THE POWER OF PERSONA

Is Dilip Mukerjea clowning as shown in this amusing snapshot? No, he is not. In fact, he is "demonstrating" to us a new way to see and think about a problem or a challenge or appraise a situation.

I like to call it, the Power of Persona.

Basically, it involves the imagined shift of one's mindset into behaving, or role playing, to be precise - thinking and doing - like another competent person or even another inanimate object in space.

 Indeed, many creativity gurus have formulated it in many different ways.

I believe Roger von Oech is among the first to come up with four stereotype roles or personas, in the creative thinking process, namely:

- Explorer;
- Artist;
- Judge;
- Warrior:

when he wrote his now classic 'A Whack on the side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative', in the early 80's.

You can visit www.creativethink.com to read more about them.

Around the same time in the early 80's, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson from Down Under, and working with Edward de Bono, through their joint School of Thinking initiative in New York, introduced the world to their version of stereotype roles in the creative thinking process, known as 'Six Thinking Caps':

- White;
- Black;
- Yellow;
- Red;
- Green;
- Blue;

It has been alleged that Edward de Bono, after breaking off with his protege, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, plagiarised the material to write his 'Six Thinking Hats' in the mid-80's.

Since then, Michael Hewiit-Gleeson, has added the seventh cap, Grey Cap, to his original concept.

More information can be found here: www.schoolofthinking.org/

In 2005, Tom Kelley of IDEO, the internationally-renowned global design consulting firm, shared with the world their winning design methodology, a powerful set of learning, organising and building personas, through their book, 'Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organisation.".

Here they are:

- The Anthropologist;
- The Experimentor;
- The Cross Pollinator;
- The Hurdler;
- The Collaborator;
- The Director;
- The Experience Architect;
- The Set Designer;
- The Storyteller;
- The Caregiver;

More information about them can be found here: www.tenfacesofinnovation.com/

Actually, back in the sixties, William J J Gordon and George Prince, had developed a slightly different but unique creative problem solving process of their own, through the brilliant use of metaphors and analogies. They called it, "Synectics".

Within their proprietary methodology, they are designated as:

- Symbolic Analogy;
- Personal Analogy;
- Direct Analogy:
- Fantasy Analogy;

For example, you can imagine yourself being the object under examination and then attempt to uncover the feelings and problems faced by the object.

More information can be found here: //synecticsworld.com/.

In a nut shell, using role playing or the power of persona to explore ideas is an interesting and powerful tactic to see and think more and further.