A Whack on the Side of the Head

ROGER VON OECH

Reviewed by Jack

All ideas have a life cycle. They are born, live, and die, and new ideas are needed to replace them. But we need a reliable way to generate new ideas, because, unlike good dogs, good ideas don’t always come when called. The challenge of being creative is timeless, and when it comes to generating ideas, new technology doesn’t necessarily make the challenge any easier. But Roger von Oech’s book does. He has taken a potentially complicated issue, because of its subjectivity, and broken it down into stimulating and functional advice.

At the core of the book are ten chapters that detail what von Oech believes to be the biggest mental blocks to creativity: be practical, follow the rules, play is frivolous, avoid ambiguity, don’t be foolish. In each chapter, von Oech focuses on the fundamentals of creative thinking. For example, from the “Be Practical” chapter comes this advice: “When you judge new ideas, focus initially on their positive, interesting, and potentially useful features. This approach will not only counteract a natural negative bias, it will also enable you to develop more ideas.” As a guy who has always tried to be pragmatic when it comes to new ideas, I have been accused of being negative. This fundamental approach shows that changing the lens through which you first look at an idea can open you up to compromise or even inspiration.

At the end of each chapter is a summary, like this one from “Play Is Frivolous:” If necessity is the mother of invention, play is the father. Use it to fertilize your thinking.

TIP: The next time you have a problem, play with it.

TIP: If you don’t have a problem, take time to play anyway. You may find some new ideas.”

There is often a serious disconnect in using creative thinking to solve business problems. Many of us believe that facts and research will lead to solutions before taking some time to play, thinking that playing isn’t serious work.

“By changing perspective and playing with our knowledge, we can make the ordinary extraordinary.”

The exercises von Oech uses to stimulate just such creative problem solving are unique. For example, he offers readers the following scenario: You are a marketer given the challenge of promoting a company’s $1,000,000 overstock of ball bearings. What do you do? Creative thinking first allows you to search for ideas within your experience, but then you need to try different approaches, one then another and often not getting far. But there should be no limits. “We use crazy, foolish and impractical ideas as stepping stones to practical new ideas,” says von Oech. Once you’ve brainstormed the scenario, he reveals the possibilities, including: use the ball bearings as level testers, sew them into a canvas vest and use them as “weight clothing” for athletes in training, or use them as filler for beanbag chairs or other furniture. The author explains that “[t]he point of this exercise is that an idea, concept, or thing—in this case a ball bearing—takes its meaning from the context in which you put it. If you change its context, it will take on a different meaning. For example, transferring a ball bearing from the ‘things that reduce friction’ context to that of ‘shiny and pretty things’ gives us all kinds of jewelry and art ideas.” This exercise is an effective way to show how even when we are thinking creatively, we often have self-imposed boundaries that actually limit our creativity. Pushing the boundaries, sometimes literally, is a way of opening our eyes to additional possibilities.

It is difficult to convey all of the stimulating information Roger von Oech shares with us in this short review. With every page, you will feel new clarity about how creativity should play a role in your work. He distributes perspective-changing quotes throughout the book, such as, “‘Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different’” from Albert Szent-Gÿorgyi, and “‘Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction’” from Pablo Picasso. A Whack on the Side of the Head is a pragmatic guidebook to assist you in unearthing your creative self. JC

A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative, Business Plus, 25th Anniversary Edition, Paperback 2008, ISBN 9780446404662

WHERE TO NEXT? Here for another creativity tool kit Here for getting into someone’s head Here for some fresh perspectives | EVEN MORE: One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer; The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron; Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi