Thinkertoys

MICHAEL MICHALKO

Reviewed by Jack

When your organization has a problem, whether it is how to reduce expenses, increase revenue, or design a new logo, and you swear you have thought of all the different scenarios possible but nothing seems to move the needle, you need to turn your thinking around and apply some creativity to the problem. After all, as Albert Einstein stated, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Enter Michael Michalko’s masterpiece on creative thinking, Thinkertoys.

Michael Michalko is a renowned creativity specialist and frequent speaker on creativity issues to the corporate world. Michalko developed the ideas on creative thinking presented in Thinkertoys while an officer in the U.S. Army assigned to NATO. There he established a team that researched creative thinking methods and applied those innovative ideas to military, political, and economic problems. After he left the military, he was asked to develop think tanks for the CIA on creative thinking.

So what are Thinkertoys? Remember those brainteaser books we played with as children? (Or perhaps you still have a game magazine tucked somewhere in your car for long lines at the drive-through.) Thinkertoys employs those same kinds of visual games to help you understand how it is possible to solve problems or change perspectives creatively. Michalko divides the book into a linear techniques section and an intuitive section for generating new ideas.

Within the thirty-nine chapters, the author scatters puzzles, games, and visual riddles to illustrate his lessons. He explains, “You can best profit by playing with these toys, in your own unique style, to stimulate ideas from your imagination. . . . You might be tempted to just use one or more Thinkertoys you like best, but playing with a variety will be more productive.” From imagining your own “personal Hall of Fame” of admired people, real or fictional, who can act as a sounding board for your ideas, to brainwriting and scribbling, and even creating a Murder Board like the CIA uses to evaluate and criticize ideas before implementation, every Thinkertoy can be implemented when you most need them.

“Creativity is not an accident, not something that is genetically determined.”

While Thinkertoys activities can shape the way you think (“Give your mind a workout every day”), Michalko is not content to wax episodic on creativity. He is conscious throughout that creativity is nothing without productive implementation.

When your idea feels final, implement it. Do not spend days, weeks, or months refining it. If you delay, you may find yourself in a situation like that of the Victorian portrait painter who chose not to seek immediate benefits from his talents. Instead, he spent years refining his craft and art until he finally reached a pitch of dazzling brilliance—just in time to be rendered obsolete by photography.

In these pages, Michalko’s exercises will help you teach yourself how to be creative and fine-tune your ability to generate ideas, but the very fact that they are action-laden will, in turn, help you create action. Now go and fix that which needs fixing: the tools are right here. JC

Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, Second Edition, Ten Speed Press, Paperback 2006, ISBN 9781580087735

WHERE TO NEXT? Here for more help with your creativity challenges Here for another way to ignite creativity | EVEN MORE: Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck by Michael Michalko; How to Get Ideas by Jack Foster; Creative Whack Pack by Roger von Oech