ZINGFUL TENETS from Sam Harrison

Creative communications, marketing & branding expert, Sam Harrison, shares his 15 'Zingful Tenets' on his corporate website.

I like the first tenet:

1. Don’t stop with the first idea you spot. Even if it’s a good idea, it’s probably the same one everyone else would spot. And the good is often the enemy of the best. Put the first three ideas aside and dig deeper.

To me, this tenet somehow resonates with de Bono's First Law.

For the uninitiated, this is de Bono's First Law:

"An idea can never be the best arrangement of available information."

He argues that:

1) one cannot regard any idea as absolute as there is a need to try to restructure an idea in order to get a better one;

2) the arrangement of information is only one of several alternatives;

3) because the current arrangement of information can never make the best use of available information, it is necessary to try to restructure to bring the arrangement up to date;

By the way, I like to suggest to readers to pop into the corporate website of de Bono's one-time protege, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, who happens to share another superb perspective about the foregoing phenomenon. He calls it the CVS/BVS equation, which is worth exploring.

Here's the link.

Nonetheless, readers can go to this link to read about the remaining 14 creativity tenets of Sam Harrison.

It is pertinent for me to point out that Sam Harrison is also the author of two popular books on creativity:

- 'ZING! Five Steps & 101 Tips for Creativity on Command'; &

- 'IdeaSpotting: How & Where to Find Your Next Great Idea';

His third book, 'IdeaSelling: Successfully Pitch Your Creative Ideas to Bosses, Clients & Other Decision Makers', is already out.

I have already read the first two, & will probably acquire the third shortly.

The first two books have been fun, easy & interesting read.