The Art of Innovation Chapters 4-6

I absolutely love reading about innovation. The techniques of brainstorming and prototyping while working in groups or teams are exciting and energizing. As they are described, they sound fun and creative and like self-generating powerhouses, with each team member sparking off the other. There seems to be a whole set of group dynamics that teams (or at least team leaders) must be aware of and able to optimize, so as not to have counter-productive conflict, distraction, or blocking. There has to be a degree of mutual trust and a willingness to share ownership of ideas.

Funny enough, typically, kids are funneled through the secondary school system, enduring 12 years of systemization, standardization, discipline and a general stifling of creative thinking in favor of memorization and regurgitation. Free flight of ideas is generally discouraged. Instead, students are rewarded for copying classical patterns and inhibiting their behavior so as not to present any problems. Group work is generally frowned upon, so students can be strictly graded and judged on their independent thoughts and work product.

So, how ironic it is to find this group creativity technique of brainstorming to be valued in the workplace and marketplace. The "two heads are better than one" philosophy inherent in this technique is a skill that has to be learned, with ingrained habits having to coincidentally be unlearned.

The "rules" of good brainstorming include quantity rather than quality, suspension of criticism or judgement, welcoming unusual ideas, and synergistic building upon the ideas of others. None of these new groundrules are woven into the fabric of my education, nor into the substance of my work habits. Sad, really, to think of all the lost opportunity throughout my school career to have learned and practiced and incorporated fun, creativity, and energy into what I learned and how I learned. Just think how much more productive I could be in design, if I didn't have to un-learn self-sabotaging habits like self-criticism, censoring, self-consciousness, suppression, inhibition, embarrassment, etc. The things that helped me get through secondary school are now obstacles to my free and open expression.