Roger von Oech is the writer of my favourite book on creativity A Whack on the Side of the Head (25th Anniversary already). One of his favourite creative thinking strategies is: THINK LIKE A FOOL. He explained:
"Carrying the strategy of "looking at things differently"
to extremes brings us to the realm of the fool, the being for whom
everyday ways of understanding have little meaning. It's the fool's job to extol
the trivial, trifle with the exalted, and parody the common
perception of a situation. In doing so, the fool makes us conscious of the
habits we take for granted and rarely question. A good fool needs to be part actor
and part poet, part philosopher and part psychologist. And throughout history, the fool has been consulted by Egyptian pharaohs
and Babylonian kings, Chinese emperors, Greeks tyrants, and Hopi Indian chiefs.
The fool will reverse our standard assumptions. He'll say, “If a man is sitting on a horse facing the
rear, why do we assume that it is the man who is backwards, and not the horse?”
The fool notices things that other people overlook. He might ask,
“Why do people who pour cream into their coffee do so after the coffee is
already in the cup, rather than pouring the cream in first and saving themselves
the trouble of stirring?”
The fool can also be irreverent. He'll pose riddles such as, “What does a rich man put in his pocket that
the poor man throws away?” When he answers, “Snot,” he forces us to re-examine the sanctity of our everyday
rituals.
The fool can be cryptic. He'll say the best way to see something
is with your ears. Initially, this may seem weird, but after you've thought
about it, you might agree that listening to a story conjures up more images
than watching television.
The fool can be absurd. Having lost his donkey, a fool got down
on his knees and began thanking God. A passer-by saw him and asked, “Your donkey is missing; why are you thanking
God?” The fool replied, “I'm thanking
Him for seeing to it that I wasn't riding him at the time. Otherwise, I would
be missing as well.”
The fool will take the contrary position in most conversations.
Whereas many people would agree that, “If a thing is worth doing, it's worth
doing well,” The fool might say, “You don't have to do things well! Indeed, it's
okay to do them poorly; otherwise you'll never let yourself be a beginner at a
new activity.”
The great benefit of the fool's antics and observations is that they stimulate
our thinking. They jolt us in the same way that a splash of cold water
awakens us when we are drowsy. Question: Where has “thinking like a fool” helped you look at a problem in a helpful
way?”
Good insights and concluding question Roger von Oech… to be more
creative and generate more good ideas – think like a Fool!
Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
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