Thinking Out of the Box by Mike Vance

YOUR mind is yours to exploit, maximise and utilise. If only life were that simple. "Please use your brain" - a phrase used more often in anger and verbal recklessness than in mindful retrospection. These days, a guy can use everything his mind can gets its tentacles on. This could be your genie in the bottle.




THINKING is easy. It's thinking thoughts that benefit your organisation
and yourself, in that order, that's a little complicated.
Now straight from the heart of Disneyland comes Mike Vance, former dean
of Disney University, with a few fresh thoughts. With able co-author Diane
Deacon, president of the Creative Thinking Association, he gives us
Thinking Out of the Box, ad guide through a labyrinth of paths and by-ways
where creative ideas germinate.
Don't let terms like dymaxion map, charrette, ideation techniques and
psychosclerosis scare you. These are explained as the pages turn.
For the masses of bankrupt-of-good-ideas people, hope is now at hand.
Many of the conditions for creative thinking have been around all the time
except we are too lazy to notice them. They are, basically, a sense of
adventure, fun and laughter, living and loving, and experiences of joy and
sorrow. In other words, you have to feel the physical sensations acutely
before your mind can be awakened to its maximum creative potential.
When you are ready, the tools for opening the box of ideas are laid out.
First, there is category note-taking. Second, thinking in five senses and,
third, working in colour.
Note-taking simply means just that. Taking down notes and then veering
away from linear thinking as opposed to the more natural thinking. Natural
as in hopping from subject to subject and mentally jumping around it. Even
day-dreaming about it.
Experience of the five senses is the second important tool. It is like
walking into Disney World for the first time. Soaking in all the sounds
and sights of that magical place. All your five senses are finely-tuned to
register every iota of stimuli for life-long remembrances.
The third tool is the use of colours in your imagination. In vivid
colours, let your mind soar as far as your imagination can take you. Thus
begins the longest journey on the creative route.
Thinking Out of the Box has some quotable quotes. Among them is one from
Walt Disney, who forms the foundation of this book: "Socialising is a key
element of the creative process; eating and drinking are part of the
formula."
Another comes from Thomas Edison, one of mankind's most notable creative
geniuses: "The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child."
From Buckminster Fuller: "I didn't invent the geodesic dome. I
discovered it through observing geodesic structures in spores under a
microscope. This is why every child needs a microscope to make their own
discoveries."
This book needs to be read very quickly at first. Then one should
backtrack to those relevant chapters that open a few cobweb-covered
windows of the mind to let in fresh ideas.
You probably would not want to recommend this to your mother-in-law,
though. She might have some original ideas - about you - of her own.
Not to be left out is the nine-point formula for success. Very quickly,
it is I3+P3+C3 combined with the V and M. The three Is are Informed,
Involved and Inspired. P3 points to People, Place and Product. C3 means
Caring, Co-operation and Creation. At the most fundamental level, the
points are self-explanatory. However, the authors are kind enough to
explain them quite fully.
V&M, the unleaded fuel that powers the engine of the mind, means Vision
and Mission. If you even have the foggiest notion of our own Vision 2020,
you should catch a glimpse of what it is all about.
As Vance and Deacon proudly conclude, the nine-point formula, if applied
in the right portions, guarantees that the creative juices will form a
critical mass.
If the reader still harbours any doubts after trekking through more than
200 pages of instructions and related anecdotes, please be reminded that
the dream team at Disney Corporation have been experiencing such a
fantastic run of luck with their products that they and their methods
should be taken quite seriously.
So next time you see Bugs Bunny yapping "What's up, doc?", put on your
thinking cap.