Creative innovations involves the ability to associate ideas in new ways. The Apple power cord was developed by combining the computer power cord with the power cord found on Japanese rice cookers. It might be said that the more disparate the ideas that are put together, the more creative the person is.
But, our learning processes, beginning with school, do not promote the development of associative ability. Academia is myopic: courses are taught in isolation and there is little encouragement to look at different disciplines in a holistic way. Myopic focus continues through most people’s work lives, with them being pigeonholed into narrow job descriptions.
Thankfully, many companies are beginning to understand that innovation is one of the few, true drivers of authentic business growth and profitability. With the focus that is likely to be put on innovation in the coming decades, it is more important than ever to train yourself to be able to think creatively.
Reading over a wide range of disciplines is great fodder for the creative mind. But, reading is usually approached as a passive activity, rather than being pursued to actively increase knowledge and associative ability.
Next time your read a book, break out a notebook and jot down any important ideas or quotations on the right side of the book. On the left side of the book write down how these ideas relate to what you already know.
Through this two-step process, you’ll be actively training your mind to become better at associating ideas, and also building a stronger network of interdisciplinary ideas in your mind. This will give you a larger and more useful database to draw from and increase your ability to produce truly innovative solutions.
Happy reading.
Tags: Apple · Business · Innovation · profitability · reading3 Comments
I would like to personally talk with you about it.
Thank you for useful information.
This is great….
1) Next time your read a book, break out a notebook and jot down any important ideas or quotations on the right side of the book.
2) On the left side of the book write down how these ideas relate to what you already know.
Thanks for this post Aaron I am going to try to do this on my next idea notebook!