15 ideas on how to generate new ideas

15
GENERATE NEW
HOW TO
IDEAS ON
LAUNCHYOURGENIUS.COM
Ideas

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these
apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have
an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then
each of us will have two ideas.” ― George Bernard Shaw

Have you ever
wondered
how to get a
great
idea?
!

What is the process of
consistently getting
ideas that matter and
knowing which ones to
implement?

!
“Maybe [artistry] doesn’t have to be quite so
full of anguish if you never happened to
believe, in the first place, that the most
extraordinary aspects of your being came from
you. But maybe if you just believed that they
were on loan to you from some unimaginable
source for some exquisite portion of your life to
be passed along when you’re finished … it
starts to change everything.” — Elizabeth
Gilbert, TED talk
1. WHEN YOU RECEIVE AN IDEA,
CHASE IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY
AND WRITE IT DOWN

THE QUESTION: DO YOU HAVE A
STRUCTURE OR A SYSTEM TO
COLLECT, WRITE DOWN, ACCESS
AND IMPLEMENT YOUR IDEAS?

ACTION TIPS:
Is it possible to collect the idea?
Is there something nearby to write it down?
Are you able to find it quickly when you need it?
Can you implement some of the ideas in a timely
manner?
DO NOT JUST BE A COLLECTOR
OF IDEAS. BE SURE TO ACTUALLY
DO SOMETHING WITH THEM!!

“Most ideas are born
and lost in isolation.”
― Scott Belsky,
Author of Making
Ideas Happen

!
“The Anthropologist brings new learning
and insights into the organization by
observing human behavior and developing
a deep understanding of how people
interact physically and emotionally with
products, services, and spaces.”- The Ten
Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley and
Jonathan Littman
2. GET IN THE HABIT OF
OBSERVATION AND EMBRACE
THE ANTHROPOLOGIST PERSONA

AFTER WATCHING IDEO’S “THE DEEP DIVE” ON
ABC’S NIGHTLINE…
POLISH EMPLOYEES OF A SOFT DRINK FIRM USED IDEO’S
TECHNIQUE OF LEARNING FROM ACTUAL CUSTOMERS BY
OBSERVING THEM IN THE FIELD.

PEOPLE WERE LOOKING AT THE DRINKS KIOSK, THEIR CLOCK
AND GLANCING OVER TO SEE IF THE TRAIN WAS COMING
MINUTES BEFORE THEIR ARRIVAL….
THE IDEA!! THEY CREATED DRINK KIOSKS WITH HUGE
CLOCKS ON THEM THAT FACILITATED THE SIMULTANEOUS
OBSERVATION OF THE TIME AND THE REFRESHMENTS.

“We’ve been advocating field
observations and quick prototyping for
a long time. Sometimes a breakthrough is
one small insight away. A simple telling
observation—like the train passengers
glancing from their watches to the soda
kiosks—can make all the difference.
Make patient observation and quick
prototyping part of your recipe for
innovation. You might be surprised by
the results.”- The Ten Faces of
Innovation by Tom Kelley and Jonathan
Littman

IMPROVE YOUR
OBSERVATION
SKILLS!!

BIRD WATCHING AND IDENTIFICATION IS A GREAT
WAY TO IMPROVE OBSERVATION SKILLS…
ACTION TIP: INCREASE YOUR SKILLS OF
OBSERVATION BY PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO
THE WORLD AROUND YOU.

3. ARE YOU ASKING THE
RELEVANT QUESTIONS?!
“If I had an hour to solve a problem
and my life depended on the solution, I
would spend the first 55 minutes
determining the proper question to
ask… for once I know the proper
question, I could solve the problem in
less than five minutes.”-Albert Einstein

UNDERSTAND THE
PROBLEM
BY
ASKING THE
RELEVANT
QUESTIONS…

ACTION TIPS:!
ASK RELEVANT QUESTIONS:
WHY IS IT SO?
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
HOW CAN I SOLVE THIS?
WHERE DOES IT HAPPEN?
WHEN? DOES IT HAPPEN?

4. SHOULD YOU GO
THROUGH WITH AN IDEA?
WEIGHING ENTHUSIASM
AND PASSION VS. FEAR
OF CRITICISM AND FAILURE
“A great idea should always be left to
steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a
while to make sure that the tea will be
strong enough and that the idea truly is a
great one.”― Phoebe Stone

IS THERE AN IDEA THAT KEEPS
COMING BACK TO YOU IN
DIFFERENT FORMS AND
MESSAGES?
PURSUE
IT!

ACTION TIP:
IMPACT IDEA THAT
YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO FOLLOW BUT WERE
AFRAID OF CRITICISM OR FAILURE. FOLLOW
IT ANYWAYS.
WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST HIGH

“No army can withstand the strength of an
idea whose time has come.”― Victor Hugo

5. TAKE A WALK IN
NATURE TO RELAX AND
GENERATE THAT NEXT
IDEA!
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” ―
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The real act of discovery consists not in finding new
lands, but in seeing with new eyes. —Marcel Proust
6. CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND
LOOK AT A PROBLEM WITH A
DIFFERENT FILTER AND WITH NEW
EYES

REFRAMING A PROBLEM IS A
GREAT TECHNIQUE TO
GENERATE
NEW IDEAS!

CHANGE THE FILTER AND THE LENS THAT
YOU LOOK AT THE PROBLEM WITH.
ZOOM IN AND ZOOM OUT FROM THE PROBLEM

IN THE BOOK, 10 FACES OF INNOVATION BY TOM KELLEY AND
JONATHAN LITTMAN OF IDEO, MANY DIFFERENT PERSONAS
OR LENSES THAT YOU CAN USE HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED.

USE TRIAL AND ERROR AND
EXPERIMENT TO GENERATE
NEW IDEAS.
THE EXPERIMENTER PERSONA:

THE EXPERIMENTER PERSONA:
BMW USED SHORT FILMS INSTEAD
OF TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING
= BIG HIT!

THE CROSS POLLINATOR PERSONA:
!
!
!
EXPLORE OTHER INDUSTRIES,
CULTURES AND PRACTICES AND
USE THE REVELATIONS FOR
GENERATING IDEAS.

BRING DIFFERENT GROUPS
THAT WOULD NOT USUALLY
MEET AND GENERATE
SOLUTIONS AND
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
IDEAS.
THE COLLABORATOR PERSONA

COLLECT AND NARRATE
COMPELLING NARRATIVES
FROM REAL LIFE SITUATIONS
AND PEOPLE TO BECOME
AWARE OF UNIQUE
PERSPECTIVES AND DEVELOP
NEW IDEAS.
THE STORYTELLER PERSONA:

WHAT IDEAS CAN YOU
GENERATE IF YOU LOOKED
FROM THE EYES OF
SOMEONE ELSE?

7. DO NOT DISMISS YOUR
INSANE IDEA AS
IMPOSSIBLE
“For an idea that does not first
seem insane, there is no
hope.”― Albert Einstein

DID THE WORLD NEED YET ANOTHER
MP3 PLAYER?
SEEMS LIKE IT DID!

SAY YES TO A GREAT IDEA
INSTEAD OF RATIONALIZING WHY
IT WILL NOT WORK.
!
“I can’t understand why
people are frightened of new
ideas. I’m frightened of the
old ones.”― John Cage

8. MEET AND HANGOUT WITH
PEOPLE WHO ARE OUTSIDE
YOUR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
!
“Chance favors the connected
mind.”― Steven Johnson, Where
Good Ideas Come From: The Natural
History of Innovation

IN HIS TED TALK, STEVEN JOHNSON DESCRIBES THAT COFFEE
SHOPS OR CAFES WERE GREAT IDEA GENERATION MACHINES
HISTORICALLY AND LEAD TO THE PERIOD KNOWN AS THE
ENLIGHTENMENT.

TO GET NEW IDEAS, GO OUT…
AND MINGLE WITH PEOPLE AND
PERSPECTIVES THAT ARE QUITE
DIFFERENT FROM YOURS…

9. DO SOMETHING THAT YOU
HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE
TO GET NEW IDEAS
!
“If you want something new, you
have to stop doing something
old”― Peter F. Drucker

ARE YOU ROUTINELY
BREAKING
OUT OF YOUR ROUTINE?

10. PROCESSES FOR
IDEA GENERATION
“Good ideas may not want to be free, but they
do want to connect, fuse, recombine. They want
to reinvent themselves by crossing conceptual
borders. They want to complete each other as
much as they want to compete”― Steven
Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From: The
Natural History of Innovation

MIX AND MATCH UP
NEW BUT SIMILAR IDEAS
!
!
CONNECT AND
COMBINE UNRELATED
IDEAS

SUBTRACT OR ADD
SOMETHING FROM AN IDEA

USE DOODLING OR MIND MAPS FOR NEW IDEAS…

READ MAGAZINES AND BOOKS AT
THE LOCAL LIBRARY
!
LISTEN TO AND FOLLOW THOUGHT
LEADERS IN YOUR FIELD ON
SOCIAL MEDIA
!
SUBSCRIBE TO THOUGHT
PROVOKING BLOGS, PODCASTS
AND WEBSITES
FOR MORE IDEAS…

11. QUESTION YOUR
ASSUMPTIONS TO GENERATE
AND SUSTAIN NEW IDEAS
!
!
“Your assumptions are your windows
on the world. Scrub them off every
once in a while, or the light won’t
come in.”― Isaac Asimov

QUESTION ALL YOUR ASSUMPTIONS:!
!
!
!
!
!
I SHOULD HAVE…
!
I COULD HAVE…

QUESTION ALL YOUR ASSUMPTIONS:
IF ONLY I WAS…
I DON’T HAVE THE TIME..
IDEAS ARE CHEAP…
I DON’T HAVE THE
MONEY…
I AM VERY BUSY…

!
“At the heart of science is an
essential tension between two
seemingly contradictory attitudes–
an openness to new ideas, no
matter how bizarre or counterintuitive
they may be, and the most ruthless
skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old
and new.”― Carl Sagan

12. BECOME CURIOUS
AND IMAGINATIVE LIKE
A CHILD..DO NOT BE
AFRAID TO LOOK SILLY

“AT BEYOND
CONTINENT OF
REALITY, THERE
ARE OCEANS OF
IDEAS.”
―TOBA BETA

CHILDREN ARE ENDLESSLY CURIOUS
AND LOOK AT THE WORLD FROM A
SENSE OF WONDER AND
AMAZEMENT.
CHILDREN ARE UNAFRAID OF LOOKING SILLY AND ALLOW
IMAGINATIVE IDEAS TO TAKE HOLD OF THEM.

THE INNOVATION FIRM, IDEO
IS KNOWN TO HAVE CARTS
WITH MATERIALS OF ALL
SORT SO THAT TEAM
MEMBERS CAN PROTOTYPE
AND GET NEW IDEAS VERY
QUICKLY FROM MATERIALS
AVAILABLE FROM THEM.

IN STANFORD CREATIVITY
RESEARCHER, TINA SEELIG’S
CLASS, THERE ARE
MANIPULATIVES LIKE A
PRESCHOOL SO THAT THE
STUDENTS CAN EXPLORE THEIR
CREATIVITY UNHINDERED.

NO IDEA IS TOO
SILLY OR
IMPOSSIBLE.

13. HAVING A LOT OF DOWN TIME TO
INCUBATE THOSE IDEAS…SLEEP, REST,
RELAXATION AND MEDITATION
“When I am ….. completely myself, entirely
alone… or during the night when I
cannot sleep, it is on such occasions
that my ideas flow best and most
abundantly. Whence and how these
ideas come I know not nor can I force
them.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“SLEEP ON IT” = “INCUBATION” PHASE OF
CREATIVITY =
WHERE IDEAS COLLIDE IN YOUR MIND TO BLOSSOM
INTO SOMETHING NOVEL.

FRIEDRICH AUGUST KEKULÉ IS
FAMOUSLY KNOWN TO HAVE
DISCOVERED THE RING
STRUCTURE OF BENZENE IN A
DREAM WHERE HE SAW A SNAKE
SEIZING ITS OWN TAIL.
HOWEVER, THIS WAS ONLY
POSSIBLE AFTER HE STUDIED THE
NATURE OF CARBON BONDS FOR
YEARS.

THE TUNE TO “YESTERDAY” CAME TO PAUL MCCARTNEY
IN A DREAM.
According to him:
!
“I woke up with a lovely tune in my head. I
thought, ‘That’s great, I wonder what that is?’
There was an upright piano next to me, to the
right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed,
sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor
7th – and that leads you through then to B to
E minor, and finally back to E. It all leads
forward logically. I liked the melody a lot, but
because I’d dreamed it, I couldn’t believe I’d
written it. I thought, ’No, I’ve never written
anything like this before.’ But I had the tune,
which was the most magic thing!”

MEDITATE OR SIT IN SILENCE
DECLUTTER YOUR MIND!

14. COMING UP WITH MORE
IDEAS IS BETTER…INCLUDING THE
SEEMINGLY BAD ONES
“Quantity over quality. It is more important
to come up with a bunch of stuff so that
some of it has a chance of being great. I
would even go so far to say that going
for great ideas is not a great idea
because it paralyzes you. It frustrates
you.” – Matthew Diffee, TEDxRedding
Talk, How to get a great idea

MAKE A LIST OF IDEAS.
THEN COME UP WITH A SECONDARY LIST.
THEN TRY TO COME UP WITH SOME
MORE IDEAS.
YOU MAY COME UP WITH
REALLY BAD ONES BUT
KEEP GOING…
.

“Your greatest ideas will be accidents. You
can good ones with work but you can’t get
the great ones. The question is: Is that good
news or bad news. I think it is both. The bad
news is that you can’t make a great idea
happen by working harder. The good news
is that you can’t make a great idea happen
by working harder. So just relax. Make your
pot of coffee. Sit down. Put in your time. Do
your work. Go for quantity over quality. And
every now and then, a great idea will hit you
right smack dab on the back of your head.”
– Matthew Diffee, TEDxRedding Talk

“The best way to have a
good idea is to have a lot of
ideas.” – Linus Pauling,
Nobel Prize winner

15. MAKE YOUR
ENVIRONMENT
SUPPORT AND PROMOTE THE
CHANCE OF IDEA FORMATION

SET UP YOUR WORKSPACE TO
REFLECT YOUR PERSONAL
DESIGN SENSIBILITIES.
!
YOUR WORK AREA = NATURAL
TRANSITION INTO THE CREATIVE,
IDEA GENERATION MOOD.

COMPANIES LIKE GOOGLE CAREFULLY AND CREATIVELY
DESIGN THEIR WORKSPACES TO MAXIMIZE IDEA
FORMATION AND THE CROSS-POLLINATION OF ECLECTIC
IDEAS.

PAY ATTENTION TO TONE,
MOOD, MUSIC, COLOR,
SIGHTS, PICTURES,
OBJECTS AND TOOLS THAT
FACILITATE IDEA
GENERATION.
EXPERIMENT WITH
DIFFERENT MODALITIES OF
LEARNING, PROCESSING
AND IDEA GENERATION
SUCH AS SIGHT, SOUND
AND TOUCH.

BONUS TIP: MAKE A BUG LIST
!
WHAT BUGS YOU?
!
HOW CAN YOU FIX IT?
!
HOW CAN YOU DO SOMETHING
DIFFERENTLY?
!

SUMMARY
1. WHEN YOU RECEIVE AN IDEA, CHASE IT AND WRITE IT DOWN
2. GET IN THE HABIT OF OBSERVATION AND EMBRACE THE
ANTHROPOLOGIST PERSONA.
3. ARE YOU ASKING THE RELEVANT QUESTIONS?
4. SHOULD YOU GO THROUGH WITH AN IDEA? WEIGHING ENTHUSIASM
AND PASSION VS. FEAR OF CRITICISM AND FAILURE
5. TAKE A WALK IN NATURE TO RELAX AND GENERATE THAT NEXT IDEA
6. CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND LOOK AT A PROBLEM WITH A
DIFFERENT FILTER AND WITH NEW EYES
7. DO NOT DISMISS YOUR INSANE IDEA AS IMPOSSIBLE
8. MEET AND HANGOUT WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE OUTSIDE
YOUR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
9. DO SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE TO GET NEW IDEAS
10. PROCESSES FOR IDEA GENERATION: MIX AND MATCH, CONNECT AND
COMBINE, ADD, SUBTRACT, MIND MAP, READ, SOCIAL MEDIA
11. QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS TO GENERATE AND SUSTAIN NEW IDEAS
12. BECOME CURIOUS AND IMAGINATIVE LIKE A CHILD..DO NOT BE AFRAID TO
LOOK SILLY
13. HAVE A LOT OF DOWN TIME TO INCUBATE THOSE IDEAS…SLEEP, REST,
RELAXATION AND MEDITATION
14. COMING UP WITH MORE IDEAS IS BETTER…INCLUDING THE SEEMINGLY BAD
ONES
15. MAKE YOUR ENVIRONMENT SUPPORT AND PROMOTE THE CHANCE OF IDEA
FORMATION
BONUS TIP: MAKE A BUG LIST
!
!
!
!

Adapted Image Credit:Gdynia train station by kalleboo
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalleboo/2679637359/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Adapted Image Credit:1142 by ptwo
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ptwo/6254219668/
Adapted Image Credit:Getting Ideas by The Italian Voice
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/desiitaly/2237751658/
Adapted Image Credit: illumination / idea by Daniel Wehner
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel-wehner/3867435331/
Adapted Image Credit: Jen Proposing an idea by juhansonin
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797017624/
Adapted Image Credit: Forest Park by szapucki
at www.flickr.com/photos/chelsea_nj/
Adapted Image Credit: The ideas & concepts board, day 1 by Object000
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/object000/4134078961/

Adapted Image Credit: Eyes by Scinern
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnon/5698746966/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Adapted Image Credit: Lens by Caitlinator
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinator/3050356898/
Adapted Image Credit: IDEO Headquarters Door by naotakem
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/naotakem/148028870/
Adapted Image Credit: BMW by roadoversl
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/105402737@N08/11038196586/
Adapted Image Credit: iPod by pittaya
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pittaya/386521688/
Adapted Image Credit: Cafe tetras by zoetnet
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/4850902371/
Adapted Image Credit: Autodesk IDEAS by jurvetson
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7171821746/

Adapted Image Credit: an exercise in ideas on post it notes by Inha Leex Hale
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixmilliondollardan/3383537791/
Adapted Image Credit: How to mind map by zipckr
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zipckr/4688416205/
Adapted Image Credit: Curious Children collaborate by juliejordanscott
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliejordanscott/4761407920/
Adapted Image Credit: Woman sleeping with Jane Austen by warm sleepy
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothykrause/5885747179/
Adapted Image Credit: Om by Drab Makyo
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ranna/361802432/
Adapted Image Credit: Idea Bulb by Qisur
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/qisur/4351196974/
Adapted Image Credit: Google Offices Soho, Londo by martinvarsavsky
at http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinvars/7176371046/

15 ideas on how to generate new ideas

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