I believe these are wonderful questions. I have tried most of my adult life to be original for better or for worse. It has made me sometimes stand out, to be able to think of different and sometimes valuable new ideas and solutions and follow my own path.

It has also meant that I have become bored far too easily, it has made me unpopular at times and i have lacked a single-minded focus with my business (something i am trying to remedy with my Speed Thinking concept).

But to be an original thinker is still something to be cherished i believe. We all need people in our lives that help us see something in a different light or can open us to a new possibility. Original Thinkers are people with courage and imagination that do not want to follow the crowd nor accept the prevailing wisdom. Sometimes original thinkers are way ahead of everyone else and shine a light that others may follow and occasionally there are people that are original but are just plain wrong or mad or both.

But every now and then wouldn’t it be good to be more original at work (and your personal life).–to be the first person to think of a breakthrough solution and to jump ahead of the competition. To help others break out of the ‘me-too’ cycle?

How do you become an original thinker?

Here are some suggestions:

- Deliberately adopt an unpopular point of view and see the world fro this perspective e.g. is a good for the world that America is so powerful?

- Open your mind to new stimulus e.g. I read psychology and science magazines even though i am neither a psychologist nor scientist.

- Think of the ‘rules of the game’ that everyone seems to follow e.g. why are mobile phones getting smaller and smaller when the population is becoming older?

- Value your own experiences. We have been brought up to believe that our own experiences are somehow not valid they are too subjective. My bet is that if you are frustrated with a product or service for example then others feel the same way.

- Be fast. Don’t hesitate or second guess yourself. The lesson from Speed Thinking is that it is a process that enables your authentic and original self to emerge.

- Have courage. Be brave and follow your own thoughts. Be sure that if you voice a point of view others will follow.

These suggestions can help you become more original. Being able to think for yourself is a priceless ability and asset–in a washed out, neutral, grey world, a splash of colour can really stand out.

Ken Hudson

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http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2009/id20090930_806435.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

But what is Design Thinking? According to Wikipedia, Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result.

Another insight is offered by Edward De Bono when he suggests, ‘you can analyse the past, but you need to design the future". He defines Design Thinking as combining existing things in new ways to deliver value.

The common themes among people concerned with Design Thinking is that it is a way of thinking that is more concerned with the what could be rather than what exists today. It complements rather than replaces analytical thinking which is mainly used in business. 

Speed Thinking is similar to design thinking with its emphasis on creating new possibilities, movement and not being stuck in the past. Also Speed Thinking is not concerned with being right or wrong in the early START stage.

But Speed Thinking has one key difference with Design Thinking. The emphasis is on thinking quickly. By varying the pace at which you think not just how you think you can obtain amazing results. This is because you do not filter or judge your responses as you are too busy just creating, solving or deciding in the moment.

The ideal for me? Design Thinking@Speed!

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1. Can the idea better meet a customer or user need?

2. Can the idea be made simpler?

3. Can the idea generate more revenue?

4. Can the idea be made more original?

5. Can the idea save more money?

6. Can you test the idea quickly, simply & cheaply?

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But is Lateral Thinking (i.e. deliberately moving across a pattern) enough in this fast-paced world?

My proposition is that both critical and creative thinking whilst necessary are not sufficient anymore. We need to be able to think and act faster. This will enable us to better thrive in an accelerating and time-poor world.

I have tried to build on De Bono’s work by adding an extra dimension. We can now control not only how we think but what pace we think at. And by doing so we can paradoxically become more creative, efficient, productive and feel more energised.

For a good summary of De-Bono’s work see below:

1. Challenge the process: This doesn’t mean attack it. Go back to the first principles of the problem and review the direction of the process.
   Example:  a local authority in New Zealand wanted to free up parking spaces but the cost of monitoring parking was expensive. The solution was to allow free parking to anyone who kept their headlights on while parked.
2. Set up a provocative statement: This means looking at the solution to a problem in an impossible or contradictory way.
   Example: a number of factories were ignoring anti-pollution regulations and polluting a river. The provocative statement was: “The factories have to be downstream of themselves”. The resulting solution was making every factory build their inlet pipes downstream of their outlet pipes — they are now the first to suffer from their own polution.
3. Use random words: Adding an element of chance will allow you to come at a problem from a different starting point, one you would not have ordinarily chosen. Picking random words out of a bag forces your mind to make random associations, effectively producing solutions you wouldn’t be able to arrive at using well-worn analytical processes.
4. Use parallel thinking: Instead of going into teams to argue the relative merits of a number of solutions, everyone approach each solution together in every way. De Bono advocates the symbolic wearing of six coloured hats to adopt positive, negative, rational and emotional standpoints. Organisations such as Boeing, JP Morgan and IBM have used this device to reduce meeting times by up to tenfold.

So if you combine lateral and speed thinking you can create your own magic. My Speed Thinking formula–two minutes and nine possibilities.

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Keep Speeding.
Ken Hudson

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This begs the question: how do you think differently?

The starting point is to realize that being able to think in an innovative way is a skill and like any other ability it can be improved with the right tools, practice and encouragement.

So with this in mind, let me show you how you can think differently literally in minutes. How many different uses can you think of in the next 60 seconds for a mobile phone? In my workshops, most people can answer from 5-7 items e.g. text, phone, camera etc. These are the business-as-usual responses.

But what if I changed the challenge to, how many ‘unusual’ uses can you think of for a mobile phone? E.g. it can be used to hold open a door. Suddenly you can open up to a new range of possibilities.

Now what if I asked, how might an ant use a mobile phone? You might answer, as a dance floor, as shelter etc.

These might not be practical ideas but who would have thought a few years ago that you could use a mobile phone as a watch, camera or video?

My point is this. Being able to think differently is a question of choice. You can choose to think in a usual or a different way. If you choose to think in a different way you have two different strategies:

1. Try and redefine the challenge. In the example above when I inserted the word ‘unusual’ then most people’s mind opens up, and/or

2. Look at the challenge in a new way. In the mobile phone example, it is when I ask the question, how many different uses would an ‘ant’ have for a mobile phone?

The mobile phone example tries to show that most people are trapped into thinking in a particular way. Our mind is like a patterning system that organizes information into existing patterns (an Edward De Bono insight). This makes you quick and efficient in processing information but can lead to rigidity in your thinking and you can only create incremental ideas.

For example, let’s imagine that you were trying to improve your customer service. Another way of defining this challenge might be to; what can you do so that your customers love dealing with you? Now which problem excites and engages you? Which problem definition is more likely to open up new possibilities? Can you see that by simply using a different way to define the problem you can become unstuck? I have found simply by reframing the challenge in more emotional language you can open up new possibilities. The language of business is rational e.g. efficient, cost-benefit etc yet the language of customers is emotional. So restating your goal or challenge in emotional language will help you better understand your customers and will increase your probability of developing a new and different solution.

As mentioned, your second creative strategy is to look at the challenge with a new set of eyes. In the previous example, you can use a financial lens which might lead you to reduce your service to your unprofitable customers or if you used a different lens say as a hotel manager it might lead you to think about how to make every customer feel special. So if you feel stuck then ask yourself how might Richard Branson look at this situation? Or my competitor? Or a child? Or a supplier? Etc. There is no limit to the number of different perspectives you can have on a problem. All are equally valid yet only a partial view of a situation.

The lesson is this. The market-place today calls for you to think differently. This is a skill that you can learn and gain an edge on your competition. You can choose to win by learning to think differently or wonder what happened when your competitors run past you.

Dr. Ken Hudson,

Founder & Chief Starter,

The Speed Thinking Zone (www.thespeedthinkingzone.com).

Author, The Idea Generator and The Idea Accelerator—How to solve problems faster using Speed Thinking.

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‘The best way to overcome your fear of creativity, brainstorming, intelligent risk taking or navigating a tricky situation might be to sprint.

When we sprint, all the internal dialogue falls away and we just go as fast as we possibly can. When you’re sprinting you don’t feel that sore knee and you don’t worry that the ground isn’t perfectly level. You just run.

You can’t sprint forever. That’s what makes it sprinting. The brevity of the event is a key part of why it works.’

His full blog is: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/02/sprint.html

I could not agree more. When I describe Speed Thinking I often use the analogy of a run in the park, you warm up, walk, stretch and then sprint. The sprint aspect makes the overall work-out more productive. In a similar way, Speed Thinking complements your existing thinking–it accelerates your creativity, problem solving and decision making.

The important message is that you can vary not only how you think (e.g. creative vs critical) but how fast you think (e.g. traditional vs speed). It is up to you and depends on the situation and your requirements.

Ken Hudson

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I asked them for a problem that they were struggling with and divided the larger group into smaller groups. Each group then tackled the problem using the old approach (i.e. one person capturing the ideas as people call these out etc). The highest number of ideas was 14 in a five minute period.

I then asked people to use the speed thinking approach to the same problem (i.e. each person works by themselves and tries to create 9 possibilities in two minutes). Under this approach the same group created 110 ideas in two minutes! Almost an eight times increase.

Now sure there will be duplication of ideas but the difference in output was profound. What’s more everyone was more involved and energised.

Why does the new Speed Thinking approach work?

- Everyone plays, there is no loafing or relying on anyone else.

- Everyone can write down their own ideas, in their own language at their own pace. The group does not slow down to the ability of the person to capture the ideas.

- Because everyone is working at speed their is little filtering of their own ideas or others.

- Introverts are heard rather than being drowned out by the extroverts.

- People have to use their intuition more rather than their critical, logical thinking style.

This dramatic increase in the initial flow of ideas then provides a rich source of material that can then be enhanced and combined to create powerful new concepts.

Try it, the next time you are running a brainstorming session-your team will be amazed.

Dr. Ken Hudson.

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It is the person at the front of the group that is recording the ideas. The group can only move as fast as the person who is writing down the ideas.

Not only does the person capturing the ideas dictate the pace of the session but also the content. Have you ever contributed an idea only to find that it is not recorded or the meaning has been changed?

There is a better way. In a Speed Brainstorming Session everyone has a pen and ideally a space on a large white board. This means that everyone can create and capture their own ideas, their own way at their own pace. The advantage of this is that there is no loafing or relying on others and the sheer number of ideas increases in a dramatic fashion. If you have ten people working in  speed thinking way then in the first few minutes you have 90 starting thoughts rather than say nine.

The other advantage of this approach is that extroverts or the senior people cannot dominate. Everyone has an equal voice or space to play and contribute their ideas. This in turn means that the divergence of thoughts expands within the group which can lead to breakthrough ideas and a lowering of the chance of ‘group-think’

Old habits die hard but the next time you run an ideas or strategy session ensure that everyone has their own pen. The session will be more productive, enjoyable and quicker.

Ken Hudson

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