Wily Walnut’s Blog 2.0

I really enjoyed reading this interview with the now 75-year-old, Edward de Bono: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/01/04/interview.html

In it he calls for an Embassy or “Palace of Thinking”, a grand edifice building that would visually impress the importance and regard we choose to give to the thinking arts in the new millenia.  

This Palace of Thinking would be situated in his homeland of Malta, the tiny Mediterranean island which would be rebranded the Creative Think Tank of the world!

Check out some of Edward de Bono’s other provactive ideas in this article, namely:

1. That he goes to America, as a ‘gift’ from the EU, to teach Presidential elect Obama how to think creatively!

2. The invention of a new spending currency “the Bon”. He explains how that would work.

3. The development of a currency for buying and selling property with a managed exchange rate mechanism to stabilise property markets in times of bubble/bust.

4. What a fat female cross-eyed hunchback can expect if she ever crosses paths with Mr de BONO!

It’s very waffo and you can read it here: The Embassy of Thinking

Edward de Bono’s article Creative solutions: how creativity can help with decision making and analysis made for uncomfortable reading.

Why?

Because it exposed a few hidden home truths that most self-confessed ‘creative types’ hide even from themselves.

And what is that?

That we enjoy creative thinking while it is fun, but often bail out when it starts to feel like hard work.

But as Edward de Bono points out in this article, “the disciplined use of creative thinking often turns up ideas way beyond those that arise from the habit of creative thinking.”

Becoming a disciplined creative thinker is a whole different ball game.

Are you up to it?

Just been reading latest article from Mark McGuiness over at Lateral Action.

You’ll want to check it out as he challenges that old creative thinking chestnut, “thinking outside of the box”.

Mark explores where the saying comes from and he has got a great graphic of the old nine dot puzzle (you know the one where you are supposed to go through all the dots with no more than 4 straight lines).

Find out how I can complete the puzzle with just one straight line. I told him that I like to box outside of the thinking

Really though, we do all our thinking outside of the box, if that box is the coffin.

On that morbid thought, I’ll bid you toodlepip and recommend you check out:

Why Thinking “Outside the Box” Doesn’t Work

Innovation strategist, Idris Mootee, of  Innovation Playground, has written an article that makes some valuable points to any business looking to develop creative thinking and innovation amongst its people.

It’s not enough just to take on creative types, he says. Most of those type of people won’t have the mental fortitude to see projects through to productive ends. Mootee stresses the need for a culture of non-traditional thinking, in which experimentation and prototyping is encouraged.

The same attitude is required by anyone who wants to live creatively in the 21st Century and grow as an individual. You have to constantly set up experiments in living, so that you can try out new ways of thinking, acting and being. Keep pushing against the limitations.

Check out Idris Mootee’s article here: “Creative Thinking” Is More Than Just “Creativity”. And Business Innovation Is Not Dependent On Creative People.
 

A press release from a Chinese online tutorial service gives strength to the Chinese governments decision to focus on moving from a memory-based education system to one that cultivates and encourages creative thinking.

Many people in the West naievely cling onto the idea that the West has some kind of monopoly on creativity. They see all the manufacturing and business wealth moving East and pacify themselves with the thought that we will retain our preeminence in the global economy through creative thinking.

China is packed with people who are bursting at the seams to express the full depths of their creativity, and are already doing so. We saw that at the Olympics. Once they get a government-backed education system that actively fosters creativity and innovation as well… aye-yay-yay!

Shouldn’t we in the West be cultivating our own creativity more actively at the school level too?

Here’s the release:

China Education Resources Announces the Launch of its Combined Internet and Offline Tutoring Programs in China

Check out this report: Poverty hurts kids’ creative thinking as much as brain damage

It describes a study that found that kids living in poverty end up with brains that have little chance of coming up with ideas to get themselves out of their economic situation. Talk about a vicious circle!

Many of these poor kids have so little quality stimulation that their brains never sufficiently develop the ability to think creatively and solve problems. Their brains are effectively ‘brain damaged’ by default and neglect.

The only ray of light for them — and for all of us who get insufficient mental stimulation — is that the brain can recover. Brain plasticity means that given time and the right training, the brain can develop and become stronger.

We’ve GOT to give more attention to ensuring that all of us get to access the best of our potential. Who knows what potential life-changing, life-saving ideas and innovations are lost because the people who would have/could have come up with them, never got the chance to be who they could have been!