Table Of ContentBUSINESS CREATIVITY
Breaking the invisible barriers
Arthur Gogatz and Reuben Mondejar
Business Creativity
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B U S I N E S S
C R E A T I V I T Y
Breaking the invisible bar r ier s
Arthur Gogatz
and
Reuben Mondejar
© Arthur Gogatz and Reuben Mondejar 2005
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
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this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2005 by
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
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ISBN 978-1-349-52269-9 ISBN 978-0-230-51026-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230510265
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gogatz,Arthur.
Business creativity :breaking the invisible barriers / Arthur Gogatz and
Reuben Mondejar.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–4509–8
1.Creative ability in business.I.Mondejar,Reuben.II.Title.
HD53.G64 2004
658.4’094—dc22
2004056538
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Creative Print & Design (Wales),Ebbw Vale
C
ONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xi
Part I Understanding What Needs to be Done 1
Invisible Barrier 1 “Don’t need creativity” 3
Creativity and children 4
The road back 6
What is creativity? 9
Artistic and intellectual inventiveness 11
Fighting against yourself 12
How to break through invisible barrier one 12
Invisible Barrier 2 “I should be practical,reasonable,
and rational” 14
Process and result 17
Don’t assume you can’t 18
Childlike adults 21
How to break through invisible barrier two 26
Invisible Barrier 3 “Decent,sensible people will agree with me” 28
The adequate 30
The 18th horse 32
A tale of a father and his son 34
The reversal procedure 36
A simple scheduling problem 36
Collages 38
The eagle 40
Switching roles 44
Perception begins with seeing 46
How to break through invisible barrier three 49
Toward Freedom Freedom in art 53
v
Contents
vi
Part II Toward the Edge 59
Invisible Barrier 4 “Suppress all provocative thoughts” 61
Don’t you want to look different? 61
The zombie 64
Positive and negative space 65
Assumptions 66
Lateral thinking 70
Patterns 71
Lateral and vertical thinking 71
How to break through invisible barrier four 73
Invisible Barrier 5 “I don’t want to have to get to know you” 75
Restrictive thinking in education 81
Restrictive thinking in the workplace 84
How to break through invisible barrier five 87
Invisible Barrier 6 “Never ask” 89
Pay attention 92
Listen to thyself 95
How to break through invisible barrier six 106
Invisible Barrier 7 “What invisible defense shields?” 108
Concern for self-image 111
Pressure to conform 112
Negative judgment 114
The fashionable uniform 116
How to break through invisible barrier seven 120
Invisible Barrier 8 “I can conform from nine-to-five and still
be a nonconformist” 123
A competitive advantage 124
Horizontal communication 126
Creativity and emotional intelligence 127
Fostering a creative atmosphere 128
The trend in the 1990s 129
Creativity seminars 130
Train everyone 132
External and internal commitment 132
Classic examples of innovation 134
The idea bank 135
Recent examples of innovation 136
How to break through invisible barrier eight 139
Toward Freedom A new brainstorming model 142
Brainstorming:In theory 143
A fatal flaw 144
Creativity (and brainstorming) enhancement training 145
Anonymous brainstorming 145
Online brainstorming 146
Contents
vii
Part III Letting Go 149
Invisible Barrier 9 “Letting go means losing” 151
Boredom 153
Waking people up 156
Movement 160
Change 164
Risk 169
Intuition 171
How to break through invisible barrier nine 172
Invisible Barrier 10 “I’m not afraid of other people” 174
Dumb questions 181
Boundaries 185
Daring to dare 186
How to break through invisible barrier ten 189
Invisible Barrier 11 “Everyone has inhibitions” 191
Creative people are always naked 200
How do you meet people? 205
Lives which function around problems 209
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday 212
How to break through invisible barrier eleven 212
Invisible Barrier 12 “I can’t make a difference” 214
Freedom 214
Obscenity,violence and censorship 216
Quick! Don’t think of a blue cat! 223
Taboos 225
Curiosity 229
Nudity 230
Sex 234
Sex education 236
The links between sex and creativity 237
How to break through invisible barrier twelve 239
Section 13 Accepting vulnerability 240
Self-confidence 240
Emotion 242
Masculinity and femininity 244
Women:The ones in control 247
Finding the time to create 248
Keeping the ideas flowing 251
How do people get their ideas? 252
Staying fresh/staying young 256
Section 14 The expansion of personal freedom 258
A “why can’t it be this way”list 258
Two new retailing concepts 260
The almost-customer 261
Contents
viii
Reserve your own sale 262
An offer they can’t refuse 263
Staggering benefits 263
Tobecome more creative 264
Looking foolish 265
Dumb questions 266
Being open and honest 266
Challenging the accepted 266
Vulnerability 267
Taking risks 267
You without your inhibitions 268
Section 15 The immense value of being able to see
other perspectives 269
Global citizens 270
Reference groups 271
Toward Freedom Roots and wings 276
References 278
Index 281
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Richard Farson for permission to repro-
duce copyright material in this publication, from his book, Management of
the Absurd.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders but if any
have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make
the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
ix
