Creativity in Business - Why? How?

By Ruth Cuadrado

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different

results.”

- Albert Einstein

Want to increase Market Share? Don’t be Insane.

Be Creative.

Lessons from the third world

Street vendors can be found everywhere in Latin America, selling from clothes and cheap jewelry, to iphone cases and lighters. As soon as it starts raining they will sell umbrellas and raincoats. They never go bankrupt... They only grow. What’s the secret of their success?

Street Vendors wisdom…

1. Forecast accurately – You only have one

chance of doing it right

2. Be ready for Change – Simplify the decision

chain

3. Know your customer – His wish is your

command

4. Location – If the consumer doesn’t come to

mohammed...

5. Confidence – Don’t be affraid of selling

your product

Are you tied to your company’s rules?

How to generate new

ideas?

The ideas that changed humanity were envisioned by people who were not intelligent enough to see they were impossible

Without letting your pencil leave the paper (or screen), can you draw four

straight lines through the nine dots?

Let’s play a game...

Impossible? Think outside the box!

How many times were you limited by pre-conceived ideas or company guidelines?

Lateral Thinking: Techniques to find new ideas*

* Source: Kotler, P., Trias, F. “Lateral Marketing”. John Wiley & Sons Ed. 2011

Generating ideas within a given market

Modulations Increase or decrease the characteristics of a

product

Ie. Juices with no sugar, with

vitamins, with real fruit, etc.

Sizing Variations of volume or frequency Ie. Hotels with day pass, 4th night

free, etc.

Packaging Modifications of the container Ie. Biodegradable container, easy

open system, etc

Design Change in design to communicate different

lifestyles

Ie. Beer in trendy can-bottles

Complements Adding additional services Ie. Extended warranties

Effort Reduction Reduce the effort of the customer in the

purchase process

Ie. Best Rates Guarantees save you

time in researching other channels

These ideas will help you gaining market share but they will not create a new

market or significantly restructure the current one

Breakthrough Ideas: The logic behind the creative process

1. Choose a Focus (a problem to solve, an objective to achieve)

2. Make a lateral displacement (interruption in the logical sequence)

3. Make the connection (fill the gap)

Flower

Dies Never

Dies Lateral

Displacement

How to fill this gap?

Congratulations, you’ve just

invented Artificial Flowers!

Create a gap and make a connection

• Substitute it Ie. Hot dog with a cookie instead of bread

Generated sweet biscuits for kids imitating sandwiches

• Invert it Ie. Pizza that is not delivered

Generated refrigerated pizza

• Combine it Ie. Pen with fuel’s car indicator

Create a pen with an indicator of used ink

• Exaggerate it Ie. 200 lts bottle of coke

Logic behind Coke dispensers (soda fountains)

• Eliminate it Ie. A car that cannot run

Generated driving simulators

• Reorder it Ie. Pay your credit card before using it

Generated pre-paid credit cards that replaced travelers’ cheques

Reverse brainstorming: The 5 Minutes creativity excercise

1) Select an objective or goal

2) Write the questions you are trying to solve

3) Write down the reverse statement ie. How to increase sales? How to decrease sales?

How to improve employee motivation? How to demotivate employees?

How to save time in X task? How to spend more time in X task?

4) Give as many answers to the questions on step 3) as you can...

5) Reverse those answers

ie. To decrease employee motivation...

Lower their salaries for no reason Increase their salaries for no reason

Don’t recognize any achievements Recognize every achievement

Let them believe their jobs are at risk Let them know their jobs are stable

and long term

Best Practices for Companies

• Conduct periodical brainstorming sessions with your team

• Use your customers! Create an ‘incubator’ of new ideas and reward them

• Let your teams allocate a certain amount of time per month to work on new ideas or

projects, even if they are unrelated to your area

• No matter how busy you are, take 10 minutes at regular intervals during the day to

do something inspiring like listening to music or watching photographs

• Allow mistakes and learn from them

Best Practices for Companies (II)

• Ask your interns or new hires... They will be less tied by assumptions

• Have a document in your desktop where you write all the little ideas you have during

the day, even if they are not valid today. They can be useful in the future, alone or

combined!

• Never throw away a discarded idea. You might recycle it in the future!

• Incentivize your teams to take courses in areas different to your department to open

their minds

Thank you

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