Creative Thinking and

Creative Problem Solving

in the 21st Century

Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D.

Marie Mance, M.S., M.Ed.
Laura Barbero Switalski, M.S.
Paul D. Reali, M.S., M.B.A.
Creative Thinking and
Creative Problem Solving
in the 21st Century

Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D.

Marie Mance, M.S., M.Ed.

Laura Barbero Switalski, M.S.

Paul D. Reali, M.S., M.B.A.

ICSC Press • International Center for Studies in Creativity, Buffalo, NY, U.S.A.
1.

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 Table of Contents
A Message to the Reader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF CREATIVITY

Chapter 1 Welcome to the World of Change: Life in the 21st Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Change, Accelerating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Problems and Approaches to Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 2 Skills for Living and Working in the 21st Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
21st Century Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Formal Education: Pro- or Anti-Creative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 3 Creativity: Separating Fact from Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 4 A Systems Approach to Creativity: It’s Not Just About the Creative Person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Creative Change Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

PART 2: CREATIVE THINKING

Chapter 5 Introduction to Creative Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
What is Thinking?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Chapter 6 Divergent and Convergent Thinking: The Heart of Creative Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Natural Balance of Generating and Evaluating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 7 Principles for Divergent and Convergent Thinking: Becoming a Better Creative Thinker . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Principles for Divergent Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Principles for Convergent Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The Wild Card Principle: Allow for Incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Tools for Deliberate Divergent and Convergent Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

PART 3: CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING: THE THINKING SKILLS MODEL

Chapter 8 Creative Problem Solving: A Deliberate Creative Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
CPS: The Thinking Skills Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
CPS in Brief: “Toy City” Case Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CPS in Brief, Debrief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

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Chapter 9 Applying Creative Problem Solving in Your Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Allowing for Incubation: The Wildcard Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
1. Assessing the Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2. Clarification Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3. Transformation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4. Implementation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Debriefing Your Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Chapter 10 Digging Deeper: Thinking Skills and Tools for CPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Thinking and Affective Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Exploring the Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Formulating the Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Exploring Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Formulating Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Exploring Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Formulating a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Digging Deeper: Three More Affective Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter 11 Thinking About Thinking: Using Diagnostic Thinking to Navigate the CPS Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Diagnostic Thinking: A Closer Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Gathering Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Diagnostic Thinking: GPS for CPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Affective Skills: Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

PART 4: CREATIVITY RISING

Chapter 12 Creativity: A Life Skill and a Way of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

About the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

About the International Center for Studies in Creativity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
About ICSC Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Also by the Authors/About the Book Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Table of Contents 7
 We see this book as an important
A Message to the Reader part of this vision. To maximize
its use, we have made it available
in several forms, both printed and
electronic. To remove cost as a
barrier to use, we have set the
price of the e-reader formats at
what we hope is an affordable
We strongly believe that success, happiness and well-being in the 21st century level, a less-than-a-lunch level.
is greatly enhanced by creative thinking and problem solving. Change is While the hardcopy versions
unavoidable. You don’t need to seek it; you are surrounded by it. You can’t provide full graphics and book
aesthetics (a look and feel that
hide from it or ignore it. Therefore, one must learn to live creatively—to be
we hope readers will see as highly
flexible, adaptable and apply imagination to realize new opportunities and creative), the e-reader versions are
to resolve complex problems. Living without creativity in times of rampant designed to get the basic content
change leads to frustration, anxiousness, and unfulfilled potential. Living into as many hands as possible.
with creativity leads to growth.
As a small department, we recog-
nize that we cannot achieve our
Although the International Center for Studies in Creativity may be a small
vision alone, and we ask you, our
academic department, our vision is ambitious: reader, to actively engage in the
concepts and content of Creativ-
“To ignite creativity around the world: Facilitating the recognition that ity Rising.
creative thinking is an essential life skill.”
1. Use it. An old friend of ours
liked to say, “Learning without
application achieves the same end
as ignorance.” Creative thinking

8
is like any ability; to become pro- 4. Support it. If, like us, you believe Firestien Family Award: Given in
ficient one must practice, again in the importance of creativity ed- recognition of students who have
and again. We encourage you to ucation, we invite you to consider deliberately applied creativity and
be an active learner and to apply making a donation to support Creative Problem Solving in their
the book’s principles, ideas and scholarship programs designed to lives and in working with others.
tools, to take responsibility for support students in need. At our
your own creativity. International Center for Studies in To donate to any of these schol-
Creativity at Buffalo State College, arship programs, please visit
2. Share it. Help us to help others we have three different programs: buffalostate.edu/giving.
develop their creative potential.
Talk to others about your learn- Parnes & Noller Scholarship: We dedicate this book to our fac-
ing. This will serve to reinforce Awarded to students in financial ulty colleagues, past and current;
your learning and will perhaps need, this scholarship is named af- to our alumni of more than 400
encourage others to pay atten- ter the founding faculty members creativity professionals, many of
tion to their own creativity. If you of our department, Drs. Sidney whom are engaged in activities
are a teacher, trainer, consultant, Parnes and Ruth Noller. More that promote creative thinking
or coach and believe this book than 40 years ago their creative and problem solving in their com-
would support you and your leadership helped to establish the munities and organizations; and
goals, we encourage you to adopt field of creativity studies. to our students, who are training
Creativity Rising into your work. themselves to be future creative
Mary Murdock Creative Spirit leaders. We appreciate all that
3. Extend it. Join the conversation. Scholarship: Dedicated to the you do to help advance our vi-
We have established a web site memory of Dr. Mary Murdock, sion of igniting creativity around
where those who are interested who was a model of the endur- the world.
in creativity and Creative Problem ing creative spirit, this award goes
Solving can share what they have to students who demonstrate this Finally, to the reader, we hope
learned and learn from others. same creative spirit and potential that this book will help to ignite
Find it here: www.icscpress.com. to promote creativity in others. your own creativity.

A Message to the Reader 9

10
1 Introduction to the
Study of Creativity
“To cease to think creatively
is but little different from
ceasing to live.”
Benjamin Franklin
12
CHAPTER 1

Welcome to the World of Change:

Life in the 21st Century

merican author and satirist Mark Twain was credited with saying, “Everyone grumbles about the
weather—but nothing is done about it.”
This strikes us as analogous to the way in which many people approach change. Everyone grumbles
about change—“change is inevitable,” “change is accelerating”—but no one does anything about it.
Or, more to the point, few seem to know what, if anything, they can do about change. Just deal with it, we are
told. Put up an umbrella. Wear a heavy coat.
Whatever your attitude is about change, there is no denying the force it has on our lives. Consider:
• If you are older than 20: when you were growing up, if you were going to be late coming home, you
had to go and fi nd a telephone, and maybe have change in your pocket to make a call. Today, you reach
into your pocket and pull out a phone instead of a quarter.
• If you are older than 30: you grew up going to the library to get answers and do research, with a
pocketful of dimes for the photocopy machine. Today, you stay at home and open a web browser.
• If you are older than 40: you wrote college papers longhand and then carefully typed them. The arrival
of white-out was a kind of miracle. Today, you press the delete key.
• If you are older than 50: you grew up with a black-and-white television (if you had a television), and
you had to walk over to the set to change the channel, of which there were only three. You watched
programs when they were broadcast. Today, you choose from a hundred channels, and you watch
whenever you want. And you may watch on something that’s not a TV.
• If you are older than 60: you heard the world’s news on the radio, or when the newspaper hit your
porch the next morning. Today, you can get the news instantly through your computer, or even on
your telephone, the one that’s in your pocket.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 13

 Change, like the weather, is a natural part of life. In fact, we would argue that change is not just inevitable,
it is essential to us as humans. The current thinking is that the primary reason the Cro-Magnon species survived,
while the Neanderthals did not, was their superior ability to adapt to change.1 And it remains true today.
Just as we can prepare for the weather—wear the right clothes, erect a tent for that outdoor wedding, install
central air conditioning—so too can we prepare for change. Preparation requires awareness, which suggests that
we need to recognize the distinctive feature of change in the 21st century: the increased rate of change.

Change, Accelerating

Here are some recent trends that highlight the accelerating nature of change.

From industrial age, to knowledge age, to innovation age

According to business writer Daniel Pink, the affluence of the developed nations, combined with the
movement of much analytical work to automated methods and low-cost global workers, means that we have
arrived in an age where we must become “a society of creators.”2 Economist Richard Florida, who coined the
name “Creative Class” for the workers “whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/
or creative content,” provides the numbers: today, more than 30% of the U.S. population works in creative jobs;
from 1900 through the 1950s, it was less than 10%.3
This is not a new or temporary phenomenon. As early as 1991, U.S. expenditures related to information
and communications technologies—the tools of the innovation age—surpassed those for the industrial economy,
$112 billion to $107 billion.4

More frequent job changes

Children who are in school today can expect to have more than 11 different jobs between the ages of 18
and 42.5 What kinds of jobs? How’s this for an indication of change: no one knows.
When Forbes looked at jobs of the future, the magazine proclaimed that in two decades, “your job prob-
ably won’t exist, at least not in the same form.”6 Trend-analyzer Faith Popcorn predicted in 2001 that, in the
foreseeable future, more than half of us will work in jobs that do not exist yet.7

14
Shorter and shorter product life-cycles

Product obsolescence comes in many forms, including planned (“it died”), perceived (“my interest died”),
or practical (“if it goes any slower, I’m going to die”). Whatever the cause, products today are replaced more
rapidly than ever, and industrial redesign, whether for competitive advantage or because of rapidly changing
technologies, occurs at a much faster pace. According to two studies, products go through fundamental redesign
every 5 to 10 years, while in the technology realm the rate of change is much faster, with products undergoing
redesign every 6 to 12 months.8
Consider the difference between the fi rst digital cameras released in 1991 and today’s models—1.3 mega-
pixels and few features, versus more than 10 megapixels and loaded. Not to mention that before 1990 all cameras
used film. Twenty years later, film cameras have all but disappeared. And in the future, phones might replace
the standard amateur camera altogether.

Greater technological power, smaller size

In 1964, the year in which the last Baby Boomers were born, a computer chip could hold five transistors.
As Gordon Moore predicted (in what is now known as “Moore’s Law”), this capacity doubles about every two
years. Today, a chip can hold more than a billion transistors.9 The guidance computer onboard Apollo 11 in
1969 weighed 70 pounds10 and had less computing power than your current mobile phone, which weighs about
four ounces.
Small size leads to ubiquity. Mobile telephone subscriptions in the U.S. increased from 109 million in 2000
to 279 million ten years later—or 90 phones per 100 people. Worldwide, the increase was from 738 million to
5.3 billion.11 And mobile telephones are no longer just telephones. Most can take photographs and send text
messages; many can send and receive email; and a rapidly growing number are “smartphones” that run applica-
tions from GPS tracking to games, from e-book readers to restaurant reviews. (As of 2011, more Americans
own smartphones than have a bachelor’s degree.12 We’re not sure what this says, but it might have something
to do with how we’re outsourcing some of our memory to the Internet.)13

Entertainment production and consumption are more democratic

In the entertainment industry, control is shifting. Previously, large corporations determined what was
created, how it was distributed, and where and how it could be consumed. For instance, consider
 movies. For the most part, the same corporations that decided which films to fund also carefully controlled the
movement of the film, from first run in a theater, then onward to the rental market, home sales, and television.
Rare was the independent film that could thrive in that environment. Today, digital technology allows low-cost
production, and the Internet (e.g., YouTube and Hulu) provides the ability to immediately distribute.
The same applies to music, where once the large labels controlled everything, including the copyrights to
the recordings. Today, an independent artist can have an inexpensive home recording studio, and, without the
hand of a record label, have her work available on iTunes, right next to Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen—and
while retaining all rights to her work.
In book publishing, where the industry gatekeepers had a monopoly on what was published, print-on-
demand technology allows anyone to produce a high-quality book in just a few days.
These and similar technological and societal changes are not impressive curiosities (such as space travel)
that do not seem to affect us individually. These changes have great impact on our day-to-day lives. (And pretty
soon, you’ll be able to go into space as well. Virgin Galactic is now booking seats for sub-orbital space flights.)14
In the face of change we have these options: ignore it, grow with it, or drive it. We certainly do not rec-
ommend you stick your head in the sand; the weather is changing, and you’re bound to get wet, wind-blown,
possibly struck by lightning. So, no: ignoring is not really an option. That leaves the choice to grow with change
or to drive change—and the good news is, it’s both of those. In some arenas, you will roll with the changes, and
in others, you will be the driving force.
Here’s an example. Climate change (our weather metaphor writ large) is not something that most of us
have the power to address on a global scale, but we can choose to get involved by, for instance, voting for can-
didates who see things our way. But on a personal and local level, we can take initiative, perhaps by forming an
organization that takes action in our community, and by changing our own habits.
To live a healthy, productive life in the 21st century requires an attitude and skill set that opens us up to
change. We believe that creativity and creative thinking, specifically, are the adaptive skills that will enable us
to grow with change, as well as to drive it.

Problems and Approaches to Problems

The 21st century calls on us to participate. To get a feel for the participation level required, let’s look
through a particular lens: the types of problems we might be called on to address, and the ways in which we
might respond.

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 Problems can be sorted into two basic categories:
• algorithmic: problems with a known solution, or an established process that leads to a single right answer
• heuristic: problems without a known solution
We can approach these problems in two ways:
• proactive: before a problem arises
• reactive: after a problem occurs
Figure 1:
Types of Problems

Source: © 2005
Puccio, Murdock &
Mance. Reprinted with
permission.

By crossing the nature of the problem (algorithmic or heuristic) with the approach to the problem (proactive
or reactive), we end up with four different situations: formulaic problems, maintenance issues, predicaments,
and opportunities (see Figure 1). Two of these situations can be resolved through known solutions, and therefore
might be considered straightforward, while two are more complex, and therefore calling for creative thinking.

Formulaic problems (Algorithmic, Reactive)

When reacting to a change that has a known solution, we simply implement it; there is no need
for creative thinking. If you get a flat tire, you replace it with your spare or call your automobile club.
If you are on the golf course and it begins to rain, you pull out the umbrella and waterproof pullover
you keep in your bag. In an operating room, a surgeon uses a known method for removing a gall
bladder, and if a problem arises, there is a known method for responding to it.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 17

 For formulaic problems, there is no need to invent a solution, especially when the existing approach works
perfectly well. (Which, perhaps, explains the popularity of duct tape.)

Maintenance issues (Algorithmic, Proactive)

There are changes we can anticipate, and we respond proactively to prevent them. The solution is known,
and we need only to implement it. To protect the engine in your car, you change the oil every 5,000 miles. To
keep your feet dry when it rains on the golf course, you apply waterproofi ng spray to your shoes at the beginning
of the season. Relationships deteriorate if we do not tend to them, but we don’t need to re-imagine the rules: we
buy gifts for our significant others, listen to them, and share meaningful time—all well-known approaches.
For maintenance issues we merely need to stay alert and anticipate the appropriate time to implement known
procedures that have proven effective in the past. And if we do not know the proactive steps we can take, we
have only to seek out the answers from a reliable source. (Which, perhaps, explains the popularity of Dr. Phil.)

Predicaments (Heuristic, Reactive)

Change sometimes occurs for which we do not have a ready answer, and known solutions do not seem to
fit. Your competitor introduces a breakthrough product that makes yours obsolete. Your child’s performance in
school suddenly falls, but you’re not sure why. You lose your job without warning. The newness of the situation
and its unique conditions render any known approaches ineffective.
What is the solution when there is no solution? We’re glad you asked: you apply creative thinking, which
helps you to create a new solution path.

Opportunities (Heuristic, Proactive)

With change comes opportunity. Not all problems are negative; we consider a problem to be any puzzle
in search of a solution. The “problem” in this instance is to identify a future opportunity, and to fi nd a way to
get there.
Opportunities sometimes present themselves to us. “Look! Here I am! Now what?” We can take this
stimulus and imagine what might be—or not. An adhesive that wouldn’t adhere led to an opportunity known
as the Post-it note. A chocolate bar that melted in a scientist’s pocket led to the microwave oven. Boredom while
playing Scrabble led to the invention of a new, fast-paced word game called Bananagrams that has sold millions.15

18
(Don’t get us wrong, we love Scrabble. But imagine how many snail-paced Scrabble sessions did not lead to the
invention of an award-winning word game.)
Other opportunities are not so forthcoming. They require that an individual or organization seek: under-
standing the present situation and trends as a launching point for new opportunities. The existence of cassette
tapes—music in a small format—led to the creation of the Sony Walkman. Same industry, years later, the exis-
tence of digital data—music in an electronic format—led to the creation of MP3 players such as the Apple iPod.
All creative-thinking efforts start as a response to a situation. In some cases, you are reacting to a predica-
ment that has presented itself, such as the newspaper companies that are trying to survive in a world in which
people are increasingly getting their news through the Internet. In other cases, you see an opportunity emerging,
such as when Amazon.com recognized a future in digital books and released the Kindle e-book reader. Note
that Amazon did not release the fi rst e-book reader, nor did they choose to simply sell e-books; instead, they
did something unprecedented for the company: they created their own product.
We intentionally chose to look at how the digital world is impacting newspapers and booksellers to make
this point: that the same general circumstances can serve as a predicament for some, an opportunity for others.
In this instance, the movement to digital sources seems to be helping some while harming others. But is that
a matter of fact or a matter of perception? Consider: people are reading more digital content
and less printed content. In the book world, that translates to people buying more e-books
and fewer printed books. In the newspaper world, it means that more people are reading
the news online, and fewer are paying to subscribe to the printed paper. Here’s the point:
Amazon chose to see this as an opportunity, while the newspaper industry chose to see this
as a predicament. Is it not good news that more people are reading the news?
When facing a predicament or an opportunity, it is an awareness of the situation that
serves as a catalyst to creative thinking. In the case of predicaments, lack of awareness may
result in a catastrophic situation; eventually the problem cannot be ignored. In the case of
opportunities, lack of awareness means missing out. How many times have the leaders of
one company, after seeing what another had done, said, “Why didn’t we think of that!”
Amazon’s primary bookselling competitor, Barnes & Noble, now has its own e-book reader,
but they were reactive, not proactive, and they are now far behind in that race. (But hold
on: if you need another example of the pace of change, consider that the Kindle’s near-
monopoly was short-lived: the dedicated e-book reader was quickly challenged by tablets
such as the Apple iPad, which are e-book readers and much more.) What did Amazon do
next? It released its own tablet. And this time, Barnes & Noble was right behind them.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 19

 Creating change is proactively looking for places to bring about new solutions and approaches. For ex-
ample, climate change (since we can’t seem to resist talking about the weather) is an unknown realm—we don’t
know enough about what’s coming to provide an algorithmic response—but that means it is an extraordinary
creative opportunity. And there are many more. Face the fronts that are approaching—an aging population, a
future oil shortage, ubiquitous high-speed live video streaming, an always-connected society, and others—and
ask: what opportunities do they create? Again, creative thinking is the way to exploit these opportunities.

Moving Forward

When we consider the rapidly changing 21st century, we fi nd ourselves on the border between two worlds:
one we recognize, and one we do not. Certainly, much of what is to come is within our experience. For those
issues, we know the correct responses; we know what will work. But there is much ahead that is new and un-
knowable. For those many situations, there is one common denominator: human creativity.
Change originates in creative thought. Creativity is a unique human characteristic that allows us to better
respond to external changes, such as technological advances and social developments. Further, creativity allows
us to imagine and then to create the kind of world we will live and work in—that is, to initiate change. To make
our own weather.

1
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/08/neanderthals-less- Economic and social implications. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,
creative-than-humans 2, 447-472; Williams, W. M., & Yang, L. T. (1999). Organizational
2
Pink, D. H. (2006). A whole new mind. New York: Riverhead Books, creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 226-250).
p. 50. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3
Florida, R. L. (2002). The rise of the creative class. New York: Basic 9
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/silicon-innovations/moores-
Books, p. 8, p. 74. law-technology.html
4
Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life 10
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/
in our times. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 3. 19750004273_1975004273.pdf
5
Trilling & Fadel, p. 10. 11
http://www.itu.int/itu-d/icteye/indicators/indicators.aspx
6
Clark, H. (2006). “Jobs of the future.” Forbes.com, http://www.forbes. 12
http://mashable.com/2011/07/11/one-third-of-us-adults-owns-a-
com/2006/05/20/jobs-future-work_cx_hc_06work_0523jobs.html, para. smartphone
4. 13
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6040/277.summary
7
Popcorn, F. & Hanft, A. (2001). Dictionary of the future. New York: 14
http://www.virgingalactic.com
Hyperion. 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/business/10nathanson.html
8
Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (1996). Intelligence an job performance:

20
CHAPTER 2

Skills for Living and Working

in the 21st Century

Alex Osborn
recisely in the middle of the 20th century, J. P. Guilford, then president of the
American Psychological Association, admonished and challenged his colleagues. He
called the state of creativity research “appalling,” while its social importance was
exceedingly high. Among the identified needs: to reconsider the fact-based nature of educa-
tion, and to apply what was learned to “promote the development of creative personalities.”
Guilford was not against the knowledge of facts and figures; rather, he recognized
that the nature of work was changing, and that such knowledge, while necessary, would
not be sufficient. More than 50 years before Richard Florida, Daniel Pink, and others called
it to our attention, Guilford reported that employers’ most common complaint about new college graduates was
“while they can do assigned tasks with a show of mastery of the techniques they have learned, they are much
too helpless when called upon to solve a problem where new paths are demanded.”1
Among the many who took up Guilford’s call was someone outside academic psychology: the advertising
executive Alex Osborn, who in a short span produced two particularly creative acts: publishing his landmark
book Applied Imagination (1953), and founding the Creative Education Foundation (1954). In the preface to the
book’s 1957 revised edition, Osborn referenced Guilford’s address, asserting that “recent developments indicate
that a more creative trend is underway,” and that he had written the book “to help accelerate that trend.”2 Until
his death in 1966, Osborn encouraged and tracked the burgeoning “creative movement,” while recognizing how
much work was still to be done. In 1965, he wrote that “the surface has hardly been scratched.”3
More than half a century later, the times are at last catching up with Guilford, Osborn, and their visionary
contemporaries. But it is not without a struggle.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 21

 21st Century Skills

Trends in education lag societal trends, but the importance of creativity is beginning to get attention in the
education domain.
A key player in this effort is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (“P21”). In 2009, P21 released its frame-
work, “a vision for student success in the new global economy,” which identified the multi-dimensional abilities
now required for students to be successful in school, work, and life (see Figure 2).4
The P21 framework contains an explicit call for creativity and innovation skills, and here’s what’s notable:
this call is not within a single learning category, but throughout the framework. We will highlight four of these.

Figure 2: P21 Skills

21st Century Themes Learning and Innovation Skills
Global Awareness
Financial, Economic, Business and At fi rst glance, “learning” and “innovation” may
Entrepreneurial Literacy not seem to fit together, but creativity skills (an essen-
Civic Literacy tial component of innovation) and learning skills have
Health Literacy
long been considered to be related cognitive processes.
Environmental Literacy
Both involve developing new knowledge and insights,
Learning & Innovation Skills mediated by internal mental structures and operations.5
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Further, there are core skills present in both
Communication and Collaboration learning and creativity: asking important questions,
Creativity and Innovation
critically reviewing outside information, posing and
Information, Media, & Technology Skills solving problems, communicating and working with
Information Literacy others, and creating “new knowledge and innovations
Media Literacy that help build a better world.”6
Information & Communication Technology
The authors of the P21 framework are blunt, de-
(ICT) Literacy
claring these skills as “those that separate students
Life & Career Skills who are prepared for more and more complex life and
Flexibility and Adaptability work environments in the 21st century, and those who
Initiative and Self-Direction are not” (italics ours).7
Social and Cross-Cultural Interaction
Productivity and Accountability
Source: Leadership and Responsibility
www.p21.org

22
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Both critical thinking and problem solving are higher-order cognitive skills, and both are crucial to the
creative process. While we regularly hear an outcry for our schools to focus on critical thinking, we think this
view is far too narrow. P21 gets it right: critical thinking (analyzing options) happens in the context of heuristic
problem-solving, where the solutions are not known—that is, in the context of creative thinking.

Creativity and Innovation

Just as the Industrial Age was surpassed by the Knowledge Age (by any measure: total employment, expen-
ditures, average wages, etc.), the Knowledge Age is being surpassed by the Innovation Age. In this Innovation
Age, a premium will be placed on those jobs that require thinking, performing, and producing—that is, heuristic
actions—when there are not algorithmic prescriptions. Creativity and innovation skills include those required
in an age of rapid, continuous change: according to P21, these are thinking creatively, working creatively with
others, and implementing innovations.8

Flexibility and Adaptability

Continuous, accelerated, and essential change requires creative thinking—for both initiating change and
adapting to change. Adaptability requires working in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities, which are
hallmarks of the successfully creative person. Flexibility, another crucial aspect of creative thinking, is the abil-
ity to see things from different perspectives, and, according to the P21 framework, to “understand, negotiate,
and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable solutions.”9

What these four skill areas have in common is this: they are all process skills and, therefore, are endlessly
valuable to the person who acquires them. Creativity’s multivariate skills are used in many contexts, in both
professional and personal lives. Where knowledge acquisition focuses on what to learn, process skills focus on
how to think.
While much knowledge becomes obsolete (we once needed to know how to use DOS, for example), the
21st century skills—learning, innovation, creativity, flexibility, adaptability, critical thinking, and problem
solving—do not. It is hard to image a time in which we will not be called on to use our creativity skills to solve
problems, adapt to evolving situations, and create change in our professional and personal lives.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 23

 Formal Education: Pro- or Anti-Creative?

This discussion begs the question: How well have your educational experiences prepared you to live and
work in the 21st century?
Some say that formal education has not done well in developing these creativity-related skills.10 Daniel Pink
is among those concerned that the recent attention given to STEM (science, technology, education, and math)
is misguided, that while we need students who excel in the analytical STEM areas, not enough focus is given to
developing “conceptual” abilities.11 Diane Ravitch, one of the strongest supporters of the No Child Left Behind
law in the U.S., and who worked in the Department of Education when the law was drafted, now says that its
emphasis on test scores is a mistake.12 The P21 Framework adds, “Standardized tests alone can measure only
a few of the important skills and knowledge students should learn.”13 The National Center on Education and
the Economy concurred: “Our schools, on the whole, are hostile to ideas. Too often, our tests ask students to
come up with the one right answer, and the curriculum, pegged to the tests, penalizes the creative student rather
than rewarding him or her for the unexpected but thoughtful—or even brilliant—response.”14
If, in fact, our schools are hostile to ideas, the consequence might be this: a decline in creativity and creative
accomplishment. Since 1958, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) have been used to measure creative
potential, and while the tests are not perfect, childhood achievement on these tests has a strong correlation to
lifetime creative achievement. For the first 30 years that the TTCT was administered, overall creativity scores
increased year by year, about ten percent per generation, the same as with general intelligence test scores. But a
2010 analysis of TTCT scores—published in Newsweek under the provocative title “The Creativity Crisis”—
shows a 20-year decline in average creativity scores, beginning in 1990.15
Contrast this with a 2010 IBM survey of more than 1,500 global CEOs, who named creativity as the number
one competency for leaders in the future.16 We can’t have it both ways: either creativity is essential in the future,
or it is not. And if it is, we need to rethink how we are preparing our children for this century’s demands.
Here are some persistent problems we see in our current educational systems.

Overly focused on critical thinking

Critical thinking gets a lot of press. Parents cry out for it, schools are focused on it, and course objectives
include it. But critical thinking is just one higher-order thinking skill, and it does not exist in a vacuum. If all
we did was learn how to analyze and criticize, we could only react to what already exists, rather than to create
new knowledge. All growth would stop. There would be no new products created. No cures for disease. Every-

24
thing might function the way so many national governments do, endlessly tinkering with what is, never trying
anything truly new. As the P21 framework makes clear, we need to teach how to create new knowledge, and
how to critically evaluate what we create. It’s both-and, not either-or.

Rigid curriculum that results in teaching to the test

Much education is based on accumulating knowledge. Most testing—end-of-grade tests, college admissions
examinations—naturally follows suit, measuring factual and analytical abilities, at the expense of the applied
and the theoretical. As Guilford noted in 1950, we do need to learn what is already known—but learning does
not stop there. Because we test for knowledge and not for skills, teachers are held accountable for knowledge,
for raw test performance. This frequently restricts how they teach, and what they teach.
Some schools have programs to teach process skills, such as the creative problem-solving methodologies
found in academic competitions such as Odyssey of the Mind17 and in Gifted-and-Talented programs. Generally,
however, these important creative process skills are restricted to those students who participate in these special
programs, and are rarely systematically taught throughout the school curriculum.

We seek perfection; to be wrong is to fail

When we test only for factual knowledge, there is little room for exploration, for trying new things and failing,
and for learning from our failures. Most of us learn through trial and error, in the same way that new discoveries
(e.g., in the sciences) come from experimenting and testing, with inevitable failure along the way.
Schools, in contrast, are overly focused on getting things right. For some, learning means memorizing, and
performing means regurgitating this information on exams. (You have certainly experienced this yourself. Possibly
at the expense of sleeping the night before.) Imperfection with the facts leads to failure in school. A second chance
means only that students cram some more, and take the test again. Rarely are students permitted to learn in other
ways, such as through experimentation, problem-based learning, and individual enrichment projects.18 Recent
research has shown that we retain more when we first fail at a task, and later complete it successfully.19

Not open to diverse ways of learning and different forms of intelligence

With the exception of a few methodologies—e.g., Montessori, Paideia, and Open—most pedagogy is
structured for the industrial age, as if we are preparing all students to become assembly line workers. Look at

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 25

 classrooms today: in the early grades, we see multiple work centers and desks in clusters, but by middle school
desks are generally organized into rows, and the classrooms look and feel much like those of a hundred years
ago. Despite what is known about learning styles, much instruction uses a limited variety of approaches (that is,
visual and auditory), and does not honor different ways of expressing intelligence. Howard Gardner proposed
that intelligence is comprised of multiple abilities that together constitute intelligence: linguistic, logical–math-
ematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. 20 How many of these
do our educational systems recognize and cultivate?

Moving Forward

The inescapable conclusion: studying, understanding, and improving our creativity is essential not just
for our work in the creative economy of the 21st century, but a life skill that must be nurtured in our homes
and schools, well before our future leaders reach the workplace. Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein wrote:
“Educating this universal creative imagination is the key to producing lifelong learners capable of shaping the
innovations of tomorrow.”21 And as Guilford wrote, “To live is to have problems, and to solve problems cre-
atively is growth.”22 Thus, we agree with the many reports that cite creativity as an essential workplace skill,
but we go further, and suggest that in the 21st century creativity is a critical life skill.
1
Guilford, J. P. (1950). Creativity. American Psychologist, 5, 444-454. Basic Books.
2
Osborn, A. F. (1957). Applied imagination: Principles and procedures 13
http://www.p21.org/overview/p21-faq
of creative problem solving (Revised ed.). New York: Scribner, p. v. 14
National Center on Education and the Economy (2008). Tough choices
3
Osborn, A. F. (1965). The creative trend in education. Buffalo, NY: or tough times: The report of the New Commission on the Skills of the
Creative Education Foundation. American Workforce (Revised Ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 32.
4
http://www.p21.org 15
Bronson, P. & Merryman, A. (2010). The creativity crisis. Newsweek,
5
Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (2009). Intellectual estuaries: Con- July 19, 2010, pp. 44-50.
necting learning and creativity in programs of advanced academics. Journal 16
IBM Corporation (2010). Capitalising on complexity. Retrieved from
of Advanced Academics, 20, 296-324. http://ibm.com/ceostudy/uk
6
Trilling & Fadel, p. 50. 17
http://www.odysseyofthemind.com
7
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2009). P21 Framework Definitions, 18
See, for example: Renzulli, J. & Reis, S. (2009). Light up your child’s
p. 3. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/overview/skills-framework mind. New York: Little, Brown.
8
Trilling & Fadel, p. 59. 19
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-it-
9
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009, p. 6. wrong&sc=SA_20091118
10
See, for example: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_ 20
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.
kill_creativity.html 21
Root-Bernstein, R. & Root-Bernstein, M. (1999). Sparks of genius.
11
Pink, 2006. New York: Houghton Mifflin, p. vii.
12
Ravitch, D. (2010). The death and life of the great American school 22
Guilford, J. P. (1968). Intelligence, creativity and their educational
system: How testing and choice are undermining education. New York: implications. San Diego, CA: Knapp, p. 12.

26
CHAPTER 3

Creativity: Separating
Fact from Fiction

Leonardo Da Vinci
fter J. P. Guilford stirred up the elements in 1950, creativity research has been as
Self-Portrait
reliable as the weather. Which is to say, that just as the weather is always with us,
so too is the exploration into creativity. And just as predicting weather is not an
exact science, understanding creativity can be just as elusive. In the time since Guilford,
creativity research has focused on the characteristics of creative people…and on the proper-
ties of creative outcomes…and on procedures associated with creative processes…and on
the creativity of the eminent and of the everyday…and on the distinctions between creative
individuals in different domains… and that’s to name just a few.
The issue, it is becoming increasingly clear, is that there is no grand unifying theory of creativity. It has
taken a long time to get there. Fifty-five years after Guilford, Robert Sternberg wrote convincingly that there
may be “no one thing that is truly creativity, but rather, multiple things that are.”1
Through these years of wide-ranging research, we have gained many insights into the nature and nurture
of creativity. And yet, as it is with the weather (and politics, and economics, and so forth), uninformed opinions
about creativity abound. Despite more than 60 years of scientific study, many misconceptions remain about the
true nature of creativity.
Let’s explore what creativity is through the lens of what it is not—the myths of creativity.

Myth: Creativity is the result Fact: Creativity is the

of innate talent (genius) result of hard work

While there have been creative geniuses who seem to have had a genetic advantage—think of Mozart,
Picasso, and Da Vinci—the distinguishing feature of each man was hard work, and years of dedication to his

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 27

 particular craft. Howard Gardner, in his exploration of seven eminent creators, noted in each a singular devo-
tion to his or her domain. 2 Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that the primary differentiator between those who
are merely good at something and those who are extraordinary is the amount of work put in by the latter: a
minimum of 10,000 hours, and often much more.3 The psychologist John Hayes in 1989 expressed this as the
“10-year rule,” which states that a person must learn and practice a craft or discipline for about 10 years before
he or she can make a breakthrough.4 (There are, of course, exceptions in both directions. Sir Isaac Newton
had studied for just five years before his breakthrough “annus mirabilis” (“year of wonder”). Conversely, we all
know someone who has been doing something for ten years or more, such as playing golf or the accordion, or
managing others in the workplace and is still not very good at it. But in the main, the rule tends to hold.)

Myth: Creativity is mainly Fact: Creativity cuts

associated with the arts across all areas of life

Producing art is a form of creativity, certainly. Yet creativity is far more than that. More and more, creativ-
ity is recognized as a force that drives our economy and impacts all aspects of our lives.
Richard Florida observed, “We are embarking on an age of pervasive creativity that permeates all sectors
of the economy and society—not just seeing bursts of innovation from high-tech industries.”5 Mark Runco,
director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development, wrote: “Creativity plays an important
role in technological advance, in the social and behavioral sciences, and in the humanities and arts. Because of
its role in innovation and entrepreneurship, creativity has become one of the key concerns of organizations and
businesses.”6 We could add to this list, as creativity is also a necessary component of engineering, architecture,
design, scientific discovery, research and development, education, and learning—to name just a few.

Myth: Children are more Fact: True creative achievement

creative than adults requires years of life experience

Children gleefully color with crayons, make up stories, and imagine friends who are not there, providing
evidence of human creative tendency, but children do not have the tools for true creative accomplishment.
Ruth Noller, along with colleague Sidney Parnes, founded the fi rst graduate program in creativity and
helped to pioneer the development of Creative Problem Solving. Inspired by her training as a mathematician, she
proposed a symbolic formula for understanding creativity: Creativity (C) is a function of Attitude (a) applied

28
to Knowledge (K), Imagination (I), and Evaluation (E):

C=ƒa(K,I,E)
In Noller’s conception, creativity emerges only when these ingredients interact. Knowledge is the person’s
accumulated experience, usually in a specific context or domain. This knowledge is necessary to understand
and solve problems within an individual’s field. However, knowledge is limited and present levels of knowledge
are not sufficient to solve new and emerging situations. Therefore, Imagination, the production of novel ideas,
is necessary to get beyond current knowledge in order to produce new approaches. Without it, individuals will
fi nd it difficult to escape the trap of current knowledge levels.
Imagination must be guided by Evaluation. It is one thing to imagine lots of new possibilities, and quite
another to be able to assess the options that hold the greatest promise.7 Both domain knowledge and the ability
to evaluate creative products within the domain require years of development—what psychologist Keith Sawyer
calls the “long and difficult path…to become creative.”8
Finally, attitude is what gives this formula its drive and momentum. Creativity is a deliberate intention.
In our opinion, a productive and positive attitude, one that fully engages an individual’s creative potential, is a
combination of Vision (V), Deliberate Practice (DP), and Intrinsic Motivation (IM):

a=V,DP,IM
Vision provides a destination for one’s creativity. It provides the goal to which creative effort is applied,
such as a specific career, or a form of achievement (e.g., inventing new products, discovering cures, provoking
social change). Deliberate Practice refers to the systematic use of creative strategies. It is through repetition of
proven creative methods that individuals begin to enhance their creative-thinking powers. Finally, Intrinsic
Motivation must be present; that is, the strong internal desire to do what is necessary to reach the vision.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 29

 Myth: Creativity is the Fact: Creativity is the intersection
same thing as originality of novelty and usefulness

Research has demonstrated that when individuals are intrinsically motivated—that is, compelled by the
sheer love of the activity itself, rather than the pursuit of external rewards associated with the activity—the
more likely it is that creative behavior and creative outcomes will emerge.9
Don’t take this the wrong way, but ideas are cheap.
Perhaps the most common defi nition of creativity is the production of original ideas that serve some
purpose. This defi nition recognizes that creativity is not synonymous with pure novelty or simply being differ-
ent. Being original and being creative are not the same, despite the widespread usage of “creative” to describe
something that is merely original, nearly original, or just bizarre. We must assert: no, that’s not it. Creativity is
doing something in an original way that is also—that must also be—useful, valuable, or appropriate.
Using the two primary features of a creative act—novelty and usefulness—we can build a two-by-two
matrix (see Figure 3) that shows what distinguishes creative products from other products or ideas. Here are
some examples.
• Repeating Past Mistakes (low novelty, low usefulness): General Motors’ 10 miles-per-gallon Hummer
H3, introduced at a time when gas prices were near an all-time high.
• Utilitarian Products (low novelty, high usefulness): a nice, solid, feels-good-in-your-hand #2 pencil.
• Fads (high novelty, low usefulness): things that are hot one year and mostly forgotten the next, such
as toys (Rubik’s Cube), diets (high carb, low carb, no carb, slow carb), and fashion (miniskirts, bell
bottoms, and nearly anything that walks down the runway in New York or Milan in any given year).
• Creative Products (high novelty, high usefulness): Apple iPad, Microplane laser-etched graters, the
iTunes store and music-selling model.

Myth: Creativity cannot be taught Fact: Creativity can be enhanced

through teaching and training

Some myths we hear about anecdotally; here is one with evidence. A 2009 CBS News poll revealed that
53% of U.S. respondents believe creativity is something one is born with, while just 35% say creativity can be
taught.10 If this were true, we would then have a unique creative problem: how to breed creatives. (Like turkeys,
perhaps?)

30
Figure 3:

What Makes a Product Creative?

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 31

 Maybe we should just stick with teaching it. The truth is, creativity can be taught, and there is ample
research to support this claim. As early as the 1970s, the Creative Studies Project, carried out by Parnes and his
colleagues at Buffalo State College, provided clear evidence that problem-solving skills can be enhanced through
training.11 Since then, the research has accumulated so as to be incontrovertible. In a quantitative meta-analysis
of more than 70 studies on the effectiveness of creativity training, Scott, Leritz and Mumford arrived at an
“unambiguous conclusion: Creativity training works.”12 The book you have in your hands is a direct result of
that legacy of research, and from the authors’ own experiences—collectively, more than 50 years—teaching
creativity and creative process.

Moving Forward

As is true with most myths, with creativity there is some evidence to support the mistaken beliefs. Some
creative people do seem to have innate talents, which obscures but does not negate those who worked very hard
for a long time to be ready for creative achievement. The production of art is an obviously creative act, which
tends to block out the cognitive nature of creativity exhibited elsewhere. Most children do exhibit creative
tendencies while many adults (sadly) do not, which does make it appear that adults lack this ability. The word
“creativity” is so often misused, which does make it difficult to know what creativity really is. And, many of us
have not been taught creative process skills, which makes it seem that creativity cannot be taught.
But anecdotal evidence does not stand up to hard research, of which there is plenty. The state of creativity
research, 60 years after Guilford, is “appalling” no more. It is thriving.
And just in time. As the world changes so rapidly—not incidentally, as the result of human creativity—we
need creativity all the more to adapt, thrive, and drive.

1
Sternberg, R. J. (2005). Creativity or creativities? International context. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990).
Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 63 (2005), 370-382, p. 371. Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper &
2
Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds. New York: Basic Books. Row.
3
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers. New York: Little, Brown. 10
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/POLL_DEC08B_SUNMO_Cre-
4   
Hayes, J. (1989). Cognitive processes in creativity. In: Glover ativity.pdf
J, Ronning R, Reynolds C, eds. Handbook of creativity. New 11
Parnes, S. J. (1987). The creative studies project. In S. G. Isaksen
York: Plenum. (Ed.), Frontiers of creativity research: Beyond the basics (pp. 156-188).
5   
Florida (2002), p. 56. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited.
6   
Runco, M.A. (2004). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 12
Scott, G., Leritz, L. E., & Mumford, M. D. (2004). The effective-
55(1), 657-687, p. 659. ness of creativity training: A quantitative review. Creativity Research
7   
Parnes, S. J., Noller, R. B., & Biondi, A. M. (1977). Guide to creative Journal, 16(4), 361-388, p. 382.
action. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, p. 14.
8   
Sawyer, R. K. (2006). Explaining creativity. New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, p. 19.
9
See, for example: Pink, 2006; Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in
CHAPTER 4

A Systems Approach to Creativity:

It’s Not Just About the Creative Person

reativity leads to change. We do not believe that people desperately avoid change. But change is hard,
and people do tend to avoid what is hard.
Like so many decisions, the choice to be creative—to do something hard—is easy to put off, easy to
relegate to “when I have the time,” or “when circumstances permit.” Of course it is. It is far easier to do what
you are doing than to try something new.
Let’s go out on a limb, then, and say that you are in fact willing to try something new, that you will attempt
to make change happen. Where would you begin?

Creative Change Model

The review of creativity myths and truths tells us what creativity is and is not, but it does

CREATIVE
not tell us how creativity operates. To do this we turn to a systems model of creativity. Many
scholars agree that creativity is made up of four distinct facets: person(s), process, environ-
ment, and product. Although these facets each have discrete attributes, they influence one
another and therefore create a system for how creativity works.
In Figure 4, the Creative Change Model, we depict how these facets interact to
yield creative products and eventually produce creative change. (We say “creative” change
CHANGE
because we are talking about the deliberate introduction of something that is both new and
has value. There are changes that are distinctly not creative.) MODEL

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 33

Figure 4:
Creative Change
Model

Source: © 2005
Puccio, Murdock &
Mance. Reprinted
with permission.

Person(s)

Creativity begins with an individual or a team of individuals. The person(s) facet in this system considers
the individual skills, knowledge, personality, experiences, and motivation that influence the amount and kind of
creativity an individual or team is likely to produce.

Process

The process facet refers to the thinking stages through which individuals and teams progress as they develop
creative ideas in response to predicaments and opportunities. As in the case of the person(s) facet, the quality of
the process often has a direct impact on the quality of the product produced. These two facets are not completely
independent; in fact, we suggest that they interact.

Environment

Creative thinking does not happen in a vacuum.* It takes place within a particular setting and context. This
facet is referred to as the environment, the ways in which the psychological and physical workplace climates, and

34
the cultures in which you live, influence the expression of creative behavior. In some cases the environment stimu-
lates creative thinking, while in other cases it inhibits it. While the person does influence the environment, it is not
enough to place a creatively-skilled and inclined person into just any situation and expect great things. Like seeds
that thrive in good soil, or a tropical storm that requires the right conditions to become a hurricane, creativity
flourishes in environments that nurture it.

Product

The person(s), process, and environment facets interact to yield particular outcomes, that is, creative prod-
ucts. Creative products can be thought of as the tangible and intangible outcomes that are both new and useful.
The quality of these creative products necessarily depends on how effectively people engage in creative thought
processes in their given environment. People with the right skills, knowledge, and personal traits who work through
an effective process in an environment that is conducive to creative thought are more likely to produce creative
products.

Creative Change

Creative change does not automatically occur because an individual, team, or organization has developed a
creative product. We define a creative change as the adoption of a creative product that can come in many forms.1
If the product is intended for use only by the individual creator, such as a new plan for reducing stress, then creative
change occurs when this person has implemented the idea. By contrast, innovation occurs when an organization has
successfully commercialized a new product or implemented a new program, service, procedure or business model.
The creative product is the starting point for business innovation, and, according to Felix Janszen, “innovation is
generally accepted as being the golden route to building a growing and prosperous company.”2
If innovation is critical to the long-term success of an organization, and the creative product is the impetus to
innovation, then it will be critical for organizations to create the right interaction between the person(s), process,
and environment.

*
Although it can happen to vacuums. See: http://www.dyson.com/insidedyson/#jamesdyson.

Part 1: Introduction to the Study of Creativity 35

 Iteration

This systems model has an iterative aspect to it: once a creative change has been successfully adopted, it is
highly likely that this new idea, product, service, or practice will have a transformative effect on people, their
processes, and their environments. This last element is what makes the Creative Change Model a true system and
not merely a one-off event.

Moving Forward

This systems view of creativity illustrates why creativity is difficult to bring about in organizations. Like
the elements of the weather—moisture, temperature, pressure, wind, etc.­—it is the interaction of these elements
that results in the creativity we experience.
The Creative Change Model illustrates how these basic creativity elements interact with one another, and
there is extensive research that supports this. For example:
• training in creative thinking (i.e., process) improves the work climate (i.e., environment) of teams3
• individual personalities (i.e., persons) influence the working environment4
• formal training in creativity techniques and principles (i.e., process) significantly enhances individuals’
thinking skills (i.e., persons)5
Organizational creativity is achieved only when the right elements are combined. Expecting an organiza-
tion to become creative simply by hiring highly creative people is like assuming that the only necessary element
for a nice day is sunshine.

1
Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., & Murdock, M. C. (2011). Creative leader- 4
Ekvall, G. (1991). The organizational culture of idea management:
ship: Skills that drive change. (2nd Ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p. A creative climate for the management of ideas. In J. Henry & D. Walker
24. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (Vol. I, pp. 403-412).
2
Janszen, F. (2000). The age of innovation: Making business creativity San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
a competence, not a coincidence. New York: Financial Times-Prentice 5
Parnes, 1987.
Hall, p. 7.
3
Firestien, R. L. (1996). Leading on the creative edge. Colorado Springs,
CO: Pinon Press.

36
2 Creative
Thinking
“Creative thinking is not a talent, it is a skill
that can be learnt. It empowers people by
adding strength to their natural abilities
which improves teamwork, productivity and
where appropriate, profits.”
Edward de Bono
40
CHAPTER 5

Introduction to Creative Thinking

n a gut-reaction level, people tend to think of creativity as an action—the act of creating something new.
While it is true that creativity requires some form of action to be fully realized, creativity is foremost
a cognitive process—a thinking process. Before we delve into creative thinking, let’s explore thinking
in general.
A number of writers have used the operation of a car as an analogy to describe how our minds work.1 We
will adopt the same practice. (As much as we like originality, sometimes an existing answer works just fi ne.) The
engine of the car represents the innate power of our minds; that is, an individual’s level of intelligence. (Here
we refer to intelligence in its broadest sense, not the narrow set of abilities associated with IQ). The greater
an engine’s horsepower, the faster and more powerful the car; think of a Lamborghini versus a Prius. Like car
engines, the speed and power of our minds—our innate ability—varies from person to person.
With a car, performance is not strictly dependent on the power of the engine. If any one of this book’s
authors were entered into a Grand Prix race, driving a Formula One car, it is almost certain that we would
fi nish last. Truth be told, we would be thrilled to fi nish unscathed, or to fi nish at all. But why should that be
so? It looks so easy. In fact, one appeal of auto racing is that it looks like something we could do ourselves, but
of course it’s not that simple. Driving skills and experience make the difference. The skill level of professional
drivers far surpasses our own, no matter how easy they make it look.
Like the performance of a car, our thinking performance (effectiveness) is influenced both by the power
of our minds and by how well we manage our minds. We would argue that one of the most productive ways to
improve your personal performance is to focus on improving how well you manage your mind—that is, how
well you think. As Edward de Bono concluded,

The performance of a car does not depend on the horsepower of the car but upon the skill
with which the car is driven by the driver. So if intelligence is the horsepower of the car,

Part 2: Creative Thinking 41

 then “thinking” is the skill with which the horsepower is used…. If you do not improve
your driving skills then you will not be able to make full use of the available power [of your
mind].2

What is Thinking?

What specifically do we mean by thinking? Vincent Ruggiero defined thinking as “any mental activity that
helps formulate or solve a problem, make a decision, or fulfill a desire to understand. It is a search for answers,
a reaching for meaning.”3 Ruggiero sees thinking as a purposeful mental activity over which a person exerts
control, just as (we trust) one exerts purposeful control when driving a vehicle. We are engaged in thinking when
we actively direct the movements of the mind.
What might be surprising in this definition is the word “purposeful.” Is not all our brain activity “think-
ing?” Actually, no. Ruggiero makes a crucial distinction between automatic and deliberate mental processes.
Consider: haven’t you often said, “let me think about that,” and then focused your attention in a deliberate way?
(We’re not talking about those times when “let me think about that” really means “sorry, not a chance.”) The
kind of thinking we refer to in this book is the deliberate application of creative thinking; that is, when we make
a choice to direct and exert control over our ability to generate new and useful responses to complex problems.
We learn to drive before being issued a driver’s license, and for most of us, that process is quite deliberate:
driver’s education classes, studying the road test manual, and many hours behind the wheel, progressing from
parking lots to neighborhood streets, then to busier roads, and finally to highways. There is no thinking license,
but there is a parallel: we go to school. Each year, we are taught to use our brains in a certain way, and if we
do well, we are rewarded with a promotion to the next grade and eventually with a diploma, a very license-like
object. The question is this: are we deliberately taught creative thinking?
As we discussed earlier, much formal education focuses on finding or recalling the right answer—the known
answer. And there are deliberate ways of teaching for recall: repetition, flash cards, recitations, etc. Creative
thinking, on the other hand, is seldom taught deliberately in our schools. Creative thinking—if it is considered
at all—is often considered to be learned organically, as a by-product of open-ended assignments, project-based
learning, and the like, where there is no defined solution path. While these learning methods are to be applauded,
you can, we suspect, see the folly in assuming that deliberate and repeatable creative-thinking skills can be de-
veloped without deliberate and repeated practice. This is akin to assuming that we can teach someone to drive
by handing them the keys and assuming that a few spins around the parking lot will lead to driving proficiency.
Like all manner of human endeavor, creative thinking is enhanced through deliberate practice.4

42
What we do when we think

What do we do when we think in an active and purposeful way? Much has been written about the specific
kinds of skills that constitute thinking, and there is much agreement that these skills can be organized according
to their complexity. Perhaps the best-known model for organizing thinking skills is Bloom’s Taxonomy of the
Cognitive Domain. Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues classified learning objectives in a hierarchy, from less
to more complex: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Creativity, while
not mentioned explicitly, is expressed in the synthesis level, which is described as originating, integrating, and
combining ideas into a product that is new.5
In the 1990s, Bloom’s former student Lorin Anderson and a team of cognitive psychologists updated the
taxonomy to reflect 21st century work and current understanding of cognitive processes. The revised version places
“creating” at the very top of the taxonomy (see Figure 5).6 Creating is described as putting elements together
into a new pattern or structure that results in a product or form that is a coherent or functional whole; or, as we
described earlier, the production of original ideas that are made useful. The relocation of “creating” to the top
of the taxonomy makes explicit that this process is considered to be the most difficult and challenging mental
function.

Figure 5:
Bloom’s
Taxonomy,
Original and
Updated

Source: A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing, by L. Anderson & D. Krathwohl, 2001.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 43

 Think about your own thinking and you will quickly recognize how much more complex and challeng-
ing “creating” is versus other forms of thinking, such as “remembering.” For instance, it is easier to remember
geometric rules (such as a2+b2=c2) than it is to use that rule to solve a problem (such as finding the length of the
hypotenuse), which is easier than developing a new application of that equation (such as…well, mathematical
experts, which we are not, are invited to fill in something here). Consider the difference between improving a
current product, and inventing an entirely new product. Which would be the more challenging process?

Moving Forward

It’s no wonder creativity is so highly appreciated and prized; after all, it is the result of engagement in a
highly complex thought process. And, as we discussed in previous chapters, creativity is crucial for personal
and professional success in the 21st century. Puccio and Murdock concluded:

Creative thinking is an essential life skill. It is a rational process that enables people to
successfully produce novel and useful responses to open-ended challenges and opportunities.
Creative thinking involves specific cognitive, metacognitive, and affective skills. Once
internalized, these skills can be applied to all areas of life.7

This quote points out that creative thinking, as a higher-order thinking skill, is made up of more specific skills. It
is precisely these skills­— cognitive, metacognitive, and affective—that are explored in the remainder of this book.

1
For example, see: de Bono, E. (1994). de Bono’s thinking course (Rev. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educa-
Ed.). New York: Facts on File; and Ruggiero, V. R. (2007). The art of tional goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.
thinking: A guide to critical and creative thought (8th Ed.). New York: 6
Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for
Pearson Longman. learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of
2
de Bono, 1994, p. 2. Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
3
Ruggiero, 2007, p. 4. 7
Puccio, G. J., & Murdock, M. C. (2001). Creative thinking: An
4
For more on deliberate practice, see: Colvin, G. (2008). Talent is essential life skill. In A. Costa (Ed.), Developing minds: A source book
overrated: What really separates world-class performers from everybody for teaching thinking (pp. 67-71). Alexandria, VA: ASCD, pp. 70-71.
else. New York: Portfolio.
5
Bloom, B., Engelhart, M., Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (Eds.)

44
CHAPTER 6

Divergent and Convergent Thinking:

The Heart of Creative Thinking

he American poet Robert Frost wrote allegorically of life choices, describing two roads that “diverged in
a yellow wood.” While sorry that he could not travel both, he did, in the end, select one. Intentional or
not, “The Road Not Taken” is allegorical for the creative process as well. Roads diverge, and we must
consider (or create) the options before us, and then decide.
Since we are talking about roads, we’re also going to need a car. In the previous chapter we described how
thinking is like driving, so let’s connect that metaphor to this one as we introduce two mental operations that
are fundamental to creative thinking.
Two basic functions of driving are accelerating and braking. When managing our thinking there are two
fundamental thought processes that are like accelerating and braking: generating and evaluating. More formally,
when we generate options it is called divergent thinking, and when we evaluate and select from among the op-
tions it is called convergent thinking.
The gas pedal is akin to divergent thinking. We maximize the power of our engines by depressing the
accelerator and feeding fuel to the motor so that we can move forward quickly. When engaged in divergent
thinking our minds also tend to move quickly, generating many options and alternatives, and not stopping to
evaluate. As with driving, we cover more ground the less often we stop. (Compare driving long distances
with children in the car with driving alone.)
Eventually, though, we do need to slow down to ensure that we do not overshoot our desti-
nation. Convergent thinking is like applying the brake. With convergent thinking, we apply our
judgment to determine which of the options we generated are the most appealing. When driving
it makes little sense (in fact, is foolish) to apply both accelerator and brake at the same time, or to
move too quickly back and forth between them (think: stop-and-go traffic). Creative thinking is the
same. It is both more efficient and more effective to separate the process of divergent thinking from that
of convergent thinking.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 45

 The purpose of this chapter is to help you understand how these thinking skills complement one another,
and to learn strategies for becoming more effective at thinking divergently and convergently. (Driving with your
kids we can’t help you with.)

The Natural Balance of Generating and Evaluating

The hallmark of any creative process—the one principle that distinguishes creative thinking from everyday
thinking—is the dynamic balance of divergent and convergent thinking. Vincent Ruggiero noted that neuro-
physiological research appears to confirm what cognitive psychologists have believed for decades,

that the mind has two distinct phases—the production phase and the judgment phase—that
complement each other during problem solving and decision making. Proficiency in thinking
requires the mastery of all approaches appropriate to each phase and skill in moving back
and forth between them.1

We define divergent thinking as a broad search for many diverse and novel alternatives. This is what
Ruggiero called the production phase. When engaged in divergent thinking, our minds stretch to explore and
entertain all possible options without evaluating them, willing to be adventurous and to discover new possibili-
ties beyond the familiar and the known.
We define convergent thinking as a focused and affirmative evaluation of novel alternatives. This is what
Ruggiero called the judgment phase. It is an analytical type of thinking, driven by the need to bring order and
to make sense. After exploring all possibilities, our mind begins to screen, select, prioritize, organize, and refine
what it has found.
In creative thinking, we intentionally separate these two forms of thinking into a “dynamic balance” of
first one, then the other. This balance is the core of effective creative thinking.
Divergent and convergent thinking are two natural mental processes that people use in everyday life,
particularly when approaching a task that has significance, and for which there is a clear desire for the best
possible outcome. For example, if you shop for an important purchase—say, a new house or car—you
explore several, or many, alternatives prior to making a decision. This happens with many smaller
decisions, too. When you go to a restaurant, you review the menu options and listen to the chef’s
specials before making a choice. The social phenomenon “speed dating” follows the same principle:
you meet a succession of potential dates, one at a time, each for just a few minutes. You then select

46
from among them, and hope that the ones you select also select you. (Fortunately, this issue does not present
itself in our other scenarios. Imagine: “I’m sorry, sir, the lobster declines to be your meal this evening.”)
These examples share characteristics that illustrate how divergent and convergent thinking operate naturally
in our minds. First, there is a broad search for many different alternatives, often looking for those options that
particularly attract our attention. Then, a choice or decision is made, based on relevant criteria (quality, price,
convenience, location, aesthetics, gut reaction, and so forth).
Like breathing in and breathing out, divergent and convergent thinking happen separately but harmoni-
ously, each in support of the other.
As our examples demonstrate, people naturally use these two mental operations in everyday life. Yet when
it comes to the deliberate application of creative thinking, many (most?) individuals tend not to make full use
of their divergent and convergent thinking abilities. The fact is, people tend to mix these two types of thinking,
introducing judgment while still generating possibilities. This is not always a bad thing; we do sometimes need
to make snap judgments, and quick responses are useful when there is one correct answer. (Brakes! Now!) When
thinking creatively, however, we are in pursuit of a new answer, an unknown solution, a novel response—and
that situation requires the separation of ideation and judgment. Improving our creative thinking means learn-
ing how to take advantage of these natural thought
Figure 6:
processes by systematically balancing divergent and Dynamic Balance
convergent thinking. of Divergence and
Convergence in
Divergence and convergence, illustrated Creative Thinking

What does this separation look like in practice?

Figure 6 provides a graphic illustration of what we
mean by the dynamic balance between divergent and
convergent thinking. The diamond shape helps depict
the difference—and the relationship—between genera-
tion and evaluation.
Beginning at the illustration’s top: starting from
a single point (a goal, a problem, a question, etc.), we
Source: © 2005
fi rst diverge, making a wide search for novel ideas and Puccio, Murdock &
options, not judging them just yet. As we diverge, we Mance. Reprinted
move from what is familiar (known answers, known with permission.

47
 solutions) into an area of discovery, where the ideas, answers, and solutions generally become more original.
When we have diverged enough (a determination that comes with experience in deliberate creative thinking),
we converge, narrowing down from our wide array of possible answers. We cull, cluster, connect, and finally
choose. In the end, we make our novel answer into something real—we turn the strange into the familiar.
Just as we can practice breathing techniques (and driving skills, and any number of disciplines), we can
learn and apply principles that improve divergent and convergent thinking.
Digital photography provides an excellent example of the separation of divergent and convergent thinking.
Since entering the marketplace, digital cameras have not only replaced the old film cameras, they have transformed
the way people approach photography. With a film camera, limitations were everywhere: a certain number of
shots per roll (generally this was 12, 24 or 36), a certain number of rolls in your bag, the cost of the film, the
cost to process the film, not to mention the lack of immediate feedback on the quality of the images captured.
We had to apply the evaluation and selection processes right on the spot: Is this the right angle, the right light-
ing, the right distance? Is this picture worthy of being taken at all? How many shots do I have left? What else
will I want to take a picture of today? Such preoccupations limited the possibility of taking a large quantity of
photos, exploring multiple perspectives, and searching for new angles, which left us with simply making sure
that the shot came out well enough, if unremarkable. In essence, the use of film encouraged the simultaneous
application of divergent and convergent thinking. Professional photographers in the film era, it should be noted,
could overcome one of these limitations: they carried a lot of film, and took dozens or hundreds of shots in order
to be sure to get one that worked.
   Digital technology makes amateurs more like professionals, eliminating or minimizing
film’s limitations. Hundreds of pictures can be taken and stored on high-volume memory cards,
with no incremental cost. Go ahead: take as many pictures as you want, capture the experience
from as many different angles as possible. Climb on a chair, lie on the floor. Later, you can decide
which photos to keep and which to delete, based on an assessment of their intrinsic value (quality,
meaningfulness, originality, and so forth)—the key word being later.
Divergent thinking is based on the same principles that guide your perspective when you take photos
with a digital camera: postponing judgment, considering all options without evaluating them, generating as
many options as possible, and feeling free to pursue different and novel alternatives.

48
 Convergent thinking is based on the same principles that guide your actions when you return home and
download the photos to your computer. Only then do you start screening, organizing, and editing them, and
deciding which to discard and which to keep.
In digital photography’s early days, the ability to review a photo immediately after shooting—and then to
choose whether to keep it or delete it—seemed like a boon. In fact, it was a distraction. It was a tiring attempt
to be divergent and convergent at the same time. Have you noticed that few people do this any longer? We just
shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and as a result, we get many more shots—both many more that will be discarded,
but also many more that are worth keeping.
Whether or not you take photographs, you can certainly fi nd other instances in your life where you natu-
rally separate divergent and convergent thinking. If you have a digital video recorder (DVR) such as TiVo, you
probably record many more television shows than you will watch. Recording many shows is divergent; choosing
which shows to watch is convergent. If you vacation in a different place every year, it is likely that you make
a list of places you might enjoy (divergent), and only then make a decision about where you will go this year
(convergent).
Pay attention to your thinking, and you will find your own examples of times when you separate divergent
and convergent thinking, as well as times that you should, but do not. (But don’t worry. We won’t judge you.)

Moving Forward

Using divergent and convergent thinking separately and at the proper time is crucial to creative thinking.
When we mix divergent and convergent thinking, we stop the flow. Prematurely judging quality interrupts
the search for possibilities, resulting in fewer discoveries and lower creative output.
The narrator of Robert Frost’s poem stands before two roads, knowing he must choose
one: the roads diverged, and he had to converge. What if the traveler had decided that two
options were not enough? He might then have taken Ralph Waldo Emerson’s advice: “Do not
go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail.”
As we move forward, we will look at how you might use the power of divergent and
convergent thinking to imagine many different roads, even ones that do not exist, and then
to select (or create) the one to travel.

1
Ruggiero, 2007, p. 7.
50
CHAPTER 7

Principles for Divergent and

Convergent Thinking: Becoming
a Better Creative Thinker
ust as the performance of an engine can be improved by a good tune up, so can your mind. In this chapter
we provide principles that will help to tune up your mind; specifically, becoming more effective at engaging
in divergent and convergent thinking. Following the principles presented in this chapter will transform
not only thinking but also behavior; that is, you will fi nd yourself thinking and behaving in more creative ways.

Principles for Divergent Thinking

Four key principles have been proven to be effective at enhancing divergent thinking:
• Defer judgment
• Go for quantity
• Make connections
• Seek novelty1
These principles are interrelated; they work together to improve one’s ability to keep one’s mind open and
to explore a wide array of possibilities from multiple perspectives.

Defer Judgment

Deferring judgment requires the ability to suspend skepticism and to entertain the potential value of every To Defer Judgment means
alternative you might generate. This can be more difficult than it sounds (not that we’re saying it sounds easy to hold evaluation until a
in the fi rst place). Particularly in Western cultures, we are not taught to suspend judgment. We are taught to later time.
be decisive, which people generally take to mean deciding quickly. While there are many cases where a quick
decision is required, premature judgment is the enemy of creative thinking.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 51

 Let us be clear: judgment is a necessary component of creative thinking. We use
judgment to isolate and develop promising options. The issue is not if, but when.
Premature judgment eliminates novel thoughts before they have a true chance to
be considered, and places a stranglehold on our ability to think in original ways. Like a
parachute that deploys too early, premature judgment places a drag on our thinking. (Better
than a parachute that deploys too late, of course, which is a different problem altogether.
In creative thinking, it manifests as failing to apply critical judgment at any time.) In either
case, deferring judgment means suspending judgment, not eliminating it.
When we think of premature judgment, we naturally think of its negative form,
criticism (e.g., “no, that will never work”). But positive judgment can also be detrimental when it is
premature. Just as criticism can block your imagination and stop the productive flow, praise in favor of
an option during the divergent process (“yes, that’s it!”) can hinder the search for even more-promising
ones.
Let’s illustrate. In a workplace, a group is generating ideas for a problem. Ideas are being tossed about,
no judgment applied, and progress is good. One idea catches the group leader’s attention, and he immediately
praises it—a positive judgment, but a judgment nonetheless. What happens? Some in the group respond by
trying to outdo that idea, hoping to get praise of their own…but it’s making them hold back, too, judging their
ideas even before saying them, waiting for that praiseworthy idea to arrive. Others respond by shutting down;
they’re not going to share anything if it’s going to be subject to public scrutiny. And those who shared ideas
earlier—ideas that were not praised—now wonder why their ideas weren’t noticed, and they begin to feel nega-
tively towards their own ideas. All this, mind you, because an idea was praised. Both criticism and praise can
stop the flow of ideas.
Deferring judgment has both an external and an internal side: it applies both to others’ opinions, thoughts,
and ideas, as well as to our own. These two abilities are similar, yet we often encounter people who are much
better at one than the other. For many, deferring judgment toward other people’s thoughts does not come easily,
as is demonstrated in many contentious workplace meetings. For others, the greater difficulty is on the internal
side. Someone who is fully able to defer judgment of others’ contributions might be hard-pressed to remove
his or her own filters, self-talk, and internal censorship. Suspending judgment on others creates an atmosphere
that promotes creative thinking, but for novel thoughts to come out it is crucial to fi rst suspend judgment on
ourselves, to allow our own thoughts to be shared publicly.
For many, successfully learning how to not judge one’s own thinking too quickly is the spark that ignites
personal creativity. Whenever you put a creative product out into the world—a new business, story, artistic

52
creation, theory, etc.—you invite feedback, but you expect that feedback only at the appropriate time, when
the product is ready. This lesson holds true when you are still creating as well. In order to create we must fi rst
silence our own internal critic, or at least lock up the critic, until the time is right for evaluative thinking.
We wonder: how many great ideas have not seen the light of day because of premature evaluation? Defer-
ring judgment is a skill and a mental attitude that can be learned and improved through practice. Our experience
as teachers and facilitators tells us that people who go through training in creative thinking show significant
progress in their ability to defer judgment in a group situation.
Deferring judgment is the overarching principle that lies at the foundation of the remaining three. Premature
judgment prevents the mind from generating a large quantity of options, seeking wild ideas, and making new
and unique combinations.

Go for Quantity

Quantity breeds quality.2 The more alternatives we generate, the more likely we are to fi nd a promising
To Go for Quantity is to be
option and, ultimately, produce a creative breakthrough. We can think of quantity in two ways: in particular
a fluent thinker, generating
and in general. In the particular, it is beneficial to seek a quantity of ideas when engaged in divergent think-
many ideas, options, and
ing—that is, when addressing a particular problem—because it gives us more to choose from. And in the general
alternatives.
sense—that is, in the daily work of being alive—a habit of divergent thinking leads to a quantity of possibilities
in our lives. We’ll look at each of these in turn.
First, consider the usefulness of quantity when solving a problem. Fluency of thought is critical to producing
options that are diverse and bring in multiple perspectives, whether these are data, challenges, ideas, or action
steps. On any question, our minds fi rst tend toward thoughts and ideas that have been already tried or employed
in other circumstances. Such familiarity makes us feel comfortable because it recalls our habitual patterns of
thinking. After having “purged” the most obvious thoughts, our minds are ready to venture into unfamiliar
territories that can lead to new and different options. When we are engaged in divergent thinking of any kind,
the Go for Quantity principle is an intentional push for new possibilities. When we do this, we are much more
likely to discover something fresh than if we stop too soon. Creativity researchers have called this the “extended
effort” principle. (The opposite is sometimes called “premature closure.”)
Let’s say you are working on a problem, such as what gift to give your partner. The fi rst ideas that come to
mind tend to be the least original: gifts you have given your partner before, and things you already know your
partner likes. These are algorithmic responses; if you are looking for a known answer, you can stop there. (The
wife of one of your authors says, “Jewelry: always a safe choice.”) But if you were to continue your divergence,

Part 2: Creative Thinking 53

 more original ideas and options can be generated. Research has shown that the most original thoughts generally
come in the latter third of the options produced.3
Consider now the habit of divergent thinking, the tendency to produce ideas and options in multiple
contexts and over time. Here are some staggering numbers: Thomas Edison held more than 1,000 patents, J. S.
Bach produced more than 1,000 musical compositions, and Pablo Picasso completed more than 20,000 works.
Often the creator is not aware which ideas or products will ultimately find favor from the field or marketplace,
but the sheer volume of work makes it more likely that some will be true creative accomplishments. And, cre-
ativity begets creativity. Dean Keith Simonton, a leading creativity researcher, demonstrated through statistical
analysis that a creator’s best works are generally produced at a time when he or she produced a large amount
of work.4 The American chemist and humanitarian Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel laureate, said:

You have to have a lot of ideas. First, if you want to make discoveries, it’s a good thing to
have good ideas. And second, you have to have a sort of sixth sense—the result of judgment
and experience—which ideas are worth following up.5

The benefit of producing many options is not limited to eminently creative people. Consider your own life.
The more choices you create for yourself, the more likely you will achieve your goal, whether this refers to finding
a job, choosing a university, or generating alternative solutions for resolving a problem. Why? First, alternatives
make us more powerful. To be without options is to be powerless; one must accept what is given. Second, hav-
ing alternatives makes it more likely that we will find success. If our first plan does not come to fruition or, after
further inspection, does not seem workable, we can easily move to an alternative. (This is sometimes called Plan
B. We have found it helpful to also have a Plan C, a Plan D, and maybe a Plan E, which is made possible by hav-
ing many alternatives in the first place). Third, as we play with alternatives, we learn. We gain insight into what
is important, what will work, and which pathways hold the greatest promise. When we create many options for
ourselves, even though we might not pursue them all, we allow ourselves to compare and contrast, to engage in
mental experiments, all of which leads to more effective decisions.
If you seek newness, push for more thoughts and ideas. Go beyond what you already know. Practicing
the Go for Quantity principle opens wide our ability to make meaningful connections and to generate a variety
of original possibilities. The more options you have, the more combinations you can make, and greater are the
chances you will think up outcomes that are truly novel.

54
Make Connections

Making connections is essential to the creative process. New thoughts or ideas are very often a combina- To Make Connections is to
tion of previously unrelated thoughts or ideas, which assume a new form as they intersect or are looked at from combine things that had not
a different perspective. Most new consumer products are the combination of different concepts that, when put been combined, or to draw
together, create a new whole. This combination principle is most evident in the area of consumer electronics, inspiration from one thing
where products that once stood alone are now blended into a single multifunction product. Consider: what does when working on another.
your mobile telephone do besides make calls? It probably takes photographs, which is a distinctly un-phone
like thing to do. It might also shoot video, send and receive email, allow you to play games, tell you where on
the Earth you are, and provide directions to the nearest Starbucks. And in some market areas, you can now use
your phone to purchase your coffee once you get there.6
One way of making connections, analogical thinking—the use of information or knowledge from one
domain in a different domain—is a cornerstone of invention. Alexander Graham Bell used the human ear to
assist in the development of the telephone. Salvador Dali’s painting The Persistence of Memory, which depicts
melting clocks, was inspired by a dream of melting cheese. Observations about the design of the microscope
aided in overcoming technical challenges in building the great dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. In each
of these instances, the breakthrough came as a result of exposure to a distinctly distant domain. The mind
seeks associations, linking one idea to another. If all your thoughts are limited to one domain, the chain of
ideas you produce are less likely to be original, because others who are experts in the domain are likely to make
the same associations.
To stimulate original ideas, span boundaries. There are many ways to do so: read broadly, travel to new
places, interact with others outside of your field, etc. Frans Johansson’s popular book The Medici Effect highlighted
the benefits of thinking across boundaries. He concluded, “For most of us, the best chance to innovate lies at
the Intersection [of ideas, concepts, and cultures]. Not only do we have a greater chance of fi nding remarkable
idea combinations there, we will also fi nd many more of them.”7
Making connections is the best way to increase the flexibility of your thinking and to elaborate on options
that have come up previously. Letting your mind freewheel by following a stream of associations is also a very
effective way to boost the fluency of your thinking and the number of options that can be generated. When
working in a group, a thought shared out loud often sparks a new connection for another person (which is one
of the reasons that the group technique Brainstorming is so effective). Don’t focus just on your own thinking;
listen carefully to others’ ideas to see if they spark new insights. By allowing for other sources of stimulation,
you keep your own thinking fresh.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 55

 Seek Novelty

There is no creativity without originality. Thus, the guideline Seek Novelty is both a reminder and an en-
To Seek Novelty is to
couragement to generate options that are new and unusual, options that go beyond the obvious and the familiar.
pursue the goal of
Creativity is not just originality, of course; creative solutions must also be useful, valuable, and appropriate.
originality.
But that determination comes later. The divergent phase is the time to pursue novel responses. As Alex Osborn
wrote, “It is easier to tame down than to think up.”8
Seeking novelty means pursuing a mental leap that breaks away from the current paradigm of thinking,
which is often bound to habits and tradition.9 The words “wild” and “unusual” are welcome here. As noted
earlier, when faced with a challenge, our first thoughts are of the familiar. To get to new thinking, we need to
intentionally push beyond the familiar. Any unusual or even bizarre thought can lead to a practical and useful
one. It is precisely this kind of original thinking that often leads to a breakthrough. Without new thinking we
are doomed to merely sustain the status quo.
When working in a group, going a little wild releases tension, builds energy, and creates an atmosphere
of playfulness and humor that supports people’s willingness to take risks, and encourages the collective flow of
thoughts. When thinking alone, seeking novelty is best sought through freewheeling, letting your mind wander
and venture into the unknown. In both situations, shutting down your internal judge (the Defer Judgment prin-
ciple) is essential to unleashing your imagination and your ability to generate original thoughts and insights.
This ability is essential to creative behavior. What about you: do you do this easily? Or do you look at
others and wonder how they do it so easily? One proven way to improve originality in thought is to continue
to generate options even after you believe you have exhausted all possibilities—and here you see how the Seek
Novelty principle is a good partner for the Go for Quantity principle.
Seeking novelty is also closely related to the Make Connections principle.
Analogies and metaphors, for example, are a good way to spark new and fresh
perspectives. Take a mental or actual excursion to explore a territory far away
from your problem space, then connect what you find back to your problem.
For a mental excursion, close your eyes and go where you please. For an actual
excursion, go wherever you’d like to and can afford. Take a walk. Visit a fac-
tory. Go for a hike. Board a plane. The sky’s the limit, literally.

56
Principles for Convergent Thinking

As we stressed earlier (and often), judgment is an essential part of creative thinking, which needs to be
applied deliberately and at the appropriate time. According to Sidney Parnes, one of the fathers of Creative
Problem Solving:

I must re-emphasize that divergent production—the creation of many unevaluated alternatives

at each stage—is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end. Ultimately judgment
re-enters the scene, facilitating convergence, solution and effective decision-making—the
ultimate purpose of the creative process.10

If judgment’s paramount role in the creative process is indisputable, the way in which you
apply judgment is critical to achieving creative solutions.

Four key principles guide effective convergent thinking:

• Apply affi rmative judgment
• Keep novelty alive
• Stay focused
• Check your objectives11
Practicing these principles can help you turn your options into valuable alternatives, without killing
their novelty.

Apply Affirmative Judgment

Just as Defer Judgment is the cornerstone of divergent thinking, Apply Affi rmative Judgment is the corner-
To Apply Affirmative
stone of convergent thinking. This principle encourages you to approach evaluation with a constructive attitude.
Judgment is to identify
It implies that evaluation of options must begin by examining their positive aspects, and with the positive inten-
what is good about an idea,
tion to build on them and make them stronger.
and to continuously work to
The assumption that evaluation should—indeed, must—begin from a positive perspective might run counter
overcome its flaws.
to our typical thinking. When confronted with something new—an idea, a goal, an action plan, etc. —often our
fi rst instinct is to criticize, to look for flaws before looking at merits. This is not productive. Anyone who has

Part 2: Creative Thinking 57

 been in a meeting has witnessed the deathblow of immediate negative judgment: “it is not possible,” “we have
tried this before,” “it is too expensive,” “over my dead body,” and so forth.
The most productive way to assess is to first look carefully at the positive facets of an option, and only
then at its limitations. Starting from the positive side actually changes the perception of the negatives. Consider
these two scenarios.
When the negatives lead the discussion, we are convincing ourselves that something will not work. The posi-
tives—if they are even permitted to see the light of day—will carry little weight, because of the mental gauntlet
that has been laid down. The positives would have to accomplish the giant dual tasks of being obviously more
compelling than the negatives, and simultaneously addressing them.
     When the positives lead the discussion, success becomes the de facto outcome. Momentum is es-
tablished, and energy is generated. When the negatives are later introduced, they become obstacles to be
overcome on the way to our success—obstacles that will be overcome if at all possible, with the help of
our positive energy and attitude.
Granted, it might be that a given option (a goal, idea or action) is deemed, after careful examination, to
be unworkable—impractical, undesirable, structurally flawed, etc.—and needs to be discarded. That is to be
expected; it is a natural consequence of the creative process that some answers are discarded on the way
to having some be accepted. Encouraging affirmative judgment does not mean avoiding a thorough criti-
cal analysis. It means keeping your mind open long enough to identify an option’s merits and potential
before looking for reasons to discard it.
Affirmative judgment is fundamental to effective convergent thinking overall, and to the three convergent
principles to follow. It is also a natural continuation of the divergent thinking principles. In our experience (and,
we suspect, yours), the automatic response to a novel idea is criticism. If the purpose of divergent thinking is to
deliberately stretch our minds to generate novel approaches, what would be the sense of immediately throwing
out the novel ideas? Therefore, it is critical when applying convergent thought that we truly explore the potential
of all options with an open mind. As a gentle reminder, Figure 7 shows some examples of prematurely critical
reactions to some now well-established ideas.

58
Figure 7

Premature Criticisms

Part 2: Creative Thinking 59

 Keep Novelty Alive

Convergent thinking is by nature careful and selective. When it is time to make a decision, one needs to
To Keep Novelty Alive
consider the real value and relevance of an option. In doing so, people often become conservative, retreating to
is to defend the quest for
their comfort zones, and discarding possibilities that present true uniqueness. They forget that this is exactly
a creative outcome while
what they were looking for when they decided to engage in creative thinking! This principle reminds us of the
forging a solution and
importance of novelty, which needs to be nurtured and protected throughout evaluation and refinement.
making decisions.
Group dynamics tend to increase conformity; people are prone to follow the majority judgment. This
presents an interesting paradox. While group dynamics can release great energy and foster risk-taking in the
divergent phase, the same group setting can lead to a conservative approach in the convergent phase, in support
of the safest or most conventional choices. (Followed by irony: people complaining afterward that nothing really
new has emerged.)
Whether you are applying convergent thinking alone or in a group, remember that creative outcomes
require taking some risk. It is difficult to achieve novelty when you are too bound to safety. One solution is to
make newness part of your decision criteria; and another is to find ways to overcome the risks. This is the work
of solution development (i.e., refining, improving, perfecting, etc.), which is a primary outcome of convergent
thinking. Instead of discarding a promising option because it sounds too risky, first ask yourself how might you
minimize the risks presented in it, or anticipate and overcome them.

Stay Focused

Convergent thinking is reflective and purposeful. The Stay Focused principle reminds you to focus on the
To Stay Focused is to invest
task at hand and invest the necessary thought and energy to ensure that the best alternatives are being selected
the necessary thought and
and then developed. Staying focused means also to be resolute about the choices that need to be made. It means
energy to select and develop
to analyze the various possibilities with fairness and objectivity, and then to have the persistence to refine, craft
the best alternatives.
and test the options that have been selected.
Convergence requires deliberate effort and discipline. It is why most creative outcomes are the fruit of hard
work, and seldom the result of a spark of genius, as it is often romanticized. Thomas Edison—he of the state-
ment “genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”—was a classic practitioner of iteration. He
famously tested thousands of different materials to find the best one for a light bulb filament.12 More recently,
James Dyson created more than 5,000 prototypes over five years to develop his industry-changing vacuum
cleaner.13 This practice is characteristic of virtually all eminent creators. Over time, often over many years,

60
they are generating, testing, practicing, refi ning, and perfecting their thinking. They experience both successes
and failures, but all along they remain focused and learn from their experiences, which culminate in original
theories, products, and solutions. Rare is the overnight success whose success really happened overnight.
One of the more challenging aspects of the creative process is to dissect and improve an option that you
have generated and, naturally, to which you feel a great attachment. Vincent Ruggiero referred to this “blind-
ness toward imperfections in your ideas” as a great obstacle to judgment that weakens one’s ability to be truly
critical.14 Writers, for example, are exhorted to “kill your darlings” during the editing process, to strike from
the text those beautiful phrases and story lines that, however lovely and beloved, do not fit.15 Yes, the same
judgment that you banished from the premises during the divergent phase must now be invited back in, to be
applied objectively and deliberately, now that it is time to evaluate, make decisions, and develop solutions.
One sure way to keep focused is to turn back and look at your objectives, which leads us to the fourth and
fi nal principle for convergent thinking.

Check Your Objectives

If thinking is defi ned as a purposeful mental activity, the purpose of creative thinking is to bring about
To Check Your Objectives
results that combine newness and value and that meet the objectives you have established. The Check Your
is to stay aware, while
Objectives principle reminds you to work toward a defi ned purpose. It is convergent thinking’s compass.
solving a problem, of what
In order to attain results that have value and are relevant to your challenge, you need to keep track of what
you wanted to accomplish in
you are looking for: your defi ned objectives. Many workplace meetings end up inconclusive because people lose
the first place.
sight of their objectives, the very reasons they gathered in the fi rst place.
When you make a major purchase, such as a car or a house, or make an important decision, such as which
job to take or which university to attend, you probably establish some decision rules (key factors, criteria, deal
breakers, etc.) to guide your convergence. So, too, with creative thinking. Decision rules are both objective
and subjective, both quantifiable and intuitive. Once you have your decision rules, you can ask yourself: of the
options generated, which one(s) best match your goals, desires, or expectations? Which will make you happy,
satisfied, or fulfilled? Which best achieve the objectives?
Convergence without a clear focus on your objectives is akin to guessing. Don’t leave the decision to chance;
rather, be systematic by testing the options against the desired outcomes.
It is natural and beneficial to take detours during the divergent phase, which purposefully asks us to be
adventurous. It is equally critical during the convergent phase to return home, to steer your mind and your
process back to its original course.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 61

 The Wild Card Principle: Allow for Incubation

Where do you get your best ideas? (Do they come from Schenectady?)* What are you doing when you
To Allow for Incubation
generate a truly novel idea, one that resolves a problem, or serves as a breakthrough to a difficult or perplexing
is to step away from the
situation? What activities are you involved in when you get your best thinking done? If you respond like most
problem, which gives your
people, then some of your best thinking, or most creative thinking, occurs while involved in an activity unrelated
brain a chance to rest and
to the problem you were trying to solve.
allows it to work on the
So, think about it: where are you, and what are you doing, when you get your best ideas? We are fond
problem subconsciously.
of asking this question. Some of the more popular responses are: while driving, shaving, exercising, reading,
traveling, or just before falling asleep. It’s odd: rarely do people say they get their best ideas at work. Or perhaps
it’s not so odd. We get so immersed in our work that we don’t take the time, or have the time, or are allowed
the time, to think and to reflect. (Staring out the window is not generally seen as a constructive activity.) Our
minds are so fully dedicated to our algorithmic work activities that it is seldom possible to engage in heuristic
work, such as creative thinking. Thus, it is natural when engaged in a routine or extraneous activity that some
part of the mind is freed up to make new connections or to generate new insights related to a problem we’ve
placed on our mental back burner.
We refer to Allow for Incubation as a “wildcard” principle because it does not fall neatly into either di-
vergent or convergent thinking.16 In fact, it is essential during both kinds of thinking. Taking a break is equally
useful in allowing a new option to emerge, or in gaining a new insight into an existing alternative that is under
consideration.
Research supports the value of incubation time.17 The benefits of incubation are sometimes concrete,
sometimes not. On the concrete side, we sometimes experience a sudden spark, commonly called the “aha”
moment, which you have no doubt experienced yourself. Equally important, if not so apparent, are the effects
that incubation has on your thinking ability. Without you realizing it, incubation provides necessary rest, or a
change in perspective, or some behind-the-scenes mental work. When you return to the problem, things have
changed, usually for the better.
So: whenever possible or whenever necessary—for example, when you have pressed your mind to come
up with a new approach (divergent thinking), or when you are making a decision (convergent thinking)—take a
break, go for a walk, sleep on it, exercise, listen to music, work on something else, or do nothing, and see what
new insights naturally come to mind.

*The science fiction writer Harlan Ellison says there is no answer to that famous and frequent question “where do you get your ideas?”, so he responds:
they come from Schenectady. “There’s a swell idea service in Schenectady; and every week I send ’em twenty-five bucks; and every week they send
me a fresh six-pack of ideas.” Retrieved from: http://www.doorly.com/writing/HarlanEllison.htm.

62
Tools for Deliberate Divergent and Convergent Thinking

The principles for divergent and convergent thinking, along with the wildcard principle, are easy to learn
and apply. Once internalized, these principles make divergence and convergence feel comfortable, like the natural
processes they are.
That said, even the most adept divergent and convergent thinker can benefit from a little help. A thinking
tool is a structured strategy to focus, organize, and guide an individual’s or group’s thinking.18 To enhance
your thinking skills, we present two fundamental thinking tools, one for divergence (Brainstorming) and one
for convergence (Hits). Additional tools are presented in Chapter 10.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool for deliberate divergent thinking employed by groups, and which explicitly follows
the divergent thinking guidelines shared earlier. It was fi rst described by Alex Osborn in the 1950s, and is one
of the most popular thinking tools in the field of creativity. It is widely disseminated and used—and like many
ubiquitous concepts, widely misunderstood and misused, too.
Brainstorming is not a free-for-all in which the only rule is “think!” Brainstorming has a structure, and it
has guidelines for how it works best. It’s a tool, not unlike the tools you have in your house. Every one of them,
from a hammer to a chain saw, comes with a set of guidelines for how to use it. Brainstorming, like a hammer,
seems so simple that anyone should be able to pick it up and swing it. But if you’ve ever hammered your thumb,
driven a nail in crookedly, or participated in a “Brainstorming session” in which the only new thing that emerged
was a headache, then you understand that all tools have a range of effectiveness based on how well you use them.
Perhaps because it is neither hammer nor chain saw, but something far more subtle (more like a lathe,
perhaps), Brainstorming is surprisingly controversial in the creativity field and in the popular press. There are
studies that suggest group Brainstorming is more effective than individuals working alone…and there are stud-
ies that indicate the opposite. One takeaway from this discord is that one can design a study to prove anything.
(“Brainstorming cures the common cold!” “Brainstorming causes the common cold!”) Another takeaway is
that it is not an either/or situation. There is more than one way to think divergently, and when used effectively,
Brainstorming is a profoundly effective method.
Note the phrase in the sentence above: “when used effectively.” The keys to making Brainstorming work
are: convening the right group, having a clearly defi ned question, and deliberately following the four divergent
thinking principles shared earlier. These keys are described below.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 63

 Gather a resource group
We call the participants in a Brainstorming session the resource group. When selecting the group members,
consider the characteristics you want in the group, given the task at hand. Do you want people familiar with the
situation, or participants who have a fresh perspective, or a mix of both? Whomever is invited, be sure they are
made aware of the purpose of the session so that they come mentally prepared (that is, they know the purpose
of the meeting, are willing to engage in divergent thinking, etc.).
Our experience has been that a group with five to eight members works best for Brainstorming. With fewer
there may not be enough energy, while more may make it difficult for some members to have their voices heard.

Identify and describe the task

Before beginning, describe the focus (goal) of the session and any key data and background information.
Describe the task for which you want to apply divergent thinking, and be sure that the participants are aware
of, and agree to, the principles for divergent thinking. Whenever possible, send this briefing information to the
group prior to the session.

Use the divergent thinking principles

When used in a group, the divergent thinking principles (Defer Judgment, Go for Quantity, Make Connec-
tions, and Seek Novelty) describe behaviors, encouraging a broad search for many, varied and original options.
At least one member should be charged with ensuring that the group adheres to the principles. If the group
has a facilitator, the task falls to that person. Otherwise, anyone familiar with the guidelines can keep an ear
out for counterproductive responses.

Brainstorming steps
Having prepared as above, engage in Brainstorming by following these steps.
1. Post—and be aware of, and employ—the divergent thinking guidelines.
2. Post—and refer to as needed—the question that is being addressed.
3. Set a quota for the number of ideas/options you want (50 is a good opening target).
4. Do one of the following.
• Traditional group method: group members say ideas out loud; a facilitator or recorder captures
each idea on flip chart sheets, butcher paper, whiteboard, or with an electronic medium.

64
 • Post-it method: to contribute an idea, a group member will: a) write it down on a Post-it; b) say it
out loud; c) hand the Post-it to the facilitator to post (best: on flip chart sheets in an orderly way).
5. Stay with it. The more original ideas come out later in the process.
6. Incubate (take a break) if necessary, then return and diverge again.
7. Add an enhancement such as Forced Connections to elicit different types of responses (see Chapter
10 for more information).
Hits

As you now know, divergent thinking must be balanced by convergent thinking. Hits is a convergent
thinking tool for quickly identifying the most promising options.
The main function of Hits is to select the options that stand out as being most promising or favorable
among those that have been generated with divergent thinking. Hits is an intuitive tool for focusing on options
that grab your attention, are on target, or seem to sparkle (here, it is OK to be distracted by shiny things).
Hits is a simple tool; and in fact, sometimes convergent thinking is simple. You use your implicit under-
standing, subjective impressions and tacit knowledge to make your selections. No rocket science required (unless,
of course, you are a rocket scientist).

Using Hits
Use Hits to decide which options you will carry forward, by following these steps.
1. Post—and be aware of, and employ—the convergent thinking guidelines. Pay particular attention to
“Check Your Objectives,” which reminds you to converge with your original criteria in mind.
2. Post—and refer to as needed—the question that is being addressed.
3. Look over the divergently-generated options.
4. Hit—that is, mark, using a method such as colored sticky dots—the most promising options, limiting
your hits to 10 to 20% of the total number that were generated. (For example, if you generated 50
options, you may hit up to 10 of them.) When converging in a group, each team member receives the
same number of hits (that is, 10 to 20% of the total number of options generated). With some groups,
it might be a good idea to encourage members to make their choices individually before showing them
publicly, to help limit peer influence and groupthink.

Part 2: Creative Thinking 65

 After Hits: Highlighting

In some cases it is valuable to cluster the hits that have been selected into groups. This is called Highlight-
ing, a natural extension of Hits.
1. Working only with the “hits,” cluster similar options together into natural groups, allowing unique
items to stand alone.
2. Label each cluster of options with a distinguishing and descriptive title.

Moving Forward

The principles presented in this chapter, if practiced and internalized, can literally transform your think-
ing, and as a consequence enhance your creative behavior. These principles can be practiced alone or in groups.
When applied individually they can serve as guiding values. Ask yourself: “Am I spanning boundaries to make
new connections?” “Am I truly suspending evaluation on myself and others?” “Do I remain focused when pur-
suing new ideas?” In groups these principles can be used as guidelines to align thinking, ensuring that everyone
is pulling in the same direction. Just as our values in general guide our actions, these principles serve as a guide
to our creative behavior.

1
Puccio, et al., 2011. 9
Torrance, E. P. (1999). Making the creative leap beyond. Buffalo, NY:
2
Osborn, 1957. Creative Education Foundation.
3
Parnes, S. J. (1961). Effects of extended effort in creative problem 10
Parnes, S. J. (1997). Optimize the magic of your mind. Buffalo, NY:
solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 52, 117-122. Bearly Limited, p. 54.
4
Simonton, D. K. (1984). Genius, creativity & leadership: Historio- 11
Puccio, et al., 2011.
metric inquiries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 12
http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/edison-lightbulb/edison-lightbulb.
5
As quoted by Nancy Rouchette, The Journal of NIH Research (Jul php?cts=electricity
1990), 2, 63. Reprinted in Linus Pauling, Barclay Kamb, Linus Pauling: 13
http://www.dyson.com/insidedyson/default.asp#jamesdyson
Selected Scientific Papers, Vol. 2, Biomolecular Sciences (2001), 1101. 14
Ruggiero, 2007, p. 175.
6
http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps/starbucks-card- 15
Attributed to William Faulkner, and before him, Sir Arthur Quiller-
mobile Couch.
7
Johansson, F. (2004). The Medici effect: Breakthrough insights at 16
Puccio, et al., 2011.
the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. Boston, MA: Harvard 17
Smith, S. M., & Dodds, R. A. (1999). Incubation. In M. A. Runco
Business School Press, p. 20. & S. R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity, Volume 1, A-H (pp.
8
Osborn, A. F. (1963). Applied imagination: Principles and procedures 39-43). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
of creative problem-solving. (3rd Ed.) New York: Scribner’s, p. 156. 18
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 95.

66
3 CPS: The Thinking
Skills Model
“The world we have made, as a result of
the level of thinking we have done thus
far, creates problems we cannot solve at
the same level of thinking at which we
created them.”
Albert Einstein
70
CHAPTER 8

Creative Problem Solving:

A Deliberate Creative Process

n Part 2 we discussed the natural process of creative thinking. In this part we answer these questions:
What if I want to enhance my natural creativity? What if I want to be creative on purpose?
Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a comprehensive system that deliberately ignites creative thinking,
resulting in the generation of creative solutions and productive change.
Because thinking, including creative thinking, is a natural process, we are already inclined to naturally
engage in these skills. Using a deliberate process (such as CPS) simply means doing something on purpose, and
paying attention to how you do it, so that you can do it as well as you can.
Here’s an example. It is safe for us to assume that you are, right now, breathing. This is not something you
have to think about. And yet there are times when you want to think about your breathing, and to do it in a
deliberate fashion: when you are out for a run, or being examined by your doctor, or hiking at a high elevation,
or playing a wind instrument, or meditating.
So it is with creativity. When you need to, you can apply a deliberate creative process in order to ensure
that you are performing this natural life skill as well as you can for the circumstance that requires it. We solve
problems all the time, and most of the time we allow our natural instincts to guide us. However, there are many
circumstances that call out for a more deliberate approach, such as when working in a group, and when working
with a particularly difficult or complex problem, like those open-ended predicaments or opportunities (described
in Chapter 1) for which there are no set procedures to follow or no obvious solutions.
The CPS process parallels our own natural creative thinking processes and, simply put, organizes them
more efficiently. It takes intuitive responses to open-ended problems and transforms them into targeted strate-
gies.
It is important to note that CPS is a process for both thinking and doing: it helps people accomplish con-
crete actions and bring their ideas to fruition. This dual function inherent in the CPS process is conveyed by the
name itself. Let’s take a look at the basic terms that make up “Creative Problem Solving process.”

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 71

 • By “creative” we mean the production of ideas or options that are both new and useful. They contain
elements of novelty, uniqueness, originality, and they have value, are relevant, serve a purpose.
• By “problem” we mean a situation that exists when there is a gap between what you have and what you
want. Novel, ill-defined and complex problems are the kinds of problems that CPS is designed to address.
• By “solving” we mean taking action in some way. The implementation stage of the CPS process
includes refining solutions and making them work in the environment and context in which they will
be introduced.
• By “process” we mean a particular method of doing something, generally involving a number of steps
or operations.1
Earlier, we discussed the separation of divergence and convergence when engaged in creative thinking. CPS,
which is deliberate creative thinking, must of course employ this same separation. By doing so, CPS helps people
avoid the start-and-stop thinking that limits both the productive flow of ideas and efficient decision making.
Consider, as an illustration of these limits, the directionless, start-and-stop nature of so many business meet-
ings. People engage in endless discussions, wandering from one question to another, diverging and converging
at the same time…and as a result, neither exploring all their options, nor exploring them very well. The result:
no decisions, poor decisions, no closure, premature closure.
In addition to the separation of divergent and convergent thinking, there is another factor. What makes CPS
particularly effective—and what separates it from other so-called “creative” processes—is the use of divergence
and convergence at each step of the process. (There are other processes that employ divergent thinking only in
the idea generation step.) By extending the power of divergence and convergence to each step of the process, we
maximize our creative thinking ability and our ability to produce creative outcomes.
As we noted earlier, creative thinking is a higher-order thinking skill. As such, the purpose of the CPS
process is to organize and enhance that thinking skill. Although CPS is designed primarily to nurture creative
thinking in problem solving, it also involves decision making, critical thinking, strategic thinking, and many
other thinking skills. (The CPS Thinking Skills Model that we will introduce in the next section identifies specific
thinking skills that people use when they engage in the CPS process.) Thus, we make the case that CPS operates
as a macro process for thinking. 2 This has a profound implication for those who study, learn, and use CPS: it
means that CPS is a conceptual framework that helps organize and improve your thinking, for any context in
which you apply your thinking. By learning and practicing CPS, not only do you learn the steps of a problem-
solving process, but you also learn how to think and how to sharpen your thinking abilities, even when not
engaged in problem solving. Simply put: when you learn CPS, you learn to be a better thinker.

72
Sidebar

Creative Problem Solving: A Brief History3

Our center—The International Center for Studies in Creativity—was founded on the pioneering work of three
individuals. Alex Osborn, an advertising executive who developed the creative thinking tool Brainstorming,
was the originator of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process and model. Osborn began his work on
deliberate creativity in the 1940s. In the 1950s he teamed with a college professor, Sidney Parnes, to further
develop and research CPS. The early studies carried out by Parnes demonstrated that training in the CPS
process enhanced individuals’ creative thinking skills (see: Meadow & Parnes, 1959; Meadow, Parnes, &
Reese, 1959; Parnes & Meadow, 1959, 1960). Parnes, in turn, teamed up with Ruth Noller, originally a professor
of mathematics, to design, deliver, and test the groundbreaking college curriculum in creativity at Buffalo
State College (see: Noller & Parnes, 1972; Parnes & Noller, 1972a, 1972b, 1973; Resse, Parnes, Treffinger, &
Kaltsounis, 1976). At the same time that research into the impact of CPS training was occurring, the model
itself was being modified. Lessons learned through research and application guided the evolution of the
CPS model. Although the original seven-step model introduced by Osborn in 1953 (i.e., Orientation, Prepara-
tion, Analysis, Hypothesis, Incubation, Synthesis, and Verification) has changed through the years, current
versions of the process still retain many of the hallmark features found in the early work. (For a review of
the evolution of CPS, see: Puccio et al., 2005; and Isaksen and Treffinger, 2004.)

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 73

 CPS: The Thinking Skills Model

CPS has a long history (see the sidebar on page 73). As such, it is one of the most widely used and researched
models of the creative process. Throughout its history CPS has been modified and refined. The version of CPS
presented in this book was developed by Gerard Puccio, Marie Mance, and Mary Murdock and is formally
called CPS: the Thinking Skills Model, as it was the first version of CPS to formally describe both the cognitive
and affective skills that are used during the process.4 This blend creates a comprehensive look at the cognitive
work of problem solving, and at the nature of thinking itself. For simplicity’s sake, we will use the shorter name,
CPS, when referring to this model.
CPS is illustrated in Figure 8. The structure of the model, working from outside inward, comprises three
conceptual stages, six explicit process steps (each with a repetition of divergence and convergence), and one
executive step at the heart of the model to guide them all. (We realize this has a Tolkien-esque “one ring” feel
to it, and that’s not entirely unintentional.)
The three conceptual stages reflect the natural creative process that people apply when they face any chal-
lenge or opportunity. They first need to clarify the direction they want to pursue, as well as the obstacles they
are facing. Next, they need to transform the reality they are facing, by identifying potential ideas and develop-
ing them into viable solutions. Finally, they need to implement the devised solutions, by constructing a plan for
taking effective action. Each stage includes two formal steps:

Clarification Stage Transformation Stage Implementation Stage

• Exploring the Vision • Exploring Ideas • Exploring Acceptance
• Formulating Challenges • Formulating Solutions • Formulating a Plan

In each stage the first step begins with “Exploring” followed by the next step of “Formulating.” The first
step is more exploratory or abstract while the second is more focused and concrete. Thus, each stage is designed
to move from broader concepts to concrete outcomes. The Clarification stage begins with exploring a broad
vision, and ends with identifying specific challenges that must be addressed to achieve it. The Transformation
stage starts with a broad search for potential ideas to respond to those challenges, and ends with the develop-
ment of workable solutions. The Implementation stage begins with a broad exploration of the context that will
support or hinder the implementation of those solutions, and ends with a detailed plan for action.
The alternation of Exploring and Formulating is designed to express the different nature of the thinking
underlying each of the two steps (i.e., abstract vs. concrete). It is not to be confused with the balance between

74
Figure 8

Creative Problem Solving: the Thinking Skills Model

Source: © 2006 Puccio, Murdock & Mance. Reprinted with permission.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 75

 divergence and convergence, the cornerstones of creative thinking, which are used in each step of the process,
both when Exploring and when Formulating. Take note of the diamond shape within each process step. Through
much of CPS’s history, the diamond has been used to represent the balance of divergent and convergent thinking:
starting at the top of the diamond, it opens up to represent divergence, then closes to represent convergence.
At the center of the model is the meta-step, Assessing the Situation. This is the control function, the act of
thinking about your thinking. It is “metacognitive” because it involves your ability to monitor and direct your
own thinking process. Previously we used the analogy of driving a car (accelerating and braking), and we can
extend it here: when Assessing the Situation, you are steering your thinking in the most appropriate direction.
This is where you begin the CPS process, and this is how you monitor your progression through the process.
When Assessing the Situation, you discover and identify relevant information (shown in the model as Gather
Data); and you determine if the situation requires creative thinking and, if so, where to enter within the CPS
process. It is therefore an executive step that is repeated throughout the process. (We were tempted to call this
the “mother” step, but our mothers did not approve. And yes, we do see the irony in that.)
The circular illustration of the CPS model makes a point: problem solving follows a natural flow—forward
progress toward implementation being the goal, after all—but problem solving may also ebb and flow. If you
were to observe your natural creative process in action, you might feel like you skipped a step here and there,
or worked out of order. That’s natural: sometimes your mind moves too quickly to notice the progression
from one step to the next; sometimes you need to backtrack; sometimes you skip over the parts that
are already clear in your mind. Note the center of the illustration: when you problem-solve, you
continually return to the center to see where you are, to make decisions, and to decide what to
do next. In a natural process, you may do this without paying attention to it; in a deliberate
process, you do it on purpose.
There is one more essential point to be made here: the process steps are both inte-
grated (they can work together), and independent (they can stand alone). CPS is flexible.
When you begin to internalize the CPS process, you start seeing how to move naturally
between steps, which may or may not be in a linear way. As CPS becomes part of your own
way of thinking, you will understand that you can use the steps—or any one step—as you need
and when you need.

76
CPS in Brief: “Toy City” Case Study

CPS is powerful, yet nuanced and endlessly flexible. Before we’re ready to take you there, let’s begin with
a case study. We’ll describe the essential nature of each process step, and illustrate it by talking about a very
serious subject: toys. Or, more succinctly, the big business of selling toys.
The situation: A giant toy store chain, “Toy City,” is in trouble. Sales are dropping, margins are being
squeezed. Competition is everywhere. They decide to use the CPS process to come up with a creative solution:
something novel in the industry, and something that will be valuable for the company.
For each step of the process, we will fi rst describe the CPS process step, then show how Toy City employed
that step.

1 2 3 4
Assessing the Situation

Assessing the Situation is a unique and important meta-step within the CPS process. It has
two fundamental functions: data gathering and meta-cognitive.
Data gathering is using both objective and subjective data to help inform your process deci-
sions.
We use “data” here to include a wide range of inputs and sources. Data should include objective informa-
tion gathered from the five senses, such as observations, facts, descriptions, sounds, even tastes or smells; and
subjective data from intuitive sources such as hunches, guesses, hypotheses, emotions, feelings, opinions, nags,

5
or gaps in information.
6 7 8
Once the data is gathered, the second function of this step is to determine if creative thinking is necessary,
and, if so, where to begin (or where to go next) in the CPS process. This metacognitive function of Assessing
the Situation is to make informed choices about how to use the process. It requires you to match what you need
(ideas, a better understanding of your goal, a plan of action, etc.) to the related step in the CPS process.
Assessing the Situation works much like visiting your doctor when you are not feeling well. First, the doc-
tor gathers information, and then decides what step to take next. If she feels certain about the diagnosis, she
will implement the treatment. If she is uncertain, more data will be gathered, or off you go to a specialist for
further diagnosis. Assessing the Situation continues even after the treatment is initiated. The doctor or a nurse
will often check to see if you are responding as anticipated, and if not, the evolving situation is examined to see
whether modifications need to be made to the treatment.
In medicine, treatment follows diagnosis. In just the same manner, the way forward in the creative process

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 77

78
 follows Assessing the Situation, which is always the fi rst step in CPS. And just as your doctor continuously
assesses progress through the various steps of a medical treatment, Assessing the Situation in CPS is never left
behind. That is, Assessing the Situation occurs throughout CPS so that individuals and teams can be certain
they are applying the most appropriate step of the process. This is why Assessing the Situation is referred to as
the meta-step of the process; it stands above all the others—it’s the eye in the sky of the CPS process.

Toy City Assesses the Situation

Assessing the Situation, the team fi rst gathers data: sales figures for every store, region, product line,
and season; and does a detailed analysis of their competitors, which include toy specialty stores, Internet-only
retailers, and discount department stores. Team members visit stores, both their competitors’ and their own.
They go shopping for toys at every possible web site. They talk to consumers and to their suppliers. Then, they
reach out a little further, visiting retail stores that are not in the business of selling toys, web sites that sell things
other than toys, and web sites that don’t sell anything at all but which have a lot of traffic. Finally, they go to a
preschool and watch children playing with toys.
Among the issues they identify: real estate is expensive; any retailer can sell the most popular items; price-
conscious buyers are selecting where to buy on price alone; toys are not sold just in toy stores; the behemoth
sellers, who aren’t even toy specialists, are pushing margins down as they push volume up. Some of the data is
confounding. The biggest retail toy seller, who is also the biggest seller of just about everything, has a limited
selection, little on-the-floor help for customers, and a toy area that is generally a mess.
Now that data is gathered, the team moves to the second function of Assessing the Situation, which is to
determine where to go next. They decide to begin with the Clarification stage, which will include Exploring the
Vision (what they want/need to achieve in the near future) and Formulating Challenges (identifying the issues
that must be addressed to reach the vision).

1 2 3 4
Exploring the Vision

In this step, Exploring the Vision, you identify a vision of the future: a goal or wish that
relates to the current situation and depicts the desired future state (i.e., the result you want to
create).
First, using divergent thinking, you identify many possible future states. This requires
being visionary, dreaming of a future you wish to create. It can be helpful here to use state-
ments that begin with “It would be nice if…” or “I wish….” Then, using convergent thinking, you select

5 6 7 8
Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 79
 and shape the vision into one that is worth pursuing and would benefit from using CPS. At the end of this step,
you will have selected a desired future state, expressed as an affirmative goal statement.

Toy City Explores the Vision

The Toy City team uses divergent thinking to produce many goal statements, from the concrete (“It would
be nice if we could increase sales by ten percent in the next quarter”) to the abstract (“I wish Toy City was a
destination shopping experience.”) Using convergent thinking, it is decided that the best expression of the chain’s
future vision is “We wish to increase sales by seven percent per year, every year.”

1 2 3 4
Formulating Challenges

There is, by definition, distance between the current state and the desired future state. In this
step, Formulating Challenges, you begin to be strategic about how to bridge that distance.
First, thinking divergently, identify the critical issues that must be addressed, the problems
that must be solved, the gaps and discrepancies, and the possible pathways. It can be helpful to
begin these statements with “How to…”, “How might…”, “What might…”, or “In what ways might….” Then,
thinking convergently, select and shape these challenges into the ones that you will pursue, that is, your strategic
priorities. At the end of this step, you will select one or more solution-oriented challenge statements.

5 6
7 8
Toy City Formulates Challenges
Working with a team of strong thinkers, the divergent thinking session produced nearly a hundred chal-
lenge statements, including expected questions such as “How to get our current customers to purchase more”
and “How to increase same store sales,” to the unexpected “How to make people love us” and “How to prevent
people from shopping at a big box store.” Everyone had a good laugh at the image of a hundred bell-ringing
Salvation Army Santas forming a gauntlet at the big box’s entrance. Converging, the challenge statement they
selected to be carried forward was, “How might we get more customers into our physical stores?” (There were
other challenge statements they liked, too, which would be kept aside for later.)
3 4
Exploring Ideas

Once you have identified a challenge, you need new ideas in order to meet that challenge.
In this step, Exploring Ideas, you respond to the challenge statement with ideation, generating
possibilities in an open, positive, and sometimes playful way.
Thinking divergently, you generate many ideas that could address the challenge. Thinking
convergently, you select the most promising ideas, which you will attempt to craft into creative (novel and useful)
solutions. At the end of this step, you have one or more potential ideas to carry forward.

7 81 2 3 4
Toy City Explores Ideas
Generating ideas was great fun for the Toy City team. Divergent thinking produced more than one hundred
ideas, from the banal (“advertise more”) to the outlandish (“put a store on every corner”). Building on the idea
of a store on every corner, promising ideas emerged: create smaller Toy City stores; create temporary Toy City
“pop-up” stores in vacant retail spaces; put Toy City stores inside of their competitors’ stores; put Toy City stores
inside of hospitals; put Toy City stores inside of every retail store; and so forth. Converging, the most favored
ideas were those that expanded the physical presence of Toy City in a low-cost way. These were carried forward
to be crafted into a comprehensive solution.

5 6 7 8
Formulating Solutions

Ideas are not solutions. They are thoughts or suggestions of a possible course of action that
might be successfully crafted into solutions. In this step, Formulating Solutions, you forge a work-
able solution from the ideas generated in the previous step.
Thinking divergently, you evaluate the idea in various ways, including: identifying the pluses
and minuses of the idea, fi nding ways to overcome the minuses, and developing prototypes. Thinking conver-
gently, you make decisions about each aspect of the emerging solution, pushing development forward, while
resisting premature closure (the urge to make decisions too quickly). At the end of this step, you have a robust
solution for which there is a sense of commitment.

Toy City Formulates Solutions

Working with a set of ideas for expanding the physical presence of Toy City in a low-cost way, the team
divergently listed the positives of the proposed solutions, then the issues that would have to be overcome. They

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 81

1 2 3 4
provided new thinking to overcome the obstacles, and used convergent tools to craft workable, implementable
solutions. What they decided to do was to extend the physical reach of the store throughout the year by creating
partnerships with retailers, to put Toy City mini-stores inside of their stores, including some that currently sell
toys (such as department stores and amusement parks), some (such as grocery stores, hospitals, museums, and
gift shops) that either dabble in toy selling or do not currently sell toys—and even some competitors’ stores. They
decided also to create a framework for adding hundreds of pop-up stores during the peak toy-buying seasons,
and any time they see a unique opportunity. These solutions fit the criteria of providing wide reach with a low
cost of entry, and an easy escape route if all or part of the program is unsuccessful.

5 6 7 8
Exploring Acceptance

Creative solutions are, by definition, changes. The intent is to introduce a new approach to
an existing situation, either a predicament that needs to be resolved or a new opportunity that
needs to be seized. In this step, Explore Acceptance, you evaluate context, being sensitive to the
environment in which your solution will be implemented, and identify sources of both assistance
and resistance.
Thinking divergently, you identify the people and resources (e.g., technology) that might assist you in
bringing about the solution, and how to make the best use of them. Similarly, you identify those people who
might resist, which resources (or lack thereof) could provide obstacles, and how you can mitigate or overcome
them. Thinking convergently, you select which of the identified assisters and resisters require your attention, and
how you will work with them. At the end of this step, you have tactics for addressing assistance and resistance,
which will be incorporated into the implementation plan.

Toy City Explores Acceptance

Possible assisters were identified, with the most prominent being the toy manufacturers themselves, and
commercial real estate brokers. Of the many resisters identified in the divergently-generated list, the most im-
portant ones were the higher-volume toy sellers, who may not feel the need to have an outside partner. Of the
ideas generated to overcome this resistance, the two most important were a limited trial period (e.g., stores in
one test city, for one quarter, with no obligation to continue), and encouragement (in the form of incentives)
from the primary assisters, the toy manufacturers.

82
6 7 8
Formulating a Plan

Successful implementation requires planning. In this step, Formulating a Plan, you are tacti-
cal, identifying what needs to be done and how it will get done, all while remaining cognizant of,
and tolerant of, the risks that come with creative change.
Thinking divergently, you identify all the possible action steps required to implement the
solution, including what needs to be done, by when, and by whom. Thinking convergently, you organize these
steps into a comprehensive implementation plan, the structure of which is determined by the type of project. At
the end of this step, you are ready to implement the creative solution.

Toy City Formulates a Plan

Toy City created a new function inside of its marketing group to pursue strategic partnerships; formed an
ad hoc team in its real estate group to locate temporary space options and negotiate leases; and asked Human
Resources to create a training program for the employees of partner stores that would now be selling Toy City
products. Detailed action plans were created by each group, with each initiative having its own plan and project
manager. Budgets and targets were established, and the implementation work was ready to begin.

CPS in Brief, Debrief

In this section, we walked you through CPS step-by-step, describing each process step both generically
and in the context of a fictional example. This allowed you to see CPS both in whole and in part, which we
hope suggests to you that you can use CPS both in whole (every process step), and in part (only the steps that
are needed). Table 1 provides a summary of the process steps.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 83

Table 1

Overview of the CPS Process Steps

Step Purpose Divergence Convergence Exit with...

Assessing the Situation To describe and identify relevant Generate a large amount of Select the most important data, At the end of this step, you will
data. data by asking and recording i.e., the information that looks have a clear picture of the most
answers to questions that will most relevant to the situation relevant data that characterize
help you gather information from you are facing. You can also the situation you are facing.
sources both objective (observa- cluster the data and label each
tions, facts, sensory elements) cluster to help organize and make
and subjective (hunches, feel- sense of it.
ings, opinions).
To determine the next process Determine if the problem identi- At the end of this step, you will
step. fied is a good match for the CPS have a decision whether or not
process; if so, make a decision CPS is the right approach for the
about where to go next in the situation and, if so, a direction
CPS process. (where to go next).

Exploring the Vision To develop a vision of a desired Generate a list of goals, wishes, Select the statement that best At the end of this step, you will
outcome. challenges, and opportunities. identifies the vision; improve have a goal, wish, challenge,
Begin each with an affirmative the statement, if needed, until it or opportunity, expressed as a
statement starter: “I wish...” or expresses precisely the desired broad, brief, and beneficial state-
“It would be nice if....” future state. ment that begins with one of the
statement starters.
Formulating Challenges To identify the gaps that must Generate a list of problems Select the statement that best At the end of this step, you will
be closed to achieve the desired that need to be solved in order expresses a problem that needs have one or more problems you
outcome. to achieve the vision. Begin to be solved in order to reach wish to work on, in the form of
each with an affirmative state- the desired future; improve the concise, affirmative statements
ment starter: “How to...,” “How statement, if needed, until it ex- that begin with one of the state-
might...,” “What might…,” or “In presses the problem precisely. ment starters.
what ways might....”
Exploring Ideas To generate novel ideas that ad- Generate many ideas for solving Select the most promising ideas, At the end of this step, you will
dress important challenges. the problem. remembering to keep novelty have one or more ideas which
alive. can be developed into imple-
mentable solutions.
Formulating Solutions To move from ideas to solutions. Generate a list of pluses, po- By accepting and rejecting At the end of this step, you will
tentials, concerns, and ways to various aspects of the develop- have created an implementable
overcome the concerns; create ing solution, make incremental solution.
prototypes to test the solution. improvements to the potential
solution.

84
 Step Purpose Divergence Convergence Exit with...

Exploring Acceptance To increase the likelihood of Make a list of potential sources Identify key assisters and re- At the end of this step, you will
success of assistance and resistance. sisters. List ways to overcome have determined how to enlist
Include people, resources and key resisters and ways to take assisters and overcome resist-
circumstances (timing, loca- advantage of key assisters. ers, so that you are ready to
tion, etc.) create an implementation ac-
tion plan.
Formulating a Plan To develop an implementation Generate a list of everything that Review the list of action items. At the end of this step, you will
plan will need to be done, including Remove those that do not need have a fully-formed action plan
these details for each action: to be included in the plan, and for implementation of the solu-
what needs to be done, who will combine steps that should be tion.
do it, when it needs to be done, combined. List the action items in
what steps precede it, and who order, from start to fi nish, along
is notified upon completion. with the pertinent details.
Include steps that involve ac-
ceptance (the work you did on
assisters and resisters) from the
previous step.

Moving Forward

CPS is a process that helps people re-defi ne the problems they face, come up with creative ideas, transform them into work-
able solutions, and then take action on them, thereby leading to productive change. In its “pure” form, a creative project travels
through each process step, but that’s not the only way it happens. Many endeavors require just one or a few steps; and some more
complex situations result in an organic process that iterates, backtracks, changes direction, and goes where it needs to go. It is the
function of Assessing the Situation to guide the process. The skilled CPS practitioner uses the flexibility of the process, rather than
being bound by it.

1
Puccio, et al., 2011, pp. 29-30. 4
Puccio, G. P., Murdock, M., & Mance, M. (2005). Current developments in
2
Puccio, et al., 2011. creative problem solving for organizations: A focus on thinking skills and styles.
3
Puccio, G. P., Murdock, M., & Mance, M. (2007). Creative leadership: Skills that Korean Journal of Thinking & Problem Solving, 15, 43-76.
drive change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p. 28

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 85

86
CHAPTER 9

Applying Creative Problem Solving

in Your Life

ow that you have been introduced to the structure of Creative Problem Solving, including the stages and
steps, we would like you to experience how it actually works when applied to a real-life problem—to
take the CPS process for a test drive. We will coach you through the initial meta-step of Assessing the
Situation, followed by the six process steps, using divergence and convergence separately at each step (see Figure
9 for a guide).
In this chapter you will be asked a number of questions which will require that you
record your answers. (Yes, you must capture them in some way. They cannot exist
only in your head.) Choose whatever recording method is most convenient or
conducive: blank sheets of paper, flip charts, white board, electronic document,
etc.

Allowing for Incubation: the Wildcard Principle

As you step though the CPS process on the pages that follow, you will use
divergent and convergent thinking. Each time you do, we will remind you to use
the divergent and convergent principles. One principle that will not be explicitly
mentioned is what we call the “wildcard principle,” Allow for Incubation, but we
encourage you to use it. At any point in the process, when you need a break or when
you need to do something else, it is acceptable, natural, and helpful to step away from
the process. You will return to the process rested and more mentally ready, and while
you are away, your mind will likely work on the problem on its own. Talk about your
win-win situations!

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 87

Figure 9

CPS Process Practice

Source: © 2006 Puccio, Murdock & Mance. Reprinted with permission.

88
1. Assessing the Situation

Identifying a Problem for Creative Thinking

To begin, you will identify a situation in your life, either personal or professional, that would benefit from
creative thinking (see “1” in Figure 9). We hope two things will happen: that you will become more comfortable
with CPS; and that you can fi nd some breakthrough ideas in regard to a real-life situation.
Since this may be your fi rst application of CPS, we will assist you in scanning your life for problems that
might benefit from creative thinking. Typically, problems present themselves to us, so we don’t have to go search-
ing for an issue to work on. But to be sure you are applying this CPS walkthrough in a constructive way, we will
use a brief thinking exercise to identify a suitable problem.

Diverge: Make a list of possible situations to which CPS might be applied. To help your thinking, here are
some questions. Capture all the responses you can think of to each of these questions.

• What’s been on your mind lately?

• What are some of your personal or professional goals?
• What would you like to do more of or do better?
• What challenges must you address?

Converge: From the list of possible situations, select one to work on, verifying that it fits all of the follow-
ing criteria.

• The situation is sufficiently broad (that is, it has sufficient scope for exploration and discovery).
• The situation is open-ended (that is, there is no one right answer).
• You are the problem owner (that is, you are the person responsible for taking action).
• You are motivated to work on this situation (that is, you are willing to invest the necessary time and
energy).

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 You may have more than one situation that fits these criteria. If so, choose the one for which you have the
most energy. The situation you select will be carried forward to the next step.
Note: In your future use of CPS, you may not need to scan your life for problems; rather, we can assure
you that plenty will show up unbidden. Thus, you may not need to repeat the divergent thinking phase, but you
will need to be sure that the problem meets the convergent criteria. If the problem meets those criteria, then you
will know it is an appropriate situation to apply CPS, and you can simply dive in—as we’ll do right now.

Divergent Guidelines Gathering Data—Divergent Phase: Identify Important Data

Defer judgment,
Go for quantity, Make By gathering data, you will begin to develop a deeper understanding of the situation you just selected (see
connections, Seek novelty “1” in Figure 9). Therefore, a critical aspect of Assessing the Situation is developing a deep understanding of what
is happening. Remember, prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

Diverge: Read through all the questions below, responding to those that fit your situation. Stretch your
mind to identify and capture as many data points as possible. Be sure to follow the guidelines for divergent
thinking.

• Who is involved in this situation? Who else?

• What is happening? What else?
• What is causing it? What else?
• Where is this occurring (or not occurring)? Where else?
• When is this occurring (or not occurring)? When else?
• How are you being affected?
• How are others being affected?
• How have you tried to solve it so far? How else?
• What hard data do you have about this?
• What information do you not have? What is unknown to you?
• How does this situation make you feel?
• Who has strong feelings or opinions about this? Who else?
• What hunches do you have about this?

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 • How important is solving this to you?
• Other observations, thoughts, feelings….

Gathering Data—Convergent Phase: Select Key Data

Convergent Guidelines
Apply affi rmative judgment,
Of all of the data you gathered in the divergent stage, you will determine which are the most relevant to the
Keep novelty alive, Check
situation, which must be taken into account, and which are key to the resolution of the problem you identified.
your objectives, Stay focused
Converge: First, mark each key item. (How you do this will depend on how you recorded the divergent
list. On paper, you might use an asterisk. On a flip chart pad, a colored sticky dot. On a white board, a check
mark in a different color. Etc.) Then, write a summary of how you now see the situation; that is, describe the
problem space, list the key pieces of data that need to be considered, etc.

Metacognitive—Determine Where to Go Next

Whenever you use the CPS process, Assessing the Situation ends with determining the next process stage.
In this walkthrough, we recommend you begin with the Clarification Stage.

2. Clarification Stage

About this Stage: Given the problem space you have identified and the data you have considered, you
will now clarify your vision. In the fi rst clarification step, Exploring the Vision, you will identify the desired
outcomes; in the second step, Formulating Challenges, you will identify the obstacles that must be overcome in
order to reach the vision (see “2” in Figure 9). For each of these two steps, as always, you will diverge and then
converge.

Exploring the Vision—Divergent Phase: Generate Wish Statements Divergent Guidelines

Defer judgment,
What is your future vision, in regard to the current situation? In the divergent phase of this step, you will Go for quantity, Make
use the statement starters “I want…”, “I wish…”, or “It would be great if…” to capture all your different visions, connections, Seek novelty
and the different ways you might express your vision.
For example: if you were thinking about a career change, you might generate wish statements like these:

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 91

 • It would be great to find a new career that better matches my skills.
• I wish I had a job that I was passionate about.
• I want to love my work.
• I wish I could find a career I enjoy and make as much money as I do now.

Diverge: Make a list of wish statements, following the guidelines for divergent thinking. Generate at least
15 wish statements, but don’t limit yourself; more is better.

Convergent Guidelines Exploring the Vision—Convergent Phase: Select Wish Statements

Apply affirmative judgment,
Keep novelty alive, Check You will now select one statement that will be used as a focus for your creative problem-solving efforts.
your objectives, Stay focused
Converge: First, review all of the statements and place a check mark or asterisk next to those that best
capture the direction in which you wish to move. You will now narrow down your options by checking for fit
with CPS. Considering only the marked statements, place another mark next to those that require imagination
or new thinking. If you know how to do it, don’t put a mark next to it. Next, considering only those statements
with two marks, add a third mark next to those for which you are the primary decision maker; that is, where
you can take action without permission from others. Finally, looking at only those statements with three marks,
choose one to work on. If you have multiple options from which to choose, select the one that captures your
imagination, gets you excited, or is most descriptive of your desired future in regard to the present situation.
Alter the statement, if necessary, so that is expresses concisely what it is that you want to achieve.

At the End of this Step: Write down the statement you selected. This is your vision statement, which will
be carried forward to the next step.

Divergent Guidelines Formulating Challenges—Divergent Phase: Generate Challenge Statements

Defer judgment,
Go for quantity, Make Now that you have one statement of the vision or outcome you desire, it is time to identify the gaps between
connections, Seek novelty your current reality and your desired future. When doing this, you will look at the situation from as many angles
as possible, using the data you generated earlier to identify some of these challenges. To do this, you will generate
challenge statements using the four affirmative statement starters:

92
 • “How to…” (H2…)
• “How might…” (HM…)
• “In what ways might…” (IWWM…)
• “What might…” (WM…)

For example: if your vision is to own a vacation home, you might generate challenge statements like these:

• H2 fi nd a suitable location
• HM we qualify for a mortgage
• HM we save enough for a down payment

Diverge: Keeping your vision statement where you can see it, generate a list of challenges that must be
addressed to bring about this desired future. Remember to follow the divergent thinking guidelines. Generate
at least 20 challenge statements (more if you can), beginning each with one of the four statement starters.

Formulating Challenges—Convergent Phase: Select Challenge Statements Convergent Guidelines

Apply affi rmative judgment,
From the list of challenge statements, you will now select the ones that best reflect the gaps you need to Keep novelty alive, Check
address to reach your vision. Then, you will select one of these challenges to carry forward. your objectives, Stay focused

Converge: Using your divergent list of challenge statements, mark the key challenges. Then, considering
only those statements you marked, select the one that expresses the most important challenge that must be
overcome in order to achieve the vision. While there may be several challenges that need to be addressed, for
the moment select the one challenge statement that, if resolved, would put you in the best position to achieve
your vision. You can always return later to address other important challenges.

At the End of this Step: You will have a concise challenge statement that begins with one of the affi rma-
tive statement starters. Record this statement, which will be carried forward to the Transformation stage of
the CPS process.

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 3. Transformation Stage

About this Stage: You have selected a challenge that must be addressed—and that requires a creative
solution—in order to achieve your desired future. In this stage are two steps: Exploring Ideas, in which you
generate and select ideas for addressing the challenge; and Formulating Solutions, in which you will forge an
implementable solution from those ideas (see “3” in Figure 9). Again, for each of these two steps, you will diverge,
then converge.

Divergent Guidelines Exploring Ideas—Divergent Phase: Generate Ideas

Defer judgment, Go for
quantity, Make connections, What ideas do you have for solving the challenge? In the divergent phase of this step, you will generate many
Seek novelty ideas.

Diverge: Keeping the challenge statement where you can see it, make a list of ideas to solve the stated chal-
lenge. Remember to use the divergent thinking guidelines, especially Defer Judgment. Set a goal of at least 25,
with more being better. If you get stuck or bogged down, you can take an incubation break and return later.

Convergent Guidelines Exploring Ideas—Convergent Phase: Select Ideas

Apply affirmative judgment,
Keep novelty alive, Check Now that you have generated many ideas, you will choose the one(s) that might be made into implementable
your objectives, Stay focused solutions.

Converge: From all of the ideas you generated, choose up to five—the ones you believe show the greatest
promise in successfully addressing the challenge. Use the convergent guidelines, especially Keep Novelty Alive.

At the End of this Step: You now have up to five ideas that might be turned into implementable solutions.
(Also, hold on to the ideas you did not select; you many wish to revisit them later.)
Divergent Guidelines
Defer judgment, Formulating Solutions—Divergent Phase: Evaluate Ideas
Go for quantity, Make
connections, Seek novelty Now that you have several promising ideas, it is time to move from ideas to solutions. To do this, you will
screen and sort ideas, evaluate ideas, and strengthen ideas that are not yet fully formed. There are many and

94
varied methods for evaluating ideas; here is one method: generating criteria to screen your ideas. Use the state-
ment starter, “Will it…” to help you generate focused criteria. Example: If you are evaluating a career choice,
some of your criteria might be:

• Will it be interesting to me on an ongoing basis?

• Will it give me opportunities for growth and advancement?
• Will it start at more than $40,000?

Diverge: Generate a list of all of the criteria that you think are important considerations when deciding
which ideas to select (and later, for evaluating your developed solution). Generate at least 15 criteria. To help
you generate criteria, think about the attributes of the perfect solution to your challenge.

Formulating Solutions—Convergent Phase: Select Criteria and Develop Solutions Convergent Guidelines
Apply affi rmative judgment,
From all of the criteria that you generated, you will fi rst select which are the most important, then you will Keep novelty alive, Check
apply them to the ideas you carried forward from the Generating Ideas step. your objectives, Stay focused

Converge: First, from your criteria list, select up to five which will be the most useful for screening the
ideas and help you make a wise decision about which to pursue. Second, list the ideas you are evaluating. Third,
consider each criterion, one at a time, and put a mark next to each idea that meets the criterion. When fi nished,
some ideas will have more marks than others. Using this analysis and your best judgment, select one idea to be
formed into a solution, or several ideas that fold together to form a single solution.

Converge Again: What happens now depends greatly on how well-formed the ideas are; that is, how
close they are to being implementable solutions. Here is some general advice. As you turn the selected idea into
an implementable solution, evaluate it critically. Identify what is good about the idea, and what needs to be
improved or strengthened. Use your creative thinking abilities (those very skills you are using right now and
throughout the CPS process) to improve the idea by overcoming its issues and strengthening its positives. Your
criteria analysis will suggest where the idea is solid, and where it needs work. Ask yourself, how might I make
my solution better in light of these, or other, criteria?

Converge Again: Describe your proposed solution in detail. Elaborate as necessary. Begin this solution
statement with “What I now see myself doing is….”

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 At the End of this Step: You will have decided upon a proposed solution, which will be carried forward
to the Implementation Stage, and will have a solution statement to guide the rest of the process.

4. Implementation Stage

About this Stage: The outcome of the Transformation stage you just completed is a proposed solution that
has high potential to help you achieve your vision—to move you from the current reality to the desired future.
A creative solution by definition represents a change, and change is not always warmly embraced. In the Imple-
mentation stage are two steps: Exploring Acceptance, in which you identify who and what will assist, who and
what will resist, and how to work with the assisters and resisters; and Formulating a Plan, in which you develop
action steps for implementation. Once again, you will diverge and converge for each of these steps.

Divergent Guidelines Exploring Acceptance—Divergent Phase: Generate Sources of Assistance and Resistance
Defer judgment,
Go for quantity, Make To maximize the likelihood of success, you will examine the sources of assistance (those that will support
connections, Seek novelty the change or help you to successfully implement), and the sources of resistance (those that could stand in your
way and prevent implementation or make it more challenging).

Diverge: Generate a list of all possible sources of assistance, which can include people, groups, resources,
and other factors in your favor; then list all possible sources of resistance, which also includes people, groups,
resources, laws, regulations, budgets, and other complexities. Be thorough, and remember to use the divergent
thinking guidelines. Here are some questions that might be helpful.

• Who might be helpful to you in implementing this? Who else?

• Who might object or make it difficult to implement this? Who else?
• What might be the best timing for implementing this?
• What might be really bad timing for implementing this?
• What might be helpful implementing this (resources, attitudes, policies, procedures)? What else?
• What might get in the way of implementing this (resources, attitudes, policies, procedures)? What else?
• What locations might be conducive to this? What others?
• What locations would hinder success? What others?

96
 • What rationale or reasons might be provided in support of this?
• What reasons might be offered to block this?

Exploring Acceptance—Convergent Phase: Select Key Sources of Convergent Guidelines

Assistance and Resistance, and Overcome Key Sources of Resistance Apply affi rmative judgment,
Keep novelty alive, Check
In the convergent phase of this step you will decide which are the key assisters and resisters, and what to your objectives, Stay focused
do about them; that is, how to leverage the former and mitigate the latter.

Converge: When considering the path to successful implementation, some of the sources of assistance
and resistance that you identified are more significant than others. On each list, mark them. Next, for each key
source of assistance, generate ideas about how to make use of that resource. From that list, select the ideas that
you will employ. Then, for each key source of resistance, generate ideas for how to mitigate or overcome the
resistance. From that list, select the ideas that you will employ.

At the End of this Step: You will have identified ideas for working with assisters and resisters. These ideas
will be incorporated in your implementation action plan.

Formulating a Plan—Divergent Phase: Generate Action Steps

Divergent Guidelines
Defer judgment,
Now you will make a plan to implement your solution, by generating and then organizing action steps
Go for quantity, Make
into an action plan. Be sure to include steps that enlist or take advantage of your key sources of assistance, and
connections, Seek novelty
action steps that minimize or mitigate sources of resistance.

Diverge: List all the potential action steps required to implement the solution that you described in your
solution statement. Include the actions that naturally flow from the sources of assistance and resistance that you
identified as being critical to success. Keep in mind that you are engaging in divergent thinking at this point, so
remember to stretch for all of the actions steps that might be useful in moving your proposed action forward.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 97

 Convergent Guidelines Formulating a Plan—Convergent Phase: Modify Solution Statement;
Apply affirmative judgment, Select and Organize Action Steps
Keep novelty alive, Check
your objectives, Stay focused The list of possible action steps will now be condensed and organized into a workable plan. (Note: This
process details a common, time-tested method for organizing a multi-step project. The complexity of the solu-
tion may require additional project management tools and skills.)

Converge: If necessary, modify your solution statement to include any changes you need to make after
considering how you will address your key sources of assistance and resistance.
Then, from the list of action steps you generated in the divergent phase, mark the ones that must be in-
cluded. Combine, separate, and eliminate where needed. Then, organize the steps into a plan by completing a
chart like the one in Figure 10. Be sure to include immediate, short, intermediate, and long term actions, and to
define those terms. For example, does immediate mean 24 hours? 48 hours? Is short term 3 months, 6 months?

Debriefing Your Experience

You have now completed the CPS process from beginning to end. Let’s capture what you have learned, by
considering the following questions.
• What insights or new thoughts do you now have about your original situation?
• How was it helpful to go through a deliberate creative process to address this situation?
• How did this differ from the way in which you typically employ creative thinking when attempting
to resolve a difficult situation?
• What insights do you have about the CPS process?

Moving Forward

If you’ve been playing along with us through the last two chapters, you will have walked through the CPS
process at least twice, and you might be starting to feel comfortable with the steps. It’s time, then, to jump into the
deep end of the pool, where we will extend CPS by examining skills and tools that you use within CPS.

98
 Figure 10

Solution Statement and Action Plan

Brief statement of the solution I intend to implement

Task/Action By Whom? By When? Report Completion to Whom?

Immediate
Short Term
Intermediate
Long Term

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 99

100
CHAPTER 10

Digging Deeper: Thinking Skills

and Tools for CPS

n the last chapter, you walked through CPS step-by-step, from Assessing the Situation through the Clari-
fication, Transformation, and Implementation stages. To make it easy to learn, we did all of the steps in
their “pure” form, one after the other, in a typical order. But note that we did not say “from beginning to
end.” CPS has a natural progression (that is, we often do multiple steps in a particular order), and we do some-
times do every step, but the power of CPS lies in the flexible use of its components (i.e., its steps, stages, tools,
principles, etc.), each of which has a purpose of its own and can therefore be used independently, as required in
a given situation.
As you continue to learn CPS, you may fi nd it helpful, at fi rst, to work on predicaments and opportuni-
ties that require all of the steps. This linear approach is a familiar way of learning a process or skill. Do you
remember when you learned to ride a bicycle? At fi rst, it’s difficult because there are so many things to do at
once. (You want me to balance? And pedal? And sometimes not pedal? And steer? And watch for traffic? And
brake?) The way one learns to ride a bicycle is by isolating the skills. Balance fi rst. Then balance and steer. Then
balance, steer, and pedal. And so forth. Once the rider is confident in each of the pieces and how they work
together, only then does riding become internalized, fluid, and open to improvisation.
Here’s one more example: learning to play a musical instrument. At the beginning, you play notes. Then,
a sequence of notes. Then, you add chords. And so forth, until you can play entire songs. Only much later,
when you understand the structure of music composition can you improvise and play (and invent) outside of the
structures.
In the last two chapters, we introduced you to the structure of CPS. The goal is for you to be able to move
freely within that structure—to improvise based on the situation at hand. To make this transition, we will now
focus on the thinking and affective skills that are associated with each step.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 101

 Thinking and Affective Skills

In Chapter 5 we described creative thinking as a higher-order thinking skill, which means that it is com-
prised of multiple thinking skills. Although CPS might be perceived as primarily a cognitive process, deliberate
creativity is the result of both thinking and emotion. Your ability to create and to think clearly is deeply influenced
by the affective states that support it, such as motivation, passion, courage, tolerance for ambiguity and willing-
ness to take risks. Thus, we maintain that each thinking skill is supported by a specific affective disposition. By
affective we mean “the ways in which we deal with attitudinal and emotional aspects of learning, including
feelings, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivations, attitudes and values.”1
We will now dig into those skills, identifying the unique thinking and affective skills that are associated
with each step of the CPS process. Although presented as discrete, the thinking and affective skills overlap. This
makes sense: complex mental activities require more than one skill at a time. It is our view that the affective
skills influence and empower the thinking skills within the CPS process.
In addition to the thinking and affective skills, there is one more layer to this chapter: thinking tools. A
thinking tool is a structured strategy that focuses, organizes and guides an individual or group’s thinking. 2
For each thinking skill described in this chapter, we also provide a thinking tool that can be used to apply and
sharpen that skill.
We provide you with tools to help you answer this question: once you understand a thinking skill, what
do you do with it? Or, to think about it slightly differently: how do you apply that thinking skill in a deliberate
and focused way?
As you learn these tools, it is important to keep in mind that a tool is only a means to an end. The choice
of a specific tool is guided by your thinking; and more specifically, by the purpose of your thinking. Thus, for
each thinking skill, we have chosen one thinking tool to get you started in applying that skill. Many more tools
are available for, and adaptable to, each of the thinking skills.
As you become more familiar with the thinking skills and the tools that support them, you will be able
to “improvise”—using the CPS process in a more open and spontaneous way, without necessarily following
a step-by-step approach. In other words, you do not always need to go through the entire CPS process. When
Assessing the Situation you are facing, you get to decide what to do next. For instance, in a given situation,
you might already have a clear future vision, which means you need to Formulate Challenges—that is, to apply
strategic thinking to identify the key challenges in front of you. Or, you may already have a proposed solution,
which means you need to Formulate a Plan—that is, to apply tactical thinking to develop a creative plan for
action. This is the flexibility and power of CPS: the thinking skills that comprise it can be used independently,

102
through the application of a thinking tool, to help you achieve the purpose you have in mind.
In this chapter we will describe the thinking and affective skills, and their related tools, that are linked to
the CPS process steps. Each tool is presented as if you were using it by yourself, on an individual basis, as we
want you to fi rst learn and apply it on your own before trying it out in a more complex environment, such as a
group setting.
Because of the critical importance of the meta-step that always starts the CPS process, we will dedicate a
separate chapter, Chapter 11, to Assessing the Situation and its related skills and tools.

Exploring the Vision

Thinking Skill: Visionary Thinking

Having a vision—looking at how things might be instead of how they currently are—is often identified
as a key aspect of creativity. Because it is concerned with establishing a direction for the future, Exploring the
Vision requires the cognitive skill Visionary Thinking—articulating a vivid image of what you desire to create. 3
When looking at a complex situation, you might not always have a clear image of what you would like to
achieve. By clear, we mean a vivid, concrete and detailed picture of your desired future, as opposed to a vague
goal that you wish to achieve. For example, “I wish to improve my health” is a worthy goal, but it is too abstract
to stimulate creative thinking and compel you to take action. In contrast, a statement such as “I wish to achieve
and maintain a healthy lifestyle at both a physical and mental level” provides a more concrete picture of the
desired end state. Abstract wishes are difficult to defi ne and pursue; a concrete vision makes it easy to identify
the details, which in turn increases one’s motivation to pursue it. Where would one begin with the abstract goal
of improving health? Fruit instead of Oreos? A concrete goal is more rich, and provides greater opportunity for
problem solving. Achieving a certain level of physical health (to take just one part of the concrete wish) requires
that you defi ne what that means.
The more clear your vision, the easier it is to keep it in mind over time and to move toward it with energy.
The composer and author Robert Fritz uses the term structural tension to describe the creative energy generated
by the distance between what you want (vision) and what you have now (current reality). That tension fuels
the strong desire to bring the vision to fruition and propels your creative thinking. Often, when we fail
to hold in mind a vivid vision, we compromise what we want and settle for less than we truly desire,
aiming at what Fritz calls the “low hanging fruits.”4
By defi nition, Visionary Thinking entails the ability to imagine. Its visual component is essential

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 103

 for achieving clarity about the desired future. Let’s go back to the health wish: when thinking about your ideal
future self, it can be compelling to draw a mental picture of how you would look and behave while living a
healthy lifestyle. (This points up what is wrong with most New Year’s resolutions: they define a behavior change
but not a concrete vision.)
Perhaps the most important quality required by Visionary Thinking is to be able to see potential; that is, to
see beyond the paradigms and limitations of your current reality. For example, when you are house hunting, are
you constrained by a house’s present appearance, or do you instead think forward, and imagine what it might
become? (Disclaimer: this might not be good dating advice.) Focusing on what might be as opposed to what is
lies at the core of Visionary Thinking.

Affective Skill: Dreaming

A key affective skill that supports Visionary Thinking is Dreaming. By Dreaming we mean the ability to
imagine as possible your desires and hopes. 5 Dreaming helps you to be unconstrained in creating your future.
When you dream you are able to suspend judgment of what is possible, to engage in blue-sky thinking.
Rather than being constrained by practical considerations, as you would in logical thinking, you expand your
thinking to consider what you really want—the three wishes the genie could give you, should you happen across
a magic lamp. Have you ever played the lottery and imagined, in detail, what you would do with the money? A
lack of constraint allows you to think freely about what might be possible.
Think of all of the people, famous and not, who achieved well beyond anything that could have been
imagined—or, more to the point, what others could have imagined. Dreaming, even against all possible odds,
allows the impossible to seem possible, and to become achievable.

Thinking Tool: Imaginary Journalism

Imaginary Journalism is a tool that helps you to stretch your visionary skills by projecting your thinking
into the desired future, as if it has already happened. It makes you describe in vivid images and details a success
that you have achieved. Locating yourself in the future stimulates your ability to dream, so that you can let go
of all the limitations imposed by current reality and see your hopes being realized.

104
Purpose of the Tool
• To help shape a vision for an organization, workgroup or individual, through the power of storytelling.
• To summarize the ideal picture of the future in a concise, colorful statement.

How it Works
1. Imagine that you are a journalist writing an article for your favorite publication (e.g., Time, Newsweek,
Scientific American, People, etc.).
2. Set a clear time frame—two, five or even ten years from now—in which the story will be set.
3. Write the news story, vividly describing the future as if you are already there: key goals achieved, the
path you took to success, and where you want to go from there. Make the story no more than two or
three paragraphs.
4. Optional: add images to your story, by drawing or fi nding a picture or a symbol of the success you
are describing.
5. Write a title for the article, a headline that summarizes and highlights the essence of your desired
future. The headline will constitute the core of your vision statement (e.g., “Back in shape: Looking
and feeling better through a 360° healthy lifestyle”).

Tips
Before you write, you can use divergent and convergent thinking to imagine, and then clarify, the vision.
• Using divergent thinking, ask questions from a future perspective such as: What does it look like? What
does it feel like? What is happening? What kind of environment do I see? What people and relationships
are involved? What makes this future great, highly successful? What words can I use to describe it?
• Using convergent thinking, select the goals, achievements, scenarios, etc., that are most relevant,
interesting, and compelling.

Example
“It is the year 2015. I have achieved and learned to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I follow a balanced nu-
tritional diet, which I learned by taking healthy-cooking classes at my local community college. While I was
never much of an athlete, I now exercise regularly, having discovered running and the power of running with

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 105

 friends. All my clothing fits well (I no longer have to keep a separate set of ‘fat clothes’), and thanks to my diet
and exercise, I keep a consistent and healthy weight.
“For the first time in years, I sleep well and have enough stamina to carry me through the day. One outcome
I never expected: my thinking is more focused and sharper than ever, which allows me to accomplish more tasks
while feeling less fatigue.
“There’s no other way to say it: I look and feel great. There was no magic pill: I earned my way here.”

Formulating Challenges

Thinking Skill: Strategic Thinking

A fundamental thinking skill that makes Formulating Challenges in CPS work is Strategic Thinking—
which is identifying the critical issues that must be addressed and pathways that are needed to move toward
the desired future.6 Formulating Challenges is a strategic function because it helps you clarify the scope of the
problem and the direction you should take to solve it. We will consider these in turn.
What is the scope of the situation? How broad or narrow is your definition of the problem? Where does
it begin and where does it end? An essential quality of strategic thinking is the ability to map out the problem
space and identify the key challenges involved; that is, the ones that lie at the core of the problem and that, if
resolved, will get you closer to achieving your goal. If the situation you are facing is complex, strategic thinking
will help you to break down a multi-faceted challenge into several sub-challenges that will be easier to manage
one by one, starting from the ones that require more immediate attention. Identifying strategic priorities is key
to the achievement of a vision, which can seldom be reached all at once. More often a vision is realized through
a series of smaller goals, milestones on the way to fulfilling your dream.
What is the direction that your problem solving effort should take? What is the best approach to the
problem? Albert Einstein once said “The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution,
which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills.” The way you frame the challenge directs
the solution you may get. For example, asking “how might I reduce my workload” will propel you in a different
direction than asking “how might I better organize my workload?” Many times people are locked into a certain
way of looking at a situation. Your perceptions, values, views, or the simple fact that an approach was already
on your mind will all influence your thinking. Strategic thinking helps you to see things in different ways. It
asks you to shift how you perceive the challenge and to reframe it in a more productive direction.
These alternative perspectives provide powerful creative insights that open up new pathways you might

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not otherwise have considered, and help you look at the problem in new and different ways. These insights are
supported by the affective skill that follows.

Affective Skill: Sensing Gaps

An important affective skill that supports Strategic Thinking is awareness of the barriers that separate
you from your goal. We refer to this as Sensing Gaps—which is becoming consciously aware of discrepancies
between what currently exists and what is desired or required.7
Let’s take our earlier example of becoming healthier. When you use the affective skill of Sensing Gaps, you
are aware that being healthier is not just about diet and exercise, but is multi-faceted: e.g., how you fit working
out into your schedule, what kinds of exercise you enjoy, what kinds of food your family eats (and whether they
will support a change in diet), and many other factors. The affective skill of Sensing Gaps helps you to take the
blinders off and pay attention to a variety of obstacles you might encounter on the pathway to your goal.

Thinking Tool: Webbing

Webbing is a mapping tool that sharpens strategic thinking abilities by helping you to clarify the scope of
the problem and to identify your strategic priorities. When you map out the problem space, you look at it with
new eyes and from different perspectives, often revealing your true goal or problem. Webbing encourages you
to tap your intuition and spot the best direction to pursue, through the generation of powerful insights. Simply
put, webbing can help you to understand what it is you really want.
Webbing is illustrated in Figure 11. The goal is at the center: “It would be nice if I could travel more in-
ternationally.” The boxes that extend up from center answer the question “Why,” and are more abstract. The
boxes that extend down from center are more concrete, and answer the question “What’s stopping you?”

Purpose of the Tool

• To map out the problem space by examining a diverse range of challenges associated with the desired
outcome, including more abstract and more concrete views of the problem as initially presented.
• To identify and defi ne the problem at the appropriate level of abstraction.

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 How it Works
1. Identify a goal or desired outcome. Write this goal in the center of a sheet of paper or flip chart. (In the
example, the goal is “It would be nice if I could travel more internationally.”)
2. To broaden the view of the problem (that is, to make it more abstract), ask the question “Why?” (In
the example, the goal is turned into the question “Why do I want to travel more internationally?”)
Answer the question, then turn the answer into a question beginning with the statement starter “How
to...” or “How might....” Write the question on the web above the central goal. (In the example, the
answer “To explore different cultures and customs” is restated as “How to explore different cultures
and customs,” and is placed on the web.)

Figure 11:
Webbing example

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3. To continue broadening the view of the original goal, ask “Why else,” repeating the instructions for
step 2. Repeat until the question seems to be exhausted.
4. To continue broadening: for the new challenges written above the central goal, ask “Why” and “Why
else,” again following the instructions in step 2, and writing the new challenges on the map. Always
remember to write your responses to the question “Why” in the form of a question. Continue moving
up and out in the web by repeating the questions “Why” and “Why else.”
5. Stop asking “Why” and “Why else” when you feel you have exhausted the scope of the problem at a
high level of abstraction. (For example, when you reach a statement such as “How to live a fulfilling
life,” you know that you have gotten a little too abstract.)
6. To narrow the view of the goal (that is, to make it more concrete), return to the central goal and ask
“What’s stopping me?” Phrase the answer as a question (i.e., How to, How might, etc.), and write it
below the center. (In the example, the goal would be restated as “What’s stopping me from traveling
more internationally?” This leads to the answer that traveling abroad requires more time, which is
restated as “How to create more time to travel abroad?” and placing it on the map.)
7. To continue narrowing, ask “What else is stopping me,” repeating the instructions for step 6. Repeat
until the question seems to be exhausted.
8. To continue narrowing, ask “What’s stopping me?” for any of the new questions, repeating the
instructions for step 6, and writing the new questions on the map.
9. Stop exploring the lower part of the web when you see that you have reached a level of concreteness
that is too close to action; i.e., asking a more tactical rather than a strategic question (such as: “How
to book my ticket?”).
10. Examine your web and look at any challenge statement that resonates as particularly relevant, valuable,
or true. Look for connections among the various challenge statements. (In the example, is the true
goal to travel internationally, or is it truly to make more friends from around the world?) Then, to
conclude, select one or more challenges as strategic priorities, which might include the original goal, a
newly-defi ned challenge, or a small number of challenges that need to be independently addressed (in
which case you would prioritize these and begin by addressing the biggest challenge).

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 109

 Exploring Ideas

Thinking Skill: Ideational Thinking

The main thinking skill employed in Exploring Ideas is Ideational Thinking, which is the ability to produce
original mental images or thoughts that respond to important challenges. 8
The person who is adept at Ideational Thinking can easily generate many ideas encompassing a variety of
perspectives, producing unique and unusual options, building on each other, and combining different concepts
into new configurations. In that sense, Ideational Thinking epitomizes the four primary forms of divergent
thinking: fluency (producing many ideas), flexibility (generating a variety of ideas), originality (generating ideas
that are unique), and elaboration (building or expanding on ideas).
One of the key Ideational Thinking skills is analogical thinking. Using analogies and metaphors helps you
detect patterns (e.g., how a similar problem was solved in another field) and develop associations (combining
things previously unrelated). Many successful products were created as a result of analogical thinking, especially
through the observation of nature. The development of Pringles Potato Chips—a truly original potato chip
product at the time of its launch—derived from the observation of the way wet leaves can be compactly packed
into garbage bags because they conform to one another. You can use analogies in many ways, from venturing
into different worlds to find connections between your challenge and the solutions that have emerged in those
environments (nature, animals, our body, architecture, etc.), to imagining how people (historical figures, celebri-
ties, fictional characters, your father, etc.) would resolve the challenge at hand.
Ideational Thinking also implies transformation; that is, the ability to mentally manipulate objects and
situations. Ideational thinking encourages you to play with ideas and explore possibilities, looking at the same
option in different ways, expanding or reversing it, modifying shape or size, adapting it to many possible uses,
substituting some of its parts, or combining it with another option. Ideational Thinking is powered by the ability
to continually look at situations in new ways, staying open (refraining from premature closure), and adopting
the attitude that “it’s just an idea” that will take time and dedication to develop into a workable solution. For
true Ideational Thinking to occur, it is critical to create an environment that is conducive to creativity, where
ideas can freely circulate and people are encouraged to play with ideas.

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Affective Skill: Playfulness

A key affective skill that supports Ideational thinking is Playfulness. By Playfulness, we mean freely toying
with ideas.9 A playful attitude releases inhibitions and allows the freedom to explore new or different ideas or
angles.
When we become playful we easily suspend judgment because we become more childlike. We laugh, are
joyful, and fi nd the wonder in our experiences and surroundings. Unlike the pragmatic adult who looks for
the one right answer, the playful adult recognizes how allowing a little fun can open up possibilities and new
ideas. People are more apt to generate outrageous ideas when they are just having fun with the problem. These
outrageous ideas may, in fact, be the seeds of workable solutions. A childlike attitude is not a childish attitude.
The former emphasizes the openness of a child’s perspective while the later implies an inappropriate immatu-
rity, particularly in professional situations. Playfulness is an attitude, an emotional mind-set, a motivation that
enhances the ability to generate novel ideas.

Thinking Tool: Forced Connections

Forced Connections is a tool that fosters your ability to think analogically and make associations by
deliberately taking your mind away from the world of your challenge. This is done by prompting you to con-
nect a random stimulus (object, picture, piece of music, etc.) to your situation, in order to inspire new ideas to
solve your problem. Because the selected stimuli are often randomly chosen, possibly bizarre, and usually very
distant from the problem you are trying to solve, Forced Connections encourages approaching challenges with
an attitude of playfulness, humor and fun, to generate novel and original ideas.

Purpose of the Tool

• To deliberately engage the mind in making connections, generating ideas by using random objects that
are unrelated to the situation.
• To encourage flexibility of thought and the production of original ideas.

How it Works
1. Write the challenge for which you want some new thinking in the form of a question. Use a statement
starter such as “How to...”, “How might...”, “What might…”, and “What might be all the...” to frame

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 111

 the challenge in a way that invites many ideas. (For example, “How might I find new clients for my
consulting business?”)
2. Randomly select an object unrelated to the challenge. Any object will work, including common objects
you can find around the room (e.g., a toy, lamp, plant, chair, clock, etc.) or outside in nature (a tree,
leaf, stone, etc.). You can also use photographs rather than physical objects.
3. Note the characteristics of the object. What do you notice about its size, shape, color, texture, smell,
function, etc.? (For example, let’s say you select a table lamp: it stands alone, it is bright, it illuminates
a specific area on your table, it requires energy, you can turn it on and off, you can move it but not just
anywhere, it is more useful in the evening than in the day, it “competes” with other light sources, etc.)
Write your observations down.
4. Force a connection between the object and the challenge, asking yourself: “What does this object make
me think of in connection with my challenge?” or “What ideas do I get for (insert your challenge) from
this object?” Tap into all your senses. (For example: “What ideas do I get for finding new clients from
a table lamp?” Ideas might include: network with other colleagues (as opposed to standing alone);
focus on a specific target market (from the way the light reaches only a certain area); bring new energy
to the effort (from the lamp’s need for energy); make new connections (suggested by the ability to move
the lamp); etc.)
5. Repeat the process with additional objects. (For example, what ideas do you get for finding new clients
from a plant? From a chair? From a clock?) Write down all ideas that come to mind, applying fully the
guidelines for divergent thinking.

Formulating Solutions

Thinking Skill: Evaluative Thinking

The Formulating Solutions step of the CPS process is where you sweat the details, elaborating on the spe-
cifics of an idea, and moving from concept to prototype to implementable solution. It is through evaluation and
scrutiny that a good idea is transformed into a great solution (or rejected before an embarrassing “in retrospect,
I probably should have thought of that” moment).
Generating ideas can generate energy and enthusiasm, too, especially in a group setting. Yet, no matter

112
how exciting they appear, ideas are ethereal entities that need refi nement to become solutions that can work in
reality. What we’re talking about here is perseverance and hard work, where the ideas with highest potential are
screened, selected, analyzed and crafted into effective and successful solutions. This is the domain of Evaluative
Thinking, which is assessing the reasonableness and qualities of ideas in order to develop workable solutions.10
Note the two pieces of this: assessing and developing. We’ll look at these in turn.
One key focus of Evaluative Thinking is to defi ne success, by generating the criteria that must be met by
the ideal solution. As an illustration, think about what you do when you buy a car. The market proliferates op-
tions of all kinds, so how do you direct your search and make the best choice for your situation? One sure way
is to generate criteria that defi ne the ideal solution for you at this moment. If you have children, that affects the
criteria (e.g., does it have enough space for the kids? Does it have enough space for all the kids’ stuff?). If you
do a lot of driving, you will have other criteria (Is it comfortable? Does it get more than x miles per gallon?). If
you care about aesthetics, or how the car is perceived by others, that will add criteria, too (Is it sporty? Does it
make me look successful?). And there are affective criteria as well (Do I like it? Does it feel right?).
What’s important is to identify all the relevant criteria, the practical and the personal. We’ve all experienced
buyer’s remorse, much of which happens because we don’t consciously set criteria, or we allow the subjective
to overwhelm the objective. It is possible to be objective, even with subjective measures. If you’ve fallen in love
with a certain idea, it can be difficult to objectively evaluate it. Specificity helps. The more specific the criteria,
the better the quality of the evaluation and of the decision that you will make. It is one thing to say you want an
affordable car (generic criterion), and another thing to say you want a car that costs less than $30,000 (specific
criterion). In this respect Evaluative Thinking has a lot in common with Visionary Thinking: if you are able to
articulate the desired future in a detailed way, then you will be able to generate specific criteria that help you to
narrow your options and make effective choices.
A second key focus of Evaluative Thinking is to refi ne an idea into a workable solution by developing its
strengths and overcoming its weaknesses. Doing so requires the same evaluative skills you used when working
with criteria, and the same caution applies: you must be objective even with those ideas you have fallen in love
with. Once you have used criteria to winnow down the ideas to the most promising, it is your job to fi nd both
strengths and imperfections, the latter being hard to do with ones we love. Of course, the opposite is also true:
this is the stage where you must objectively evaluate ideas you may not see the potential in.
In a moment, we will present a tool that helps you to evaluate and strengthen, regardless of how you feel
about an idea. This tool works with the convergent principle of Apply Affi rmative Judgment: you will look fi rst
at the positive aspects of an idea, and only then at its shortcomings.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 113

 Affective Skill: Avoiding Premature Closure

A key affective skill that supports the patience and diligence of Evaluative Thinking is Avoiding Premature
Closure—which is resisting the urge to push for a decision.11
Avoiding Premature Closure is a skill that assists you in taking a more thorough approach to evaluation.
As noted, it is easy to fall in love with an idea and fail to recognize potential pitfalls or shortcomings. It is also
easy to quickly dismiss an idea because it appears too novel or unfamiliar, or because its flaws have not yet been
addressed. In both cases, a rush to judgment precludes a more measured and balanced evaluation of the idea.
The evaluation, selection and development of an idea takes patience and perseverance. When you resist
the urge to decide quickly, you are giving due value to the evaluative process. This mindset assists you in mak-
ing an idea more workable. You may find yourself implementing a more creative solution because you
have found ways to minimize the challenges that it initially presented. Or, if you tap into your affective
thinking, you may find yourself selecting an option that didn’t seem workable at first, but upon further
review, deserves some love. And, after a thorough evaluation, loving an option is certainly a valid selec-
tion criterion.

Thinking Tool: PPCo

PPCo (see Figure 12) is a powerful tool to analyze ideas and develop them into strong solutions.
It is an acronym that stands for Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, and Overcoming concerns. Following the
principle of Applying Affirmative Judgment, PPCo encourages you to look first at the positive aspects
of an option, then to explore its future potentials, and only then to examine the concerns you might
have about it (and to affirmatively identify ways of overcoming the concerns).12
PPCo is a bridge to implementation. It allows people to move toward action with a solution that is
workable and more fully refined. Thus, it is a tool suited to the improvement of ideas that have already
been identified and selected as the most promising.

114
Figure 12

PPCo Example

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 115

 Purpose of the Tool
• To strengthen a promising idea by highlighting key advantages and by identifying and addressing key
shortcomings.
• To evaluate ideas in an affirmative way so that all ideas have an equal chance of being considered on
their merits.

How it Works
1. Write your promising idea on top of a sheet of paper or flip chart. (Refer to the example in Figure 12
for an illustration of these steps.)
2. Identify the Pluses, using divergent thinking to generate a list of all the positives you can see in this
idea. Focus on the present (i.e., if I implemented this idea now, what would be its positive aspects?).
Ask questions such as: What is good about this idea now? What are the advantages it brings?
Consider how the tentative solution meets the implicit and explicit criteria of the ideal solution.
Then, using convergent thinking, select the pluses that are the strongest aspects for the idea; that is,
the key reasons to move forward with it.
3. Identify the Potentials, using divergent thinking to generate a list of all the possibilities, outside of
the known reasons for doing this, that this solution might lead to in the future? Look out at least
six months after implementation. Use the statement starter “It might….” Ask questions such as:
What could come out of this? What opportunities or future advantages could be created by this
idea? Then, using convergent thinking, select the potentials that have (you guessed it) the greatest
potential.
4. Identify Concerns, using divergent thinking to generate a list of all the problems and issues, in
the short, middle, or even long term (i.e., limitations that might not be immediately apparent, but
that you can anticipate). State each concern as a challenge statement (How to…, How might…,
etc.). Ask questions such as: What concerns do I have about this idea? What are some possible
disadvantages of this idea? What important criteria are not fulfilled by the proposed solution? Then,
using convergent thinking, identify the concerns that must be considered, those that will cause your
solution to fail if not addressed. Prioritize the concerns in order of importance.
5. Overcome the Concerns. Starting with the most important concern, ask these questions: What are
some ideas to overcome this concern? What can be done to minimize or remove this concern? Use

116
 divergent thinking to generate a list of ideas to overcome the concern. Repeat for each key concern.
Then, use convergent thinking to select the ideas that will be employed to overcome the concerns.
6. Review your analysis and make a decision: (1) run with the idea as it was proposed; (2) modify and
strengthen the idea into an even stronger solution by incorporating some of the ideas generated to
address the concerns (if you choose this option be sure to write out the new and improved solution);
or (3) drop the idea as there are too many concerns that cannot be overcome.

Exploring Acceptance

Thinking Skill: Contextual Thinking

Creative thinking aims at generating positive change, through the production of novel and useful solutions.
Any time a change initiative enters the implementation stage it is critical to turn attention to the social
context in which the change is introduced. No matter how big or small the change—launching a new product,
introducing a new policy, improving a process, etc.—it will have an effect on the surrounding environment, and
will generate reactions that can support your initiative or hinder it.
This is the phase of the process where you need to employ Contextual Thinking, which is an understand-
ing of the interrelated conditions and circumstances that will support or hinder success.13
Creative change occurs in many different contexts. The most visible, perhaps, is the marketplace,
the environment in which innovative new products and services are introduced. More personally-
felt, for many of us, is the workplace, where change is nearly constant. (Perhaps the only thing as
constant as change is people talking about the constancy of change; and, of course, your authors
are no exception). Whether changes are external (for example, in the marketplace or initiated by a
government) or internal (within our organizations, families, or selves), readiness for change
may be a challenge, even when the only person affected by the change is oneself. Contextual
thinking means scanning and attempting to understand the environment into which you are
introducing change, an effort that is essential for its success.
Applying Contextual Thinking includes a quest to identify and leverage support, and to
locate and mitigate resistance. If this sounds like politics, that’s because it is. No innovation
survives without being diffused into the marketplace, and no change is successfully implemented
without acceptance (even if it be grudging acceptance). This requires the awareness and skills of a

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 117

 politician. Where creativity has long been seen as comprised of four Ps (person, process, product, and the press of
the environment), Dean Keith Simonton proposed a fifth essential P: persuasion.14 Contextual Thinking means
understanding where persuasion is necessary, and how to employ it. Persuasion uses many aliases: marketing,
public relations, negotiation, horse-trading, pleading, asking, cajoling, begging, and politics, to name just a few.
Contextual Thinking helps you to know with whom you have to work, and how.
Contextual Thinking is especially important when you have fallen in love with your idea. Of course everyone
will think your idea brilliant. Of course they will line up to adopt it. Of course everyone will see immediately
that this is better than that. (Ahem. No.) Contextual Thinking means looking outside yourself, gathering as
many perspectives as possible, and seeing things through the eyes of others. Sometimes, you just need to ask,
and to listen. And sometimes, you have to understand what is not being said.

Affective Skill: Sensitivity to One’s Environment

Contextual Thinking is enhanced by the affective skill of Sensitivity to One’s Environment, which is the
degree to which people are aware of their physical and psychological surroundings.15 It is through this aware-
ness that you are able to pick up cues as to how your solution is likely to be received.
To illustrate this skill, imagine being the new kid in your organization, the most recent hire. When you
walk into your first staff meeting, what thoughts go through your head? Perhaps you wonder how each person
relates to you, who will be supportive, who has the ear of the boss, and even which members of the group would
welcome an invitation to lunch. You may wonder how long the meeting will last, how the agenda was established,
and whether protocol will allow you to speak up. In this situation you are very aware of your environment and
your status, aware that you have more questions than answers, and aware that you must understand context
if you are to successfully introduce this change—you, yourself—into the fabric of the organization. The more
aware you are, the better you will be accepted and assimilated (which we don’t mean in a bad way). And the
converse is also true: less aware, less quickly. This is true with any change, and Sensitivity to One’s Environment
is a vital affective skill that enhances the thinking skill of Contextual Thinking.

118
Thinking Tool: Other People’s View

Originally developed by Edward de Bono, Other People’s View (OPV) is a tool that encourages you to
systematically examine or imagine how other people involved in a given situation might perceive, and feel about,
the change you propose.16 We intentionally included both “examine” and “imagine” because sometimes you
know for certain how someone will react, and sometimes you have to use a good, educated guess. This tool
encourages you to boost your empathetic skills, to think and feel as if you were in another person’s shoes, and
to gather as many different perspectives as you can, prior to taking action.

Purpose of the Tool

• To direct attention to the other people involved in a situation, in order to analyze their perspective on
the solution to be implemented.
• To put oneself in another person’s shoes, in order to look at the world from that position.

How it Works
1. Write your proposed solution at the top of a sheet of paper, flip chart or electronic document. Thinking
divergently, make a list of all the people who might be involved in, or affected by, your solution.
2. Select a key person on the list, and ask yourself: how would this person react to the proposed solution?
What would they think? How would they feel about it? Try to cover both the cognitive and emotional
side. Look at different ways the same person might see the solution you propose, including both
positive aspects and concerns. Think of yourself as a researcher and try to see objectively.
3. Repeat step 2 for additional people on your list.
4. If you fi nd yourself in doubt about a particular person’s view of your solution, put a note next to it and
plan to gather more information.
5. Applying convergent thinking, isolate the main critical factors that you
uncovered, and which you might have to address in order to successfully
implement your solution.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 119

 Formulating a Plan

Thinking Skill: Tactical Thinking

To bring a creative solution to fruition means to make things happen. This is when your need to apply
Tactical Thinking, which is devising a plan that includes specific and measurable steps for attaining the desired
end and methods for monitoring its effectiveness.17 Tactical Thinking lives in a world of concreteness, specific-
ity and accountability. (Yes, we know, we’d all like to live there. And at this stage you can.) There are two main
components: planning and monitoring. We’ll cover these in turn.
First of all, Tactical Thinking is concerned with carefully planning actions, establishing time frames and

120
allocating the resources necessary to carry the plan forward. This entails the ability to break down a task into
concrete action steps, sequence those actions within a critical pathway, and identify who is responsible for doing
what. It also entails determining resources: money, time, technology, people, etc. It is a detail-oriented thinking
skill, as any good event planner will attest. (Or as anyone who has planned and carried out a fi asco can attest.)
What event planners know that perhaps the organizers of fiascos do not, is that the plan is just a plan.
Many unpredictable (and predictable) things happen, and that’s why we need to continuously monitor the
implementation of our plan. This includes the ability to anticipate the predictable problems and to troubleshoot
the unpredictable ones. That is to say, a good plan is flexible, as is a good implementer. A good plan also builds
in milestones, measurements, and feedback mechanisms, and a good implementer uses those tools to ensure a
successful outcome.

Affective Skill: Tolerance for Risks

Given the fluid nature of implementation, and the inherent uncertainty involved in any creative change,
a key affective skill for planning and implementing is Tolerance for Risks, which means accepting and being
able to function with the possibility of failure or setbacks.18 Increasing your tolerance for risk is
about giving yourself permission to fail, and managing your emotions when you do. This is not
to say that failure is fi ne and without consequence. What we are saying is that creative change
presupposes risk, and that without a tolerance for risk, you cannot lead creative change.
Good planning and a tolerance for risk go hand in hand. Having a tolerance for
risk means that you recognize the risks, and that you plan accordingly. People who
successfully carry out creative change are masters at minimizing risk, and they
do so with well-designed solutions and effective planning.

Thinking Tool: How-How Diagram

A How-How Diagram (see Figure 13) is a tool that helps you to be

detailed while formulating a plan for action. People often generate action steps
that are broad and generic, lacking the concreteness and specificity required by
good Tactical Thinking. A How-How Diagram forces you to define actions in, well,
an actionable way. Completing a How-How Diagram might also help you discover
problems or discrepancies that you had not considered and which need to be overcome.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 121

Figure 13

How-How Diagram

122
Purpose of the Tool
• To identify detailed action steps necessary to carry out a solution or change.
• To identify the most crucial stages to focus on in the process of implementation.

How it Works
1. Place the solution on the left side of a sheet of paper or flip chart. (Refer to the example in Figure 13
as you go through these steps.)
2. Ask yourself “How?” Record your responses to the right of the solution.
3. The fi rst level (recorded in step 2) tends to be broad, and might be categories of actions rather than
concrete, detailed action steps. Now, for each of those fi rst-level responses, ask “How?” again, and
record the responses to the right.
4. For the second-level responses, ask “How?” again, and record the responses.
5. Continue until each step has been drawn out to its logical limit; that is, until you know how to do
the action.
6. Using convergent thinking, select the action steps (usually, from the far right) that need to be
included in your action plan.

Digging Deeper: Three More Affective Skills

In addition to the individual affective skills associated with each step of the CPS process (for example,
the affective skill of Playfulness is associated with the Exploring Ideas step), there are three affective skills that
support the entire process.
• Openness to Novelty is being able to entertain ideas that at first seem outlandish and risky.
• Tolerance for Ambiguity is being able to deal with uncertainty and to avoid leaping to conclusions.
• Tolerance for Complexity is being able to stay open and persevere without being overwhelmed by
large amounts of information, interrelated and complex issues, and competing perspectives.
We invite you to explore this additional layer of the CPS Thinking Skills Model, the affective skills that
impact all steps of CPS, in Puccio, Mance, and Murdock (2011).

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking

TableSkills Model 123
of Contents
 Moving Forward

Looked at as a whole, CPS is a straightforward process for solving problems and seizing opportunities. It
is linear and logical, with one step feeding cleanly into the next. And yes, that is sometimes how it works. We
showed it this way in Chapters 8 and 9, and we can attest that there are some problems which stretch CPS from
end to end.
Dig a little deeper, like we did in this chapter, and we find something else. We find that each of the CPS
steps expresses a specific thinking skill; that is, when you perform a CPS step (such as Formulating Challenges)
you are using a specific thinking skill (such as Strategic Thinking). Dig a little deeper, and we find affective
skills (such as Sensing Gaps) that are employed while using that thinking skill. More digging, and we uncover
thinking tools that help make you more effective with a thinking skill and CPS step.
A little deeper still, and we find this: if each CPS step is made up of unique thinking skills, we can use any
of them, or some of them, or all of them, on demand—whether or not we are solving problems.
And from there, it is one more shovelful to strike pay dirt. Follow us, now: since each CPS step expresses
a specific thinking skill, we improve our ability to use CPS by improving our thinking skills…and the reverse is
also true: we improve our thinking skills by using CPS. The highest-order thinking skill is creativity, and CPS
is deliberate creativity. Practice CPS, put all these steps and skills together, and you reach your highest thinking
potential.

1
Butler, B. H. (2002, September). Learning domains of Bloom’s tax- 10
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 80.
onomy adapted for public garden educational programs. Starting right: 11
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 80.
Project planning and team building in informal learning. AABGA profes- 12
In some circles this tool is called POINt: Pluses, Opportunities, Issues,
sional development workshop, p. 3. and New thinking.
2
Puccio, et al., 2007, p. 95. 13
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 81.
3
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 77. 14
Simonton, D. K. (1988). Creativity, leadership, and chance. In R.
4
Fritz, R. (1989) The path of least resistance: Learning to become the J. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity (pp. 386-426). New York:
creative force in your life. New York: Fawcett-Columbine. Cambridge University Press.
5
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 77. 15
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 81.
6
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 78. 16
de Bono, 1994, pp. 95-98.
7
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 78. 17
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 82.
8
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 79. 18
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 82.
9
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 79.

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CHAPTER 11

Thinking About Thinking: Using Diagnostic

Thinking to Navigate the CPS Process

here is an old saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” You might
say this statement reflects a wonderfully open-minded attitude, a spirit that embraces new discoveries
and surprises. However, when it comes to a rapidly-changing world, a wait-and-see attitude is probably
not the best approach for resolving immediate predicaments and for the proactive pursuit of new opportunities.
You can choose to wait, or you can choose to create. Deliberate creativity means not waiting. It means
actively engaging with your world to solve those predicaments and pursue those opportunities.
It means getting in the car, turning the key, and moving forward. In previous chapters we used the meta-
phor of driving a car to describe productive thinking. Effective driving depends on how well you manage the
car’s functions: accelerating, braking, steering, using turn signals (you remember turn signals, right?), checking
mirrors, and being aware of what’s happening around you. What you have learned about CPS can make your
creative engine—your mind—more powerful. You now know about divergence and convergence, the CPS process
steps, and the thinking skills that you employ when you use those skills. As you develop your skills, you will
have a more powerful engine for approaching creative challenges.
Good driving also involves good navigational skills. You may know someone (or you may be someone)
who has trouble with directions. When you are lost, it doesn’t matter whether you are driving a Lamborghini
or a golf cart. If you get easily lost in managing your mind, it doesn’t really matter how powerful it is (as the
fi rst author’s teenage son recently said, “Dad, you’re not a good enough thinker to follow my mind”).
The fi nal thinking skill we will share with you is the skill of navigation: Diagnostic Thinking, which is
associated with the CPS meta-step Assessing the Situation. As an overarching skill
within the CPS process, we dedicate a full chapter to it. As in Chapter 10, we will
look at the thinking skill, affective skill, and thinking tools that are useful during
this step of the process.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 125

 Diagnostic Thinking: A Closer Look

Whether predicament or opportunity, creative thinking starts only after a careful diagnosis of the situa-
tion. We define Diagnostic Thinking as making a careful examination of a situation, describing the nature of
a problem, and making decisions about appropriate process steps to be taken.1 Diagnostic Thinking, which is
associated with the CPS meta-step Assessing the Situation, is a much broader skill than the other cognitive skills
we associate with CPS. For a start, note how Diagnostic Thinking has two primary functions: to understand,
and to decide.
First, we gather data with the purpose of developing a more thorough and deeper understanding of the
situation. This involves using divergent thinking to cast a very broad net. This is important because overlooking
a key piece of data could spell disaster to creative problem solving efforts. After gathering, convergent thinking
is used to focus on the data that tell an accurate story of the situation. This convergence can be used to form a
concise statement of the problem: a single-sentence task statement that begins with “I/we want to….”
Second, in reviewing the data and the task statement, you decide whether creative thinking is needed to
resolve the problem, and if so, where to start in the CPS process.*
We’ll look at each of these two functions in turn, along with thinking skills and tools that support them.
(The affective skill that is associated with Assessing the Situation, Mindfulness, will be discussed at the end of
the chapter.)

Gathering Data

So: let’s say you have come up against a complex challenge that needs to be addressed. What is the first
thing you should do? Well, how does a detective solve a crime? How does a mechanic know how to fix a car
(and why don’t most of us)? How does an entrepreneur know whether this (or that, or the other) is a viable new
business opportunity? How does a counselor help a client work through a difficult issue? How does a sports
team’s coach determine the best strategies for beating an opponent? They all begin by gathering data.

* When we walked you through CPS in Chapter 9, we did not ask you to create a task statement. Because we were beginning with Exploring
the Vision, which creates a similar vision statement, a separate task statement was unnecessary. However, when using the process in a flexible
way—which is the focus of this chapter—the task statement becomes very important.

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Thinking Tool for Gathering Data: 5Ws and an H

When gathering data we collect facts and figures, seek out opinions, ask open-ended questions, check as-
sumptions, look for patterns, search wide, and so forth. To organize these data-gathering activities we present
a broad and structured approach useful for digging more deeply into a problematic situation, using a tool called
5Ws and an H: who, what, where, when, why, and how. 2 Because this tool collects the same basic data that
appears in a news story, some call this the journalist’s tool. Wherever it came from, it’s a simple yet powerful
method to ensure a broad search for data.
When gathering data using this tool, remember that data does not refer only to objective facts. Data also
includes the subjective and intuitive, including impressions and feelings. Remember also that the goal of Assessing
the Situation is to develop deep insight into the nature of a problematic situation, and sometimes that requires
more than concrete data; in fact, sometimes it is the emotional component that proves most crucial.

Purpose of the Tool

• To provide problem owners with data categories—who, what, where, when, why, and how—to assure
that they cast a wide net as they seek to understand the situation.
• To structure data collection in a way that lends itself to understanding.

How it Works
1. Find a situation for which you need to develop a better understanding.
2. List each of the 5Ws and the H on a sheet of paper (using separate sheets for each if you think there
will be a lot of data) or in a computer document. Post-its are also useful, as they make it easy to later
sort the data into categories. Ask each of the six questions in turn, using divergent thinking to list as
many answers as you can. Below are some questions to get you started. After each, ask the question
again, adding the word “else” (“Who else,” “Where else,” etc.). Don’t worry if your responses overlap;
an overlap in data is better than a gap. Finally, if a question does not apply, you can skip it.
• Who: Who is involved? Who is the primary decision maker? Who are all the people affected by
this situation and how do they feel about it? Who is responsible for resolving this situation?
• What: What is the history behind this situation? Ideally, what would you like to see happen in
regard to this situation? What is the worst-case scenario? What would happen if the situation were

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 127

 to be ignored? What has already been tried or thought of? What are the obstacles for a successful
resolution of this situation? What are the physical and psychological factors that surround this
situation?
• When: When did this start? When would you like to take action? When would you like to have
this resolved? Are there times when the situation is more problematic?
• Where: Where is this taking place? Where has this situation been successfully managed (and how
was it managed)? Where are situations similar to this (and how are they similar)?
• Why: Why is this important? Why is this occurring? Why are you, or others, concerned about
this situation?
• How: How did this happen? How have you handled it in the past? How do others handle this?
How have you already responded? How do you wish to proceed?
3. Check your data for quantity and variety. If you are satisfied, move on to convergence; if not, generate
more or different answers in as many categories as you need.
4. Following the guidelines for convergent thinking, scan the data. Using your intuition and your sense of
the situation, select the data points that are most crucial in understanding the essence of the situation.
What really helps to define the situation at hand? What is most relevant to the situation? Can you
highlight the essence?
5. Using the converged data write a one sentence task statement that you feel captures the essence of the
situation. Ask yourself: How do I now see this situation? Begin the task statement with the phrase “I/
we want….”

Task Statement Tips

The task statement is an essential tool for understanding. When creating your task statement, you might
think of it this way: if you were trying to communicate the nature of the problem to someone else in one sen-
tence, how would you describe it? Conciseness encourages (okay, forces) you to get at the core of the issue and
to express what you want to have happen.
To keep your task statement broad we suggest having it start with the phrase “I/we want….” Here are
some sample task statements: “I want to travel more,” “I want to buy a new car,” “We want our company to
be more innovative,” “We want to improve our customer service ratings.” By using this statement starter you
locate the ownership of the challenge and the focus for your problem-solving efforts. Both are important for
deciding where to go next in the CPS process—which, of course, is the other job of Assessing the Situation.

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Diagnostic Thinking: GPS for CPS

In the introduction to this chapter we talked about how a large part of good driving rests on effective
navigational skills. We made the case that good thinking in general, and therefore effective creative thinking in
particular, relies on good navigational skills.
The lack of good navigational skills is quite noticeable in many team problem-solving meetings. You have
experienced this, perhaps: the team starts and stops, flounders, moves in circles, with team members working
in different directions at once. The outcome of such meetings is not creation, it’s frustration. You see this in
individuals, too; they can get just as lost in their own thought processes as does a dysfunctional team (and if
you doubt this, have a conversation with a teenager).
Sometimes, not much navigation is required. If you want to go from the east coast of the United States to
the west coast, jump on Interstate 10, 40, 50, 80, or 90, and head west. But if the journey is more varied and
more complex, some extra skills and tools are required. And so, given the richness of the terrain, we think you
should have a GPS for CPS: a way to navigate the creative process without getting lost.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 129

 Psychologists and educators have identified a thinking skill that helps to avoid getting lost in your own
thoughts. The skill is called metacognition, which is the ability to think about your thinking. “Meta” means
to stand above, and “cognition” means to think, therefore metacognition means to stand above your thinking,
to observe it and be able to direct it. Being metacognitive, you deliberately adjust your thinking to match the
demands of the situation. While Assessing the Situation in CPS, you follow data collection with metacognition:
looking at the situation from “above” and thinking about (and deciding) where to go next in the CPS process
to advance your problem-solving efforts.

Thinking Tool for Diagnostic Thinking: 4Is

Diagnostic Thinking in the CPS process involves two specific decision points. The first choice is whether
the problem truly warrants creative thinking. If the problem has a straightforward (algorithmic) solution, it’s
not worth your time to engage in the in-depth thinking associated with CPS. A simple tool that can be used to
determine whether a problem would benefit from CPS is called 4Is.3 It is a checklist of four criteria, each begin-
ning with the letter I, that, if satisfied, indicate that a problem is appropriate for CPS.

Purpose of the Tool

• To determine if a problem is a good candidate for CPS.
• To force a problem-solver to confront, up front, possible roadblocks to the successful use of CPS.

How it Works
After gathering data, identify a situation that might benefit from creative thinking. Then, address each of
these four areas below.
1. Influence. You must have sufficient ownership of a problem in order to implement a creative solution.
Influence locates ownership. Ask: will you be in a position to impact or change the situation? When
a solution to the problem has been identified, will you have the authority or potential to implement
the solution? If not, stop; do not use CPS. Otherwise, continue.
2. Imagination. In CPS we intentionally search for novel approaches. Ask: does the problem require
creative thinking (a heuristic approach) and do you desire new approaches? If you are not looking
for original approaches, stop; do not use CPS. Otherwise, continue.

130
 3. Interest. High interest indicates high motivation to commit the necessary effort to apply creative
thinking and the resolve to follow through. Interest focuses on motivation and desire. Ask: is this an
important problem, and do you recognize the need to spend time explicitly working on it? If you are
not committed to working on the situation, stop; do not use CPS. Otherwise, continue.
4. Immediacy. A sense of urgency usually accompanies deliberate creative-thinking efforts. Ask: does
the situation require attention now or in the very near future? If there is no urgency in the situation
then you may wish to put it off for another time. Otherwise, you have satisfied the four criteria, and
have determined that your situation is right for CPS.

Thinking Tool for Diagnostic Thinking: If-Then Process Analysis

As mentioned above, Diagnostic Thinking in the CPS process involves two specific decision points. After
applying the four criteria (the 4Is), you have the fi rst decision: you know whether CPS is a good fit for the situ-
ation; or, to put it another way, you have now decided to take a CPS journey. The second decision point is to
determine where to begin your journey.
The CPS model is descriptive, not prescriptive. That is, it does not prescribe a series of steps that must
be followed, and always followed in a particular order; rather, it describes the general flow of problem solving
and the steps within. There is, of course, a natural order to problem solving. For instance, you should have a
clearly-defi ned challenge before attempting to generate ideas about it…but it can happen in reverse, too, where
an idea causes you to go back and clarify the situation addressed by the idea.
The difference between a prescriptive and a descriptive thinking process is much like the difference between
navigating with Google Maps and with a GPS system. Used online, Google Maps richly describes the terri-
tory and the possible routes, but once you print out your route, you no longer have a map; you have directions:
prescriptive, linear and unwavering. Miss a turn or venture off—or if the directions are wrong, which does
happen—and you’re lost. A GPS system, by contrast, describes a possible route but allows you to deviate and
explore as necessary. The GPS is happy (well, maybe not happy) to reroute you.
Metacognition in CPS is akin to a GPS system; that is, it always knows where you are and how to get to
your destination in a flexible manner. For example, if you have decided to apply creative thinking to a situation
in which you already know the vision, it would be a waste of time to use the Exploring the Vision step. For
another situation you might already have a potential but unformed solution in mind, which means you can skip
over a number of steps and begin your CPS efforts with Formulating Solutions.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 131

 Once the situation has been diagnosed and it is clear that creative thinking is desired, you need another
diagnosis to determine what kind of creative thinking you need. A Diagnostic Thinking tool that can be helpful
in locating where to go after Assessing the Situation is called If-Then Process Analysis.

Purpose of the Tool

• To identify where to start and where to go next in the CPS process.
• To identify a type of problem-solving need and match it to a CPS process step.

How it Works
1. Begin with a task statement, a one-sentence summary of your situation. (Task statements often begin
with “I/We want....”)
2. Analyze your statement to identify the need expressed within.
3. In the If-Then Process Analysis, Figure 14, find the need that matches your own in the first column.
The recommended CPS process step is shown in the second column.

Tips
You can’t actually get this wrong. CPS is a pretty forgiving process, much more so than, say, diffusing a
bomb. If you enter at the “wrong” place—for example, if you decide to begin with Exploring Ideas, and then
realize in the midst of idea generation that you are not working on the right challenge statement—no worries;
simply go back to the Formulating Challenges step, better informed for having taken the “wrong” path in the
first place. You’re not diffusing a bomb here, where you may not get the chance to say, “In retrospect maybe I
should have cut the blue wire first.”

Metacognition Throughout CPS

Metacognition—Assessing the Situation—is never switched off within CPS. We use metacognition to
determine where to start in the CPS process, and we use it throughout the process to stay on track as we move
toward resolution of the problem. Just as GPS can reroute you at a moment’s notice, it is your meta-awareness of
the process that allows you to flexibly apply CPS. Linear problem-solving processes may be easier to learn—ap-
ply step one, then step two, and so on—but they oversimplify the reality of complex tasks. Consider again your

132
Figure 14

If-Then Process Analysis

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 133

 GPS: it easily re-routes you if you make a change, but can’t figure out when all you’ve done is exit the highway
to get gasoline. It instructs you: “take a U-turn, take a U-turn, take a U-turn.”
When faced with a complex challenge, linear processes run the risk of breaking down due to their rigidity.
Complex problems require flexible thinking. The CPS framework allows us to navigate and direct the kinds of
thinking skills that result in breakthrough solutions. J. P. Guilford, a pioneer in the field of creativity, once said
“To live is to have problems and to solve problems is to grow creatively.”4 And, we must add, responding and
growing creatively requires us to skillfully manage our complex thought processes.

Affective Skill: Mindfulness

Creative minds are ever aware. Thus, a key affective skill that supports Diagnostic Thinking is Mindful-
ness. It is said—and has been said for nearly 500 years—that necessity is the mother of invention. We propose
that awareness of the necessity is the springboard for creative thinking. If one does not perceive the need, then
creative thinking and creative solutions will not occur. Think of those dreaded relationship words “we need to
talk,” and how often it means one of the partners is not aware of what the other is experiencing.
Awareness of the predicaments and opportunities found in the surrounding environment is what leads to
creative problem solving and creative breakthroughs. Apple, under Steve Jobs, was legendary for scanning the
environment and introducing products at the right time. The iPod was not the first portable music device, or even
the first to play digital music. Why did Apple introduce the iPod when it did? Because it had solved the problem
of piracy with iTunes, the first electronic music distribution method that had the blessing of the music industry.
Similarly, there had been rumors of an Apple tablet computing device for years before the iPad was introduced.
Why then? Because the rest of the infrastructure was in place: the availability of apps (from the iPhone world),
nearly-ubiquitous wireless connectivity, advances in battery life and power consumption, and the maturity of
the touch-screen interface. Which is not to say that Apple is always right (does anyone remember the Newton,
the Lisa, or the Cube?), but that awareness of the environment is a crucial success factor.
Mindfulness means being in tune with the present situation. Just as Diagnostic Thinking is a meta-thinking
skill, Mindfulness can serve as a meta-feeling skill. Through Mindfulness we become aware of our surround-
ings and to the predicaments and opportunities that are present, even when (or especially when) they are not
perceived by others. By being mindful we also become aware of our feelings and responses to these situations.

134
According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society:

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment,
and nonjudgmentally. This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance
of present-moment reality. It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments.
If we are not fully present in those moments, we may not only miss what is most valuable
in our lives, but also fail to realize the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth
and transformation.5

Moving Forward

The flexibility of CPS becomes evident when we stand above the process and think about our thinking.
When Assessing the Situation, we employ the skills of Diagnostic Thinking and Mindfulness, both at the begin-
ning of the process, and as we progress through it.
In Chapter 9, we walked you through the full CPS process, beginning with Assessing the Situation and
then through the remaining six steps in their natural order. In this chapter, we made the case that while there is
a natural order to the process, it is not natural to force all situations through the same steps. CPS is descriptive,
not prescriptive. CPS permits you—invites you, implores you—to select the most appropriate step, given the
present demands of the situation. You don’t use a driver to hit the ball when it’s on the green, nor do you use a
hammer to drive in a screw, even if it’s your favorite tool. Instead you think: metacognitively, you diagnose and
you decide. The same is true for CPS. It is effective metacognition that allows you to look at a situation and
determine the most appropriate place to be and tool to use in CPS.

1
Puccio, et al., 2011, p. 75. 3
Isaksen, S. G., & Treffinger, D. J. (1985). Creative problem solving:
2
The 5Ws and an H has long been part of the CPS process, and finding The basic course. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited.
the original source has proven elusive. For some background on its use 4
Guilford, J. P. (1968). Creativity, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
in CPS see: Isaksen, S. G., & Treffinger, D. J. (1985). Creative problem Journal of Creative Behavior, 1, 3-14, p. 12.
solving: The basic course. Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited; and, Noller, R. 5
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness
B., Parnes, S. J., & Biondi, A. M. (1976). Creative actionbook. New meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion, p. 4.
York: Scribner’s Sons.

Part 3: CPS: The Thinking Skills Model 135

4 Creativity
Rising
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the
stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened
a new heaven to the human spirit.”
Helen Keller
138
CHAPTER 12

Creativity:
a Life Skill and a Way of Life

ou can see it in their eyes: a kind of hopelessness that rests inside some people. A feeling of powerlessness.
Of resignation. It is a feeling that comes from allowing life to happen to you, rather than taking control
of that life. It is easier to do what you are doing rather than to change, no matter how unfulfilling and
uncreative that life might be.
Creativity is a gift, but you have unwrap it.
In this book, we talked about creativity in mostly practical terms. We talked about the demands of a
rapidly-changing 21st century, about changes in how we must educate our children. We talked about creative
process, and the skills and tools you need to use that process. We even talked a little about the attitude—the
desire—necessary to be creative. Yes, sure, with practice in creativity skills, almost anyone can be creative in
some way, at some time. But being creative now and again is not the same as living a creative life.
If we think quickly about the term “a creative life,” we are bound to think fi rst of artists: those who paint,
or write, or dance—those who create—for a living. That’s an enduring myth, of course, that creativity is syn-
onymous with art. Instead, let’s think more broadly. Let’s think about a creative life as seeing the world with
new eyes. If you were, as a matter of habit, to see the world with new eyes, what would that mean?
It would mean being able to have visions of better futures. Creativity requires that you imagine a future
that is not there, whether it is a painting that will later occupy a blank canvas, a solution to seemingly-intractable
money problems, or a vision of a fulfilling life and career.
If you were to see the world with new eyes, it would mean seeing opportunities where others do not. Then,
a new business is built from scratch, perhaps in an industry that did not even exist. Or, a new community orga-
nization is created to address needs that no one even thought of a decade ago. Or new ways are found of being
together as a family, even as we are pulled in different directions—or maybe because of that.
It would mean being a problem-solver, even (or especially) when the problem is open-ended, and has no
known solution. Look around, and you will see things that are broken. Being creative means taking initiative

Part 4: Creativity Rising 139

 to fix those things when you can.
It would mean being able to look at a problem and clarify what questions need to be answered in order to
solve it. It would mean not settling for the accepted definition, but to be divergent, and to dig deeper.
If you were to see the world with new eyes, it would mean thinking with a solutions mindset, rather than
a complaining one. When you think “How might we…” you invite answers, solutions, teamwork, cooperation.
It would mean being fluent and flexible in generating new thoughts, options and ideas. Thinking creatively
requires that you are able to defer judgment—on yourself and others.
It would mean being persistent in seeking out a workable solution. Creativity is hard work. It is not for the
lazy. It is not for the “idea person” who is full of new ideas but seldom acts on them.
If you were to see the world with new eyes, it would mean being critical at the right time, but always find-
ing that which is praise-worthy in any idea. Praise first, and you seek to make an idea better. Find fault first,
and the idea is killed.
It would mean being sensitive to the world around you as you try and make change in it.

Moving Forward

We consider creativity to be a life skill—perhaps the one true difference between humans and other mam-
mals. As the psychologist Daniel Gilbert put it, man is the only animal that thinks about the future.1 Creativity
begins with the desire to think about the future, and to see it as being in your hands.
The CPS process presented in this book helps us to reclaim the gift of creativity, our birthright. Although
presented as an explicit process in this book, CPS is much more than a series of steps or tools. It is a way of
living life—a deeper and richer life. As a result of practicing this explicit process you will internalize a variety
of thinking and feeling skills. Once internalized—that is, when they become second nature—you become more
powerful. You will have greater resiliency. You will adapt to change more readily. You will be more confident
when faced with a difficult challenge. You will create more options in your life. You will become a more creative
leader. You will truly live a creative life.
When the spirit of CPS becomes part of you, it becomes possible to fulfill your potential. Your creativity
will rise, and the places you can go will be limited only by your imagination.

1
Gilbert, D. T. (2006). Stumbling on happiness. New York: Knopf.

140
Part 4: Creativity Rising 141
About the Authors

Gerard J. Puccio, Ph.D. is Department Chair and Pro- Marie Mance is Associate Director and adjunct lecturer
fessor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, and Direc-
Buffalo State College, a unique academic department that offers tor of Leadership Development at Buffalo State College. She
the world’s only Master of Science degree in creativity. He has develops and presents leadership programs for faculty and
written more than 40 articles, chapters and books. His most staff at Buffalo State with creativity as a core component,
recent book, co-authored with his colleagues Marie Mance and coaches in the college leadership program. Marie has
and Mary Murdock, is Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive published a number of articles on creativity and leadership,
Change, 2nd Edition. In recognition of his outstanding work and is the co-author of Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive
as a scholar, Gerard received the State University of New York Change, 2nd Edition.
Chancellor’s Recognition Award for Research Excellence and Marie has traveled internationally to present creativity
the President’s Medal for Scholarship and Creativity. Gerard and creative problem solving courses and workshops in Ni-
holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University geria, Singapore and South Africa. Marie has also designed
of Manchester, England. and delivered workshops in creativity, strategic planning and
Dr. Puccio is an accomplished speaker and consultant; he other change initiatives for a number of organizations in
has worked with major corporations, universities, and numer- the public and private sector. She is a past president of the
ous school districts. Some of his recent clients include Fisher- Niagara Frontier Chapter of ASTD (American Society for
Price Brands, Sun Life Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Training and Development) and a Colleague of the Creative
Kraft Foods, Synovate, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Education Foundation. She holds an M.S. in Creativity and
Rochester Institute of Technology and the Fashion Institute an M.Ed. in Counseling/Student Personnel.
of Technology. He has delivered creativity workshops and
presentations around the world, in such countries as France,
England, Spain, Italy, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Singapore, the
Dominican Republic, and Canada.

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 Laura Barbero Switalski is a partner of Darwin As- Paul Reali is the leader of OmniSkills, LLC (omniskills.
sociates (darwinassociates.net), a consulting firm in Buffalo, com), a training and facilitation firm in Charlotte, North
New York, specializing in organizational development, and Carolina. He provides training in creativity, collaboration,
creativity training and facilitation. Laura works with organi- and change, to corporate and non-profit customers of all sizes,
zations across North America, Central America and Europe and facilitates Creative Problem Solving for groups who need
to enhance teamwork and leadership, facilitate creativity and new ways to solve difficult problems.
innovation, and help manage change and transition. Paul has an M.S. in Creativity from the International
Born and raised in Italy, Laura now lives in Buffalo, Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College, and
and has extensive experience in working internationally and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University, with a major in inno-
facilitating cross-cultural teams. A social psychologist and vation management. He is the author of H2 Solve Wicked
expert in consumer communication research, Laura has over Problem: Getting Started with Creative Problem Solving,
20 years of experience in qualitative market research. Laura and is the principal contributor for creativeproblemsolving.
holds an M.S. in Creativity from the International Center com, a resource for CPS practitioners. He founded OmniSkills
for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College and is an in 2005, after 12 years as the cofounder and leader of the
ICSC adjunct faculty member. She is one of the founders of training company CyberSkills, Inc. Paul is a member of the
the CREA Conference (creaconference.com) and is president American Society for Training and Development (ASTD),
of CREA Italia, the non-profit foundation that promotes the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI),
CREA Conference. She is also a long-time leader of the annual and the Creative Education Foundation, and has presented
Creative Problem Solving Institute. at many conferences, including the Creative Problem Solving
Institute and the Creativity Expert Exchange Conference.

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About the International Center for Studies in Creativity

Creativity, creative problem solving, and change leadership tive creative thinkers and problem solvers and to instill these skills
play a major role in today’s workplace. Professional success is linked in others. As the first school to offer a Master of Science degree
to the ability to master creativity, to operate as a creative problem in creativity, the ICSC has achieved an international reputation
solver, to innovate and to lead change. The need for people to cope for scholarly research and teaching that focuses on developing
with and direct change in their lives and in their organizations has creativity, leadership, decision-making and problem solving skills.
become increasingly apparent. At the International Center for Stud- We invite you to explore the many opportunities that are avail-
ies in Creativity (ICSC), we strive to develop and nurture critical able through our educational programs. Please visit http://www.
life skills in our students. The approaches we teach are applied buffalostate.edu/creativity.
successfully to educational, business, and industrial settings. Our
graduates report that the skills and lessons learned at the ICSC
have had a profound impact on their lives and organizations. About ICSC Press
The ICSC is recognized for offering “The Credential in Cre-
ativity” for more than 40 years, a Master of Science degree and a Created in 2012, ICSC Press is the imprint of the Interna-
graduate certificate in Creativity and Change Leadership. These tional Center for Studies in Creativity. The mission of the press
programs are designed to provide professionals with the necessary supports the vision of the Center to ignite creativity around the
skills to become transformational leaders in their organizations and world, facilitating the recognition of creative thinking as an es-
communities. With our international reputation, we attract stu- sential life skill.
dents from around the world. The Master of Science and graduate ICSC Press’s goal is to put the work of our best teachers,
certificate are available on campus, as well as to distance learners. thinkers, and practitioners into the hands of a wide audience,
The ICSC is a unique academic unit within Buffalo State Col- making titles available quickly and in multiple formats both
lege, State University of New York. Since 1967, we have trained paper and electronic.
students, groups, teams and organizations to become more effec- To learn more, visit icscpress.com.

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Also by the Authors About the Book Designer

Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive Change, 2nd Edition, Kevin D. Opp is an award-winning graphic designer with
by Gerard J. Puccio, Marie Mance, and Mary C. Murdock more than 30 years of experience in print, digital and environmental
An in-depth description of the skills, both cognitive and graphic design. In addition to his role as a design consultant to
emotional, that assist leaders to become more effective creative ICSC Press, he is an adjunct instructor of graphic design at SUNY
problem solvers. With real-life stories and research-based citations, College at Fredonia and Buffalo State College.
this book offers anyone interested in enhancing their leadership ef- Mr. Opp holds an M.A. in Graphic Design from the School
fectiveness the practical principles and tools for advancing change. of Communications at Savannah College of Art and Design, and
Published by Sage. a B.S. in Graphic Design from the College of Design, Architecture,
Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.
The Innovative Team: Unleashing Creative Potential for Break- Most recently, Kevin was selected as a semi-finalist in the
through Results, by Chris Grivas and Gerard J. Puccio 2011 Adobe Achievements Awards and his most recent publication
Told through the lens of a team in crisis, the book offers new design, Petra: A Panoramic Journey, by Subhi Alghussain, received
tools and a breakthrough thinking process proven to help anyone the “The Kirkus Star,” awarded to books of remarkable merit, by
solve problems creatively and effectively. The process is built on Kirkus Reviews.
FourSight, a measure of creative thinking preferences field-tested
by top consultants, which enables teams to understand their pat-
terns of thinking and manage themselves more deliberately toward
accomplishing a goal. Published by Jossey-Bass.

H2 Solve Wicked Problems: Getting Started with Creative Problem

Solving, by Paul D. Reali
This brief and highly-accessible guide provides a step-by-step
guide to Creative Problem Solving (CPS), and how to apply it to
complex (“wicked”) problems. Published by OmniSkills Press.

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Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century

Living Creatively in the 21st Century

The need for creativity has never been greater. In fact, we chose the title, Creativity Rising: Creative
Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century, to reflect this belief. If we are to live
healthy, productive lives in this century we must develop the mind-set and the skill set for effectively
responding to and initiating change. Creativity Rising is both a why-to and how-to guide to help you
create your own future.

In this book we:

• explore the nature of creativity
• debunk common myths about creativity
• describe the rapid rise of change in the 21st century
• outline the time-tested Creative Problem Solving process, an approach to on-demand creativity

Connect Online
www.icscpress.com/creativityrising n www.buffalostate.edu/creativity n www.facebook.com/creativityrising n Twitter hashtag #creativityrising

Book Design and Graphics: Kevin D. Opp