A LESSON IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP... & IMPROVISATIONAL CREATIVITY

Successful entrepreneurship is characterised by persistent dogged determination.

This is how entrepreneurs surmount recurring obstacles through their improvisational creativity.

Jay Van Andel, cofounder of Amway, featured in a set of experiences that typify the entrepreneurial persona. Just after the end of the Second World War, Van Andel and two friends opted to ride the airplane craze and launch an enterprise.

This is their story:

For a down payment of $700, they purchased a two-seat Piper Cub in Detroit. Not knowing anything about flying, they hired a pilot to fly their new acquisition from Detroit to Grand Rapids.

As they state: “The next difficulty was making enough money to pay off and fly the airplane we just bought.”

So they opened a flying service, naming it Wolverine Air Service. They still didn’t know how to fly, and thus hired two veteran pilots, whilst they did what was necessary on the ground: their mainstay was flying instruction, but they also offered passenger rides, group transportation, and sales and rentals of airplanes.

They recall: “We were counting on being able to use the new Grand River Air Park in Comstock Park, which was under construction when we started.

When the airport project ran out of money, we attached pontoons to the bottom of our airplane and used the Grand River for our airstrip.

This was a lesson to us in improvisation, and we learned a few more like it during our air service days…[We] employed the services of an old chicken coop for an office…”

On a trip to Florida to deliver a plane, they hit on the idea of opening a drive-in restaurant, similar to ones they’d seen elsewhere.

With $300 to invest, they opened the “Riverside Drive-Inn Restaurant” on May 20, 1947. It was the first of its kind in the area. Their knowledge of running a restaurant was no better than what it was forflying an airplane, but they pressed on.

Their story continues:

“[We] built a diminutive wooden structure there at the air park, laying the foundation and nailing the clapboards ourselves. It took several months to get electricity hooked up properly, so we bought a generator. We also had no water for some time, so every evening we would fill up jugs at the nearest place that had plumbing and carry them to the restaurant.”

They kept the restaurant open from 5 P.M. until midnight. Like all good entrepreneurs, they functioned on overdrive. They kept conjuring up ways to provide additional services to their customers at the air park.

At one point, they started offering canoe rides down the Grand River, and fishing excursions on that lake. Within two years in this business, they were operating a flight school, charter service, repair service, an aircraft and gasoline sales organization, as well as the boat rental and charter business, not to mention the restaurant!

During these years, they gained business wisdom the hard way: the primary lesson was to persist with their persistence in spite of an unending series of unexpected problems.

As they conclude: “When the air park didn’t open on time, when the electricity and water weren’t hooked up for our restaurant on time, when several of our airplane engines were destroyed after we used the wrong lubricating oil, when hail and wind seriously damaged several of our airplanes, we didn’t give up.

Winter snows forced us to put skis on all the airplanes, but it seemed that as soon as the skis were on, the snow would melt, and as soon as we removed them, the snow would fly.

But the first year, we flew two million passenger miles and earned $50,000."

Entrepreneurial Improvisations:

• No landing strip? They used the river.

• No office? The chicken coop would suffice.

• No electricity? Locate a generator.

• No water? Haul it in.

• Ground covered with snow? Put skis on the plane.

Adapted from Source: Joseph H. Boyett & Jimmie T. Boyett

[to be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from the 'Lifescaping' seminar participant's manual. The 'Lifescaping' seminar is conducted by Dilip Mukerjea about four times a year under the auspices of the Singapore Institute of Management.]

DEVELOPING CREATIVE FIREPOWER

According to Earl Henne, author of 'Mining Your Mind. Do You Mind?,

"Questions are frequently more important than answers because they often define the quality of the answers, & answers often lead to further questions, & they sometimes help relate the seemingly unrelated".

I have often used the Phoenix Checklist of Questions, which has originally been developed by the CIA to encourage their field operatives & intelligent analysts to study a problem or challenge from diferent angles.

Here it is.

THE PROBLEM:

- Why is it necessary to solve the problem?
- What benefits will you gain by solving the problem?
- What is the unknown?
- What is it you don’t understand?
- What is the information you have?
- What isn’t the problem?
- Is the information sufficient? or is it insufficient? or redundant? or contradictory?
- Should you draw a diagram of the problem?
- Where are the boundaries of the problem?
- Can you separate the various parts of the problem? can you write them down? what are the relationships of the parts of the problem?
- What are the constants (things that can’t be changed) of the problem?
- Have you seen this problem before?
- Have you seen this problem in a slightly different form?
- Do you know a related problem?
- Try to think of a familiar problem having the same or similar unknown
- Suppose you find a problem related to yours that has already been solved. can you see it? can you use it’s method?
- Can you restate your problem? how many different ways can you restated it? more general? more specific? can the rules be changed?
- What are the best, worst and most probable cases can you imagine?

THE PLAN

- Can you solve the whole problem? part of the problem?
- What would you like the resolution to be? can you picture it?
- How much of the unknown can you determine?
- Can you derive something useful from the information you have?
- Have you used all the information?
- Have you taken into account all essential notions in the problem?
- Can you separate the steps in the problem solving process? can you determine the correctness of each step?
- What creative thinking techniques can you use to generate ideas? how many?
- Can you see the result? how many different kinds of results can you see?
- How many different ways have you tried to solve the problem?
- What have others done?
- Can you intuit the solution? can you check the result?
- What should be done? how should it be done?
- Where should it be done?
- When should it be done?
- Who should do it?
- What do you need to do at this time?
- Who will be responsible for what?
- Can you use this problem to solve some other problem?
- What is the unique set of qualities that makes this problem what it is and none other?
- What milestones can best mark your progress?
- How will you know when you are successful?

A CHECKLIST FOR NEW IDEAS

To recap, with personal comments from Say Keng within the brackets:

- Define your problem (conceptualising your problem statement is a vital starting point!);

- Define & visualise the ideal solution (assuming you have unlimited power, resources, including money, & time to deal with the problem, beyond the given constraints);

- Gather the facts: specific & general (another vital function; recommend using the Journalist's Questions for a start!);

- Break the pattern (especially of current thinking, so as to see & explore other possibly hidden relationships - or reveal your own blindspots - to the problem);

- Go outside your own field (to explore how others, especially in unrelated spheres of activity, may have solved similar problems, or to draw useful analogies from other outside or disparate disciplines to solve your current problems);

- Try new combinations (to see what may come out of the new relationship, or mix & match to create new perspectives; after all, creativity is combining & recombining what already exists - just think of the 'Medici Effect'! &/or 'Innovation on the Verge');

- Use all your senses (not only your physical senses, but also your metaphysical senses, like intuition or gut feelings; remember, a pair of sharp "ears" can detect what's not said, & a keen "nose" can smell opportunities!);

- Switch off – let it simmer (incubate) (by indulging yourself in some mundane tasks, like day-dreaming, commuting, doing domestic chores, sitting in a park, loafing in a shopping mall, or just reading a book under a tree, etc., so as to allow raw ideas to gell or percolate in the mind on their own for a while);

- Use music or nature to relax (as we know, music, especially Baroque, Classical & New Age, soothes the mind, while nature is our most inspiring teacher! Japan's inventor extraordinaire Dr Nakamats often listen to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as well as Jazz to spur his mind!);

- Sleep on it (while allowing the powerful unconscious mind to take over the final processing work - experts call it 'dreamwork'!); Do you remember the story of Friedrich Kekule & the Benzene Ring?;

- Eureka! It pops out! (it's the AhA experience, which is often beyond words to describe! According to creativity guru Edward de bono, we can make this act of illumination as a deliberate initiative through 'provocation' - I will probably talk about it in a separate post);

- Recheck it; Evaluate (it's time to test & verify! Sometimes, we may need a small prototype or pilot project to simulate!);

[Excerpted from 'Catalysing Creativity' edition of The Braindancer Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE ART & DISCIPLINE OF REFRAMING

Although 'reframing' may have its application origins in neuro-linguistics programming or NLP, it is actually just a simple process of changing the context or representation of a problem or issue at hand.

In reality, it is "shifting the meaning of" or "changing the way we think about" the problem or issue at hand.

That is to say, the meaning of anything is found essentially in the mental frame within which we view it.

According to NLP experts, when we perceive something as a problem, that's the message we send to our brain.

Then, the brain produces states in our body that make it a reality.

When we change our frame of reference by looking at the same problem from a different viewpoint, we can change our response to it.

More precisely, we can change our perception &/or representation about anything – object, event or process, situation, circumstance, people, idea – by according it a different meaning, & thus, allowing us to take a different approach & giving us new possibilities for the actions that we might take & the responses we might execute.

This is what 'reframing' is all about.

For a better understanding, I like to point out that 'reframing' is about changing or shifting perception.

However, since I am not an NLP junkie, I will approach 'reframing' from a slightly different perspective.

I want to use 'reframing' as a strategy for problem solving & opportunity discovery.

Over the years, I have learned more than a dozen possible ways – remember, I rode on the shoulders of giants before me - to reframe a problem or challenge, & would like to share them with readers:

1) Personality Frame:

- Just imagine that you are the problem i.e. adopt the personality, & explore how you feel & act exactly like the problem;

- In the proprietary Synectics process, it's called the 'personal analogy' approach;

2) Opposite Frame:

- Look at contrasting possibilities of the problem;

- Our mind tend to look at only "similarities", & often "contrasts" can add another dimension to our viewpoint;

3) Flex Frame:

- Change the attributes of the problem to see how you can flex it at will, say with the help of SCAMPER;

- Explore the problem by shifting from pessimistic to optimistic, (or from "hell scenario" to "heaven scenario", so to speak) & then back to neutral, standpoints;

- Push the "foreground" of what you can see into the "background", & then bring the "background" immediately into the "foreground" - hidden possibilities often lurk in the "background";

4) Future Frame:

- Play with futuristic scenarios, say 5, 10, 20 years down the road, to see how the problem can be addressed, especially when you can own unlimited power, money, time, & resources;

- Your futuristic scenarios can take the form of global, regional, industry, market, product, organisational or personal levels;

5) Failure Frame:

- Approach the problem from the standpoint of “failing forward faster” [award-winning innovator Dr Jack Matson calls it "intelligent fast failure"], by viewing the potential consequences as "opportunities";

- Our mind tend to look at "success" only, whereas looking at "failure" brings many possibilities to the problem, often not recognised from looking the other way;

6) Fun Frame:

- Approach the problem from the standpoint of a curious child, or a circus clown, with joy of play & sense of wonder at your disposal;

- Just think of what Dr Seuss would do!;

7) Friends Frame:

- Get as many viewpoints as possible about the problem from your friends, especially those who aren't afraid to be honest with you, or even family members or colleagues; [do you have friends like those characters in the 'Friends' & 'Seinfeld' sitcoms?]

- This approach will certainly help to remove some of your own blind spots;

8) Fame Frame:

- Imagine you are Einstein or Edison or Tesla, & explore how your new self would solve the problem;

- You can also include celebrities &/or renowned thought leaders like Peter Drucker or even MM Lee Kuan Yew;

9) Fiction Frame:

- Imagine your are Sherlock Holmes or Dick Tracy or Peter Columbo, & then explore how they would tackle the problem;

- Try MacGyver or Jason Bourne;

10) Fantasy Frame:

- Go to the extremes, or out of this world, into 'Fantasyland', or to "where no man has gone before", to explore the problem;

- Just imagine how 'Alien' &/or 'Predator' or the two outerspace creatures in combination would tackle the problem & come up with a solution;

11) Flip-side Frame:

- Look at the upside & the downside or reverse side of the problem;

12) Whole-Brain Frame:

- Explore the problem by walking with the 'rational bottom-line', 'conservative procedural', 'emotional people-oriented', & 'intuitive big-picture', viewpoints;

- When looking at a problem situation, learn to expand your field of vision, from "focal" to "wide angle" view, to get that "soft focus", so as to allow more information to flow into your senses, especially the sense of sight [business innovation strategist Wayne Burkan calls it "splatter vision", a technique now practised by FBI/US Secret Service agents to spot potential risks in one broad sweep!]

13) Five Senses Frame:

- Explore the problem using all the five physical senses, e.g. seeing, listening, smelling, tasting & touching;

As you can see from the many resultant possibilities, 'reframing' actually enhances one's fluidity of perception, which, at least from my personal & professional experiences, is very critical to the onset of the creative &/or problem solving process.

I like to end this post with an apt quote from French novelist Marcel Proust (1871-1922):

"The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes."

[This post has been extracted & adapted from the 'Optimum Performance Technologies' weblog.]

A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS: THE 5 STAGES OF THE PROBLEM SOLVING HEURISTIC

[Excerpted from the book, 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital in a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

THE CREATIVE SEQUENCE

[Extracted from the 'Optimum Performance Technologies' weblog.]

Let's take a quick look at how the creative process has evolved over the years.

In a nut shell, the creative process is generally viewed as a logical patterned sequence of steps or stages through which we move on to define, clarify & work on a problem, & then produce a solution to that problem.

Way back to the 1920s, I remember that psychologist Graham Wallas had formally pinned down the process to 4 primary steps or stages, as follows:

1) Preparation - defining the issue, observing & studying;

2) Incubation - laying the issue aside;

3) Illumination - the moment when a new idea finally emerges;

4) Verification - checking it out;

Then, in the 1950s, advertising executive Alex Osborn, who coined "brainstorming", expanded the process to 7 steps or stages:

1) Orientation - pointing out the problem;

2) Preparation - getting pertinent data;

3) Analysis - breaking down the relevant material;

4) Ideation - piling up alternatives by way of ideas;

5) Incubation - letting up, inviting illumination;

6) Synthesis - putting the pieces together;

7) Evaluation - judging resulting ideas;

Towards the early seventies, Alex Osborn apparently teamed up with educator Sidney Parnes to found the Creative Education Foundation, which then systematised the process as follows, which eventually evolved as the well-known CPS process:

1) Objective Finding - identifying goal, wish or challenge;

2) Fact Finding - gathering data;

3) Problem Finding - clarifying problem;

4) Idea Finding - generating ideas;

5) Solution Finding - selecting & strengthening solutions;

6) Acceptance Finding - planning activities;

Since then, I have learned that many creativity researchers as well as creativity consultants have come out with their own variations, but it seems that the basic CPS methodology has always remain intact.

One good example is Min Basadur, who wrote 'Simplex: A Flight to Creativity', among other books. He has outlined his complete methodology under four phases:

1) Generation (of new problems and opportunities);

2) Conceptualization (defining & understanding the challenges, & creating new, potentially useful ideas);

3) Optimization (of practical solutions);

4) Implementation (of the new solutions);even though it still adheres to the principal steps of the original CPS methodology.

The breakdown of steps looks like this:

1) Initial scan - problem finding;

2) Gathering facts - fact finding;

3) Defining problem -problem defining;

4) Generate solutions - idea finding;

5) Evaluate solutions - evaluating & selecting;

6) Plan action - action planning;

7) Gain acceptance - gaining acceptance from stakeholders;

8) Take action - taking action steps;

9) Evaluate action - monitoring progress & evaluating results;

Another example is Paul Plsek, who wrote 'Creativity, Innovation & Quality', with his synthesis model, designated as 'Directed Creativity', comprising also four phases:

1) Preparation:

2) Imagination:

3) Development:

4) Action:

which in turn is broken down into the follow steps as he describes it:

"We live everyday in the same world as everyone else, but creative thinking begins with careful observation of that world coupled with thoughtful analysis of how things work and fail. These mental processes create a store of concepts in our memories. Using this store, we generate novel ideas to meet specific needs by actively searching for associations among concepts. Seeking the balance between satisficing and premature judgment, we then harvest and further enhance our ideas before we subject them to a final, practical evaluation. But, it is not enough just to have creative thoughts; ideas have no value until we put in the work to implement them. Every new idea that is put into practice (that is, every innovation) changes the world we live in, which re-starts the cycle of observation and analysis."

In reality, I have observed that all the subsequent methodologies in use today or in most ongoing creativity training programs still more or less resonate with the original model as conceived by Graham Wallas.

One thing we should all be very clear about is that the creative process begins with deliberate preparation & ends with critical evaluation, prior to planned implementation.

The complete cycle therefore reaffirms that both creative, imaginative & analytical, logical thinking processes are needed.

More importantly, the total creative process requires a drive to action & the implementation of ideas.

We must do more than simply imagine new ideas, we must work consistently to make them concrete realities.

My good friend, Dilip Mukerjea, Learning Chef & Braindancer, writing in a recent subscription issue of his 'The Braindancer Series' of bookazines, shares his version of the creative sequence, with a little twist:

Step 1: INTAKE

Use Nature's attributes to get started. Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Observe the workings of Nature, & study the behaviour of plants & animals: they lead to ideas & to breakthrough solutions.

Step 2: COGITATE

Use Nature's infinite stimuli, think about possibilities. Suspend judgement. Let your mind play with the concepts of making strange familiar, & the familiar, strange.

Step 3: GENERATE

Having prepared your mind, start generating ideas. Go for quantity; quality will emerge from quantity. Don't analyse or priorities. Just let the dam burst! Capture your ideas in hard copy by writing & drawing.

Step 4: DEBATE

Dialogue & debate your outpourings with colleagues, friends, family & diverse members of society. Agree to disagree, wherever relevant. The divergent outbursts from Step 3 could now converge to help you focus on probabilities.

Step 5: INCUBATE

Sleep on it! Do not hard focus on your ideas. Let your subconscious play with possibilities. Your analysis through debate in the preceding step, will metamorphose into a synthesis for concepts to emerge in fuller form.

Step 6: CREATE

This is where ideas become inventions: the pathway from concept to creation.

Step 7: ACTIVATE

Prototype your creations, fine tune them via experimentation, then let them loose in accordance with your well-designed business model!

Step 8: CELEBRATE

Rejoice! You have now conquered the challenge of having moved from concept to cash! Innovation is ablaze!

It is pertinent to point out that the first two steps are preparatory steps for the mind to open to new ideas & fresh insights, by making analogies, with Mother Nature as our best teacher!

Here's a lifescape of the creative sequence created by Dilip Mukerjea.