They Have a Better Idea ... Do You?

Bill Flanagan

Vice President of Programming and Editorial Director, VH1
New York, New York
flanaganb@mtvn23.viacom.com

We all want to be judged by how good we are when we're at our creative best. But the real test is how good we are when we're at our creative average. Hemingway once said there are no failures of talent, only failures of character. If you watch creative people go through their unavoidable ups and downs, you'll see exactly what he meant. People who are consistently creative can face the blank sheet of paper even when they don't feel like it. That's important. Most of us don't have the luxury of waiting for the perfect moment. We have to be creative on demand. But you'll find that the tenacity to plow through often creates its own forms of inspiration.

Learn to clear your head of debris so that new ideas can enter. Mine the good ideas with the bad ones -- and then be ruthless in editing. Creative people are like cartoon characters running on air after they've run off a cliff. They're okay as long as they don't look down.

Bill Flanagan is executive producer of "Storytellers," and "VH1 Archives," and the author of U2 at the End of the World (Delacort, 1995).

Laurie Dunnavant

Manager, Decision Support Product
Analysts, 3M Health Information Systems Murray, Utah
lauried@wpmail.code3.com

You can't force-feed creativity. But you can create an environment that encourages it. At 3M, we're building an Innovation and Learning Center to do just that. Don't worry -- you won't find creativity facilitators, Nerf guns, or beanbag chairs. The center offers books, videos, and technical training items geared to spark new thinking.

We understand that an innovation center can't transform people who don't have the internal drive and desire to create. But we also know it doesn't work to urge people to think outside the box without giving them the tools to climb out.

Laurie Dunnavant is a founding fellow of Innovation University, a one-year advanced learning program affiliated with Innovation Network.

Steve McCallion

Director of Research and Design Planning
ZIBA Design
Portland, Oregon
steve_mccallion@ziba.com

In my second year of architecture school, a professor asked us to create an innovative office tower. He insisted that we not reference outside resources -- no books, no photographs. "Just be creative!" he shouted. The result? A depressingly familiar display of foam core and hot glue. We had no context from which to innovate.

The moral: you can't be creative just by trying to be creative. You need a deep understanding of the problems you are trying to solve.

At ZIBA we use what we call "design machines" to create the context for innovation. These machines can be complex -- elaborate models of home media viewing based on exhaustive research. Or they can be as simple as a single question. But it is this informed context that allows us to make those unexpected connections. We have found that the result is consistent innovation and creativity.

Steve McCallion creates information-based products for such clients as Xerox, Coleman Company, and Kenwood USA.

Suzanne Merritt

Senior Creatologist
InSightOut
Cambridge, Massachusetts
merrits@polaroid.com

There's no creativity without authenticity -- a core sense of purpose that drives your creative endeavors. To make that sense of purpose explicit, I suggest posing four questions at three different levels -- person, team and, organization: What am I here to create? What talents and abilities are my natural resources? What might I have to let go of to create what I want? What real need in the world will be met by what I create?

In answering those questions, be sure to start with the personal. Without intrinsic motivation, you'll never survive the ups and downs of the creative process. Then look at everything with fresh eyes. You'll be amazed by what you see.

Suzanne Merritt was Polaroid's senior creatologist for four years and has developed an unusually effective approach to creativity based on aesthetics in both art and science.

Clar Evans

Director, Creative Advisory Group
Hallmark Cards Inc.
Kansas City, Missouri
free1@unicom.net

Creativity is the act of bringing an intangible idea to productive life. It requires absolute persistence. It also requires a generosity of spirit to include others in the action.

I think of creativity as civilized tenacity. You have to defend your ideas, educate your colleagues, and recruit allies. You also have to be willing to rethink and revise. Most breakthroughs are the result of a series of creative insights, each of them as fresh and innovative as the original big idea.

In her 40 years at Hallmark, Clar Evans has had several careers in hands-on product creation and management.