crayon – cahier d’entraînement (FR)
Author : Dan Roam
Who will like it ? Creativity practitioners, visual facilitators and managers leading group meetings and discussions. The objective of this notebook is to develop your visual thinking and drawing skills to be used in business environment.
Pros :
- has as many drawings as text explanations and instructions
- includes drawing exercises that anyone can do
- develops your visual vocabulary
- it is applicable to any kinds of idea capturing and presenting
Cons :
- missing a summary of key drawings or symbols of visual manager

As you can see, each book focuses on different part of creativity and innovation development. Which means that you need first to identify your needs and then find a book that will answer them. And if you have other good tip on creativity and innovation book, tell us what is it and why do you like it?

Peter Drucker said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Creating and inventing the future is done by creative and visionary people, pioneers, innovators or entrepreneurs. We strongly believe that you are one of them and you have already a good idea about what you are going to create in 2012. If you haven’t thought about it yet, January is the right moment to plan your projects for the entire year.

Good Morning Creativity team was inspired today and we created 2012 VISION BOARD with many exciting projects and we decided to share few of them with you:

Creativity Show - series of short videos on creativity and its application in business

Creative Labs Paris – monthly networking event on creativity & management dedicated to creative and innovation directors in Paris

Creativity Business Club Paris – regular mini-workshops on business creativity organized for club members in Paris

Creativity application for iphone – bringing creative thinking techniques into your smartphone

Good Morning Creativity blog – inspirational articles and tips for you every week

So what do you think? You can not wait anymore? Be patient… we start with blogging already this week, will continue with launch of Creativity Show in february and for the remaining projects, we will keep you posted about the timing. Stay tuned!

Do you make the same resolutions every year and never manage to fulfill them all? Do you stick to usual management and business methods and expect new solutions? We have bad news! “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” is Einstein’s definition of insanity. Therefore creative leaders, visionaries, game changers and pioneers need for 2012 only one resolution:

“DO IT DIFFERENTLY!”

“Do it differently!” should be your golden rule for the next 365 days. Each time you want to do something the same way, remember the rule and tell yourself “DO IT DIFFERENTLY!” It is not difficult, you only need to practice to make it a habit. You don’t know where to start? We have few ideas for you to inspire many more:

Do it usual way: Present yearly business plan with 50-slides presentation.
DO IT DIFFERENTLY: Present yearly business plan with Vision Board poster.
Do it usual way: Communicate by email.
DO IT DIFFERENTLY: Pick up the phone and call.
Do it usual way: Be the manager who is giving answers.
DO IT DIFFERENTLY: Become the manager who is asking questions.
Do it usual way: Go to office 5 days a week and execute.
DO IT DIFFERENTLY: Work 1 day per week outside the office and create ideas for improvements.
Do it usual way: Work for others.
DO IT DIFFERENTLY: Work for yourself.

Now you can simply continue brainstorming ideas on what you can do differently starting today! If you are missing inspiration, you can ask your wife, husband, kids, neighbors, colleagues or friends. Whatever you decide to change, you can be sure that the result with be different!

We, Good Morning Creativity team,

wish you HAPPY DIFFERENT YEAR 2012.

When you were a kid, you thought you could do everything! It was simply in you.

And you still can, because we live in the world where even 1 person can make a difference!

Entrepreneurs can make a change with a single brilliant idea.

They are thinkers, doers, INNOVATORS!!!

Can you imagine to add one simple word to your current job title that changes it all…? We can, it is word “creative”. Few weeks ago, I went to a networking cocktail. The objective was meeting as many new people as possible. I was discussing with 3 other ladies, when one of them asked: “So what are you doing for living?”

“I am Creative Director.” said Susan.
“I am Creative Screenwriter and Producer.” replied Alexis.
“I am Creative Leadership Consultant.” I added.

The 4th person was astonished by these answers and said: “Wow, I am not so creative as you… I am just accountant!” At the moment she knew our job titles, she considered us being more creative than herself!!! Then I got this crazy idea:

What if we added word ‘creative’ to everyone’s job title?


By adding only one word, we are changing the whole perception of someone’s job and as well our expectations towards his/her attitude and results. What would expect from someone with a job title like this one?

Creative CEO
Creative Business Line Manager
Creative Finance Director
Creative Operations Manager
Creative Strategy Consultant
Creative Software Engineer
Creative Assistant
Creative Cook
Creative Garbage Man…

You can try this small trick with your job title and imagine what results you could achieve by adding a little bit of creativity to your job.

What is it? SCAMPER is a check-list of questions fostering creative thinking. Some questions were created by Alex Osborn, so called “father of brainstorming”, and then organized into this mnemonic by Bob Eberle.

S(Substitute)+C(Combine)+A(Adapt)+M(Magnify)+P(Put to another use)+E(Eliminate)+R(Reverse)

How does it work? This method helps you to decompose your problem and treat each part separately. Each letter stands for an action that you are asked to apply on the selected parts of your problem:

Small trick to use: in order to make ideas flow, especially at the beginning of the creative session, we suggest combining SCAMPER with another technique called ZAPPING (listing of words expressing the same/similar thing but in a different way) as you will see in the example.

Real case example: SCAMPER is a revolutionary tool for those who want to become a customer oriented company! You’ll see in the example below, that even a public institution can innovate and improve its customer service:

Challenge statement: “How can we improve customer service of the post office?”

Quick check-list of questions created with SCAMPER:

S (Substitute): how can we…

…substitute physical post office with a virtual platform? …switch working hours? …replace letters with voice mails? …alternate post men with machines?

C (Combine): how can we…

…combine waiting with pleasure? …mix post and bank services? …unite all post offices in the city? …create blended offer for entrepreneurs?

A (Adapt): how can we…

…adapt delivery lead-time? …rework the building interior design? …transform the payment processes? …customize the service for retired people or foreigners?

M (Magnify): how can we…

…magnify the size of delivery package? …enlarge the post office entrance hall? …increase number of smiling officers? …expand the services outside of the post office?

P (Put to another use): how can we…

…put stamps to another use? …reposition the post office brand? …manipulate the way we communicate with customers? …misuse the post office rules?

E (Eliminate): how can we…

…eliminate the waiting time? …simplify the tracking of customer deliveries? …exclude complicated paper work? …cut out the customer cost?

R (Reverse): how can we…

…reverse the customer expectations? …rearrange the way we are organized? …do things backwards? …turn around the purpose of the post office?

What’s next? Each question will initiate a number of answers. It is always better to have more people involved. The result of such an exercise should be a long list of ideas and suggestions on how to innovate customer service. The next step is selection of the best ideas, combination of single ideas into entire solutions, and then testing and experimenting with few selected ones in order to see the impact. Keep in mind the golden rule: start small but think BIG!

(We found this nice article “Postal service needs a creative vision” speaking about postal service innovation. )

Fast Company magazine has issued for the second time the list of the 100 most creative people in business of the year. If you wonder how they built this list, their explanation is simple: “We looked for dazzling new thinkers, rising stars, and boldface names who couldn’t be ignored.“ Bit general definition, but when you’ll see the diversity of the people, you’ll understand why.

Besides the fact, that many of nominated people are from US, the list is very interesting and exhaustive. Therefore Good Morning Creativity team reviewed each nominee (it took us few hours!!!), checked their profiles, watched their videos and based on the 100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS 2011, we created the short-list called “THE MAGIC 12”. In our opinion, these are the 12 most inspiring people who are definitely worth checking out and learning from them!!!

4. JACK DORSEY / Square – chairman of twitter who invented a revolutionary product called Square. His new service lets anybody to accept credit-card payments with their iPhones. The future belongs to smartphones! (Video)

5. SEBASTIAN THRUN / Google – Google guy who invented self driving car: a car driven by onboard computer – like planes. Each car is equipped with sensors that gather millions of data points per second about the surroundings and differentiate cars, pedestrians, birds, you name it. Sounds like a car from the future! (Video)

7. SAL KHAN / Khan Academy – Reinventing education! He developed true adaptive learning platform allowing students to solve problems at their own pace, using a computer program that gives them instant feedback, charts their progress, and rewards them when they get 10 correct answers in a row. (Website)

11. SAM KASS / The White House – Chef at White House trying to find the way to make kids eating healthy food! In addition, they run program called ‘Healthy Kids’ in order to change the law to make school food healthy, nutritious and tasty. (Video)

15. ERIC DISHMAN / Intel – Rethinking healthcare! His goal is to enable 50% of care in the U.S. to be delivered in the home by 2020. “That’s game-changing for quality of life, and a trillion dollars in potential savings.” This January, his work inspired a spin-off company, Care Innovations GE, a joint venture between GE and Intel. (Video)

29. TONY HSIEH / Delivering Happiness – Using happiness as business model! They are connecting corporate values and personal values. He launched a motivational consultancy, that will advise on company culture as well as offer packaged experiences, such as pottery classes and helicopter lessons. (Website)

32. ANN HAND / Project Frog – Revolutionary building construction model – flat like Ikea! Her firm creates low-energy prefab buildings that reduce both cost and waste while optimizing performance for the users inside. She is determined to revolutionize the entire U.S. commercial-building market. Read more about Project Frog. (Website)

41. JOHN JAY / Wieden+Kennedy – He is firstly great listener, trying to understand the soul of his clients. He is co-founder of the advertising agency that is a catalyst for innovation on a global scale in areas outside of what used to be called advertising. (Video)

53. CHIEF ALMIR / Surui Amazon Tribe – Tribal leader Chief Almir of the Surui people in the Brazilian Amazon has looked to a surprising source to help his tribe maintain its traditional way of life: Google. The tribe created an online “cultural map” of the Surui with stories from the tribe’s elders that are uploaded onto YouTube and many more. (Video)

56. SUNNI BROWN / BrightSpot I.D. – She says that “visual language is one of our best friends and that giving an idea shape and a visual representation makes it come to fruition.” She is running a real ‘Doodle Revolution’ that you can join as well. (Website)

68. HANS ROSLING / Gapminder Foundation – he run several myth-busting presentations on international development at TED, and he developped Trendalyzer software, that creates captivating stories out of statistics on GDP, education, and birth rates. Simply said, he makes you love the statistics ! (Video)

92. NICOLE VANDERBILT / mydeco.com – She developed the 3-D Room Planner. This tool lets professionals and novices alike design virtual rooms, fill them with items from some 800 retailers, and get feedback from the site’s 100,000 members — all before buying a single thing. (Website)

We hope these amazing stories and creative examples of innovative businesses will inspire you and you will join the REVOLUTION!

This morning I was interviewed by a professional from Ivory Coast about creativity. He asked me few very interesting questions about why is creativity so important and how it can used in the different areas of our life. It was a great experience for me, because his questions helped me to realize what kind of questions people ask themselves on this subject. So I decide to provide you the complete interview and I hope you will enjoy it.

…

What’s creativity in a simple word?

Different way of thinking.

Why being creative in my life? Are there any advantages or drawbacks?

And why not? (Laughing). In the complex business environment, creativity is as important as communication, decision-making, delegation, integrity or other any other leadership soft skills. Creativity can help you to find unusual solutions, to innovate or invent something completely new. I believe this is something our society needs right now. Advantage is the higher possibility to succeed!

I would not call them drawbacks but rather challenges. As any other soft skill, when it is used incorrectly, it does not bring results. To be more concrete, I can give you 2 examples: creative thinking requires more time, because we look for something new that has not been done before; you always need to get till the end of the creative process, otherwise ideas remain only ideas !

Is creativity part of a coaching process?

Yes, creativity can be part of a coaching process in 2 different ways: creativity development can be the objective of the coaching assignment OR the coach can use creative methods when working with coached person on achieving his objectives.

Can creativity be used in employee development or general HR management?

Certainly! Creative methods are amazing tool helping employees to learn and to develop new ways of thinking and solving problems. This enables them to progress in their daily work.

On the other hand, general HR managers can apply creativity in their field. They can innovate current management practices, services they provide to the rest of the organization, or they can solve everyday problems in the original way.

Is there any relationship between creativity and change?

Yes ! Creativity is like the sparkle of the change. You strive to find new solutions, new ideas, new products, new services, new ways of working or organizing your teams. After you need to move to the innovation stage and finally to the change management to accompany the innovation acceptance.

How do you sell creativity to an individual or to a company?

Selling creativity is still fairly difficult. People don’t believe they can develop creativity and they can not imagine how to use it in the professional or personal life. The important thing to remember when selling any soft skill, it is not the skill itself that matter, but the result that it can bring.

What are the tools for creativity workshops and where to get them?

There are many creative methods like problem re-definition, random word, discovery matrix, SCAMPER, Creative Problem Solving (CPS), etc. They can be learned at creativity trainings, conferences run by professional trainers (Good Morning Creativity ), by reading books on creativity methods (Michael Michalko, Edward de Bono), by learning from internet and by experimenting everyday.

Is there any special training to become a creativity consultant?

Yes, besides all qualities of a strategy and change management consultant, creativity consultant should be an expert in the application of the creative methods, in the facilitation of creative workshops and experience with the creativity coaching could be plus as well. We have several trainings in our portfolio for future consultants.

How do I identify the areas of my life where I want to be creative?

It is very simple – you just need to identify the areas of your life where you want to change, improve, and reinvent.

What are the challenges when one wants to be creative?

I would summarize them in 2 categories:

Internal challenges – those are the barriers coming from our personal perception. People believe they are not capable of being creative and they fear to fail. They could overcome this with a help of creativity coach.

External challenges – this is the rejection of creative efforts and creative ideas from your environment (personal or professional). People are skeptical about creativity because is seems to be far from reality. This challenge will disappear at the moment you create tangible results.

How do you convince the supervisor to support your creative ideas and suggestions?

(Smiling)… This can be difficult and therefore Good Morning Creativity works with managers and leaders first! But if your supervisor does not feel comfortable to accept your creative ideas, you need to start with something small with low risk. Identify small problem, find creative solution easy to implement and show him the result. This will give your supervisor confidence in you and your creative skills. And next time you can attack a bigger problem.