26 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
aecting our perceptions.
14
With creativity, of course, systems, logic, and
common sense are oen challenged, causing reorganization of patterns.
By shiing perspectives, they have the ability and capacity to see beyond
the constraints in which others take refuge when thinking. ey can pull
themselves above their milieu, including the accepted facts and assumptions
of their time. is ability to think outside the box enables them to become
more independent, which in turn allows them to become excellent observ-
ers of any topic or domain under study by distancing themselves from
the subject. Such a perspective allows them to see a subject from unique,
multiple perspectives, oen by seeking multiple points of view.
Being an Iconoclast, Even Nihilistic
While creativity can involve incremental innovation, oen the biggest
gain is when it entails what some people refer to as “big bang” creativity,
resulting in signicant change. Creativity is one side of a coin; destruction
is the other. One cannot exist without the other. Having investment in
the status quo, whether an idea or object, does not encourage radical
thinking if it means total destruction to create something new; it sim-
ply puts too much at risk. Nothing, when it comes to true creativity,
should be sacrosanct if the intent is to create something radical, such as
the way of doing business that oen involves pressure to follow the poli-
cies, procedures, rules, and so on. is attitude, of course, is upsetting
to people who nd themselves invested in the status quo whereby they
adhere to a paradigm. Such an investment will be likely to inhibit creative
thinking. Tradition and taboos work against individuals who challenge
the rules.
15
Other factors confronting the iconoclast are repression, con-
cealment, denial of reality, and self-censorship.
16
Perhaps the biggest resis-
tance to the iconoclast is, however, success, which breeds comfort with,
and acceptance of, the status quo.
17
ey realize that to create, they must
destroy the status quo. Creativity involves building something new, dif-
ferent from what exists now. To build something, like an idea or object,
dierent from the past, requires destroying the present to provide some-
thing for the future. ey look for that opportunity to destroy, noting that
may be a reward in itself. As Richard Nicolosi notes, “Sacred cows make
great steaks.”
18
Creative people, therefore, step beyond the boundaries by
stretching or breaking the rules. ey recognize that they will face tan-
gible and intangible constraints in whatever they do. ey also do not
view them as sacrosanct, meaning inviolable. While they appreciate rules
Creative inking Abilities • 27
as a necessity, they also recognize how rules can inhibit perspectives and
options. ey try to circumvent them. is behavior is not something that
is usually rewarded. If the rst attempt does not work, for example, they
take a dierent approach with a dierent orientation.
19
ey know that
they must think and do something dierent and that requires “breaking
set.”
20
ey break set by challenging relationships, order, and structure;
combining and recombining them; and discarding and replacing them.
Unlearning and Relearning
We are all products of our environment, which molds us positively and
negatively. is molding includes not only our behavior but our thinking
too, both of which are highly interlinked. We nd ourselves stuck in a
paradigm, for example, on how we view the world, entrapping us in some
type of mental prison. Daniel Goleman has come up with an apt term
for being so rigid in thinking: psychosclerosis.
21
Part of this rigidity is due
to the human tendency to impose structure, order, and relation, which
constrain as well as enable thinking.
22
An important key to creativity is
the ability to break out of this paradigm to generate new ideas. Unlearning
requires removing the shackles, so to speak, of the paradigm to ensure
false assumptions and beliefs do not inhibit thinking. Relearning requires
viewing the world under a dierent paradigm, adhering to a dierent set
of assumptions and beliefs, breaking out of the prison of familiarity. is
may explain in part why certain people come from one domain and enter
into another one and operate successfully. In the end, it all boils down to
two types of thinkers that can aect creativity. Says Kenneth Boulding,
“ere are two kinds of people in this world; those who divide everything
into groups and those who don’t.”
23
Creative people don’t.
Looking from the Outside In
Instead of viewing something within a paradigm, the creative thinker has
the ability to look at the object of study from an independent, objective
perspective. While true objectivity can never be attained, creative thinkers
strive to disassociate from whatever they are studying, by looking at it
from a somewhat unattached perspective. ey can see what is positive
and negative and change their thoughts, assumptions, beliefs, and so on
accordingly. is is not easy because sometimes it requires being brutally
honest in self-criticism about what they create.
28 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
Reverse Thinking
is one involves taking, when creating, the opposite perspective of whatever
may be the prevailing thoughts. For example, if the prevailing thought is
black, then creative people think white. e objective is to see the object of
study as the opposite of what everyone thinks, and then to identify the dif-
ferences, and perhaps even more so, leverage them. e ability to take the
opposite view oen leads to changes that no one else foresees.
Too oen, people see the world in black but not necessarily in white,
or vice versa. is restrictive thinking locks people into a rigid mental
model that restricts seeing the world as multifaceted. It also limits options.
rough reverse thinking, creative individuals can turn their views
upside down, revealing one or more answers to a problem or issue that an
opposite perspective can only disclose.
Conceptualizing
Conceptualization involves developing ideas.
24
Creative individuals are
idea people who develop concepts concerning a problem or issue and
synthesize them into a model or paradigm. To some extent, they take a
childlike view of their topic, taking components and constructing a model
that reects what they perceive as happening, and just as importantly, not
happening. is allows them to take a big-picture view of the phenomena,
understanding and creating a unique, novel idea through dierent connec-
tions of concepts.
25
Creative people oen have the ability to take concep-
tualization one step further, and develop and combine unrelated ideas to
form new models or paradigms. ey can even do so by leveraging a small
idea to create a model or paradigm of considerable complexity, resulting in
breakthrough innovation.
26
Conceptualizing can result in concrete conse-
quences that add value. A danger exists, however, that the more thinking
and intuition that go into an idea, the more complex the idea can become
and then require greater eort to translate; simplication seems to go to the
wayside. Complexity does not necessarily equate to creativity. A threshold
seems to occur when the complexity simply obfuscates the idea and all
creative thinking becomes dicult. Simplication in conceptualization
represents creativity when inventing.
27
Simplication, then, is a critical
ingredient of creativity and people oen reect aer the fact.
28
Deployment of a new product, process, or service, however, must
be done in the real world, thereby requiring enabling acceptance and
renement. Otherwise, the only person receiving any consolation or gain
Creative inking Abilities • 29
is the creator. If truly innovative, by denition it must provide value to
someone else, usually the customer. Implementation, of course, can be a
great challenge, requiring good organizational skills, as Steve Wozniak
observed about his friend Steve Jobs: “[Jobs] was able to manage projects,
set up schedules, make sure everything was done that needed to get done.
He could persuade people to do things that normally couldn’t get done.”
29
Embracing Ambiguity
Precision operates on the premise that an exact answer exists for every-
thing; there is a right and wrong answer. e le brain seeks to nd the
answer by looking for a tangible, concrete result upon inquiry. A major
premise is that only one right answer exists which is specic and exact;
there are no shades of gray as are associated with fuzzy thinking. Precision
is paramount.
e downside is that reliance on le brain thinking assumes reality
is predictable, such as through mathematics and measurement. Such
thinking can lead to the disregard of other important phenomena simply
because it is not measurable. It can also lead to thinking that has very little
tolerance for being wrong or imprecise. e desire to suce is intolerable
to someone who prefers precision.
e le brain is structured, concrete, and logical. Ambiguity, intuition,
and emotion have very little value to this side of the brain. Algorithms,
verbal translation, and other modes of thinking have much more value
to those who are le brain–dominant than metaphorical, visual thinking
does for the right brained individuals.
Ambiguity goes hand in hand with creativity. e reason is that
creativity involves change, which in turn involves causing some degree
of unpredictability. With unpredictability come known and unforeseen
impacts. Some people are ne, even thrive in such environments. Others
nd such environments disquieting, even intolerable. Creativity oen
arises best when some ambiguity exists because it gives people the latitude
to create by reducing or disregarding restraints and constraints, such as
rules, procedures, guidelines, standards, and so on. Ambiguity furthers
the freedom and courage to create what a more regimented environment
would not allow.
Creative people will leap into the unknown, going to places that no one
dared to, or is willing to go. e novel experience entices them to step into
the abyss in the hope of creating something that was thought impractical.
30 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
ey may have a sense of danger; they are willing to explore despite the
arrows that they know will be coming at them, because the reward—not
necessarily nancial—is greater than the pain. ey also like to tinker
with ideas, approaches, and so on, to uncover something new and dif-
ferent.
30
ey know that creativity means diving into the unknown, the
distant waters consisting of monsters and other creatures that could mean
failure or quitting. However, their vision of what to create causes them
to proceed into that vast ocean, hoping that something better will result,
whether incrementally or on a grand scale. It takes considerable guts to
challenge a well-accepted process, product, or service, for example, and
to not expect an onslaught of criticism, even ostracism. Naiveté may be
necessary perhaps. Not without its costs, however. e more creative you
get, the greater potential for pain to increase. Perseverance then becomes
an important quality.
31
Some are virtual gamblers; others take on more
calculated risks. Regardless, they are willing to step into the unknown
based upon some notion of potential gain by taking a risk. Again, the idea
in their mind is that the gain exceeds the pain. Risk taking is not easy for
most people, partly due to personality and to their past. For example, risk
taking rarely gets rewarded in schools because it oen requires breaking
the rules, something schools do not usually encourage.
32
So people seek
safety, which usually does not lead to creativity.
33
Creative people also
know that risk taking involves probability of failure. Indeed, more oen
than not, the odds are in favor of failure when taking a risk. ey also
know that if they experience success, the rewards will likely exceed the
costs. Not surprisingly, they tend to make more mistakes but develop more
ideas as a result than their colleagues.
34
Albert Einstein agrees, comment-
ing that “A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new.”
35
Creative people are oen ahead of their time because, in many cases, tim-
ing, as an old saying goes, is everything. ey also learn through failure.
Failure, therefore, becomes a springboard to move forward when creating.
Seeing Multiple Answers
e le side of the brain tolerates little ambiguity and unpredictability.
Linear relationships reected in serial thinking, reasons, and precisions
are its core competencies. e right brain is unstructured, abstract, and
emotional. e emphasis is more on the subjective, relational, and intan-
gible qualities of a person. Precision is not what is important. What is
important is being “good enough” to understand what is going on and to
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