This Thursday I will give a guest lecture at the School of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam. I’m really looking forward to it and still fine tuning the presentation this evening. The presentation itself covers what I think are the fundamentals of creative thinking, and the Great Ideas that are a natural result of that.

More on that later though, I don’t want to give away too much before the presentation itself. What I can tell you the presentation (and the next blogpost) is largely inspired by my favorite quote of all time, by one of the greatest storytellers and Creative Thinkers that will ever walked the face of this earth:

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ~ Roald Dahl

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What is it with Japanese words that instantly grab my attention and turn it into an ‘Otaku’. One of my most recent discoveries is the ‘Pecha-Kucha’.

Pecha-Kucha (pronounced ‘peh-chak-cha’ as far as I was able to trace) is the Japanese sound of an ‘informal conversation’ or chatter, something like the English ‘chit-chat’. It was originally invented by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, two architects in Tokyo who opened up a performance space for young designers to meet, network and present their work. Continue reading »

Recently I was send a ‘chain-letter‘ through Facebook. Though I rarely look twice at these things, this one had a simple enough assignment. The ‘letter’ simply asked me to answer 15 questions about myself with the catch of having to use just one word per answer.

What surprised me was how seemingly innocent questions like “What is your favorite food‘ suddenly become quite complicated. Continue reading »

Just a quick thought from marketing superstar Seth Godin’s book ‘Unleashing the idea Virus’: The time it takes for a great idea to reach ten million users is decreasing rapidly:

• It took the 40 years in the age of radio
• It took 15 years in the age of television
• It took 5 years in the age of Dial-up internet (Netscape)
• It took less than one year on the age of broadband (Gmail)
• It takes hours in the age of instant messaging and a networked world? (Facebook, Twitter) [My addition]

“The time it takes for an idea to circulate is approaching zero” ~Seth Godin Continue reading »

Like emotions, creativity has always been a bit of a scientific mystery. There is no real conclusive definition, and we have trouble measuring creativeness. Some see creativity as a level of intelligence and independent thinking (“Creativity is discontent translated into arts” ~ Eric Hoffer).

Others like Albert Einstein (“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”) or Pablo Picasso (“Good artists borrow, Great artists Steal”) see creativity as a more common skill of connecting existing ideas. Continue reading »

To me creativity means a new and relevant connection between problem and solution. ‘New’ as in – the connection has not been made before, within the context of the problem. But just because it is new doesn’t mean its creative per definition. It also has to be relevant to the situation, otherwise it is just ‘randomness’.

But today none other than John Cleese challenged me to look at creativity as a state of mind. A mood even, who – much like ‘the prepared mind’ – requires certain conditions to occur. Continue reading »