- Have a growth mindset towards creativity.
- failure paradox - to be more innovative, you need more shots at goal. As long as constructive learning is gained
- overcoming fear of customer interviews
- be a fly on the wall in Online Forums
- Try your own customer service calls; note the questions asked, how they made you feel
- steps to creativity
- Choose creativity - take risks, accept failure, confront obstacles when challenging status quo
- Think like a traveller - pay close attention to things. Look for new insights about familiar things, with a beginners mindset. Maximise your ‘idea flow’ likes a VC’s deal flow. Have an office chalkboard, easily erasable, experiment with size/location, put a prompt for ideas, erase + repeat weekly.
- Engage relaxed attention
- thought walks, or right after you wake from deep sleep
- Empathise with end user
- Do observations in the field - when you spot a contradiction between what you see and what you expect, dig deeper.
- Start with why? Reframe questions. Ask ‘why do you like X so much’, vs ‘pretend you wanted to to convince a friend to do X, what would you tell them?’.
‘What resistance would you encounter? vs ‘You have an invincibility shield’
- Reframe challenges.
- ‘how we do improve video conferencing’ vs ‘how do we provide an alternative to air travel?’
- step back from obvious solutions (better mouse trap vs mouse proof).
- alter your focus or POV, shifts focus to a different stakeholder
- uncover the real issue (1/4 inch drill vs 1/4 inch hole)
- think about the opposite
- Build a creative support network
- Cultivate creative serendipity
chance favours the prepared mind
Action catalysts:
- get help - hire somebody/recruit a colleague, see if they come up with a new way to make progress
- create peer pressure
- gather an audience
- do a bad job
- lower the stakes
Constraints are key:
- tackle a doable piece of the problem
- narrow the goal. World hunger —> soup kitchen
- milestone + social contract. series of mini deadlines
- prototypes beat all. Challenge yourself to a 1hour/1day prototype
- when prioritising ideas, ask ‘which of these can be prioritised in 1 week?’
- seek your passion. your ‘calling’ >> ‘working’.
- to answer this, ask: what are you good at? what will people pay you to do? what were you born to do?
- everything is a prototype; product, org design, GTM.
- do single slides for a success update, v.s. a deck