Creative Thinking Lecture Notes

This flashcard set covers key definitions and concepts from the Creative Thinking lecture series, including business innovation, psychological mindsets, brainstorming techniques, and structured thinking frameworks.

Creativity

The process of generating new and useful ideas, characterized by a high tolerance for risk and a focus on expanding possibilities.

Innovation

The successful implementation of creative ideas, which according to the integration framework, requires both creative and critical thinking.

Business Model Innovation

Significant changes to how a business operates, such as Netflix's shift to a subscription pricing system to replace per-rental transaction fees.

Fixed Mindset

A set of beliefs where people believe intelligence and abilities are fixed and cannot change, leading to a fear of failure and avoidance of challenges.

Growth Mindset

A mindset where individuals believe abilities can improve through effort, allowing them to learn from criticism and embrace challenges.

Mental Blocks

Psychological obstacles to creativity, including fear of failure, overthinking, and comfort zone thinking.

Kodak

A company that invented the first digital camera in $1975$ but failed primarily due to a fixed mindset, fear of change, and a lack of aggressive investment in digital photography.

Brainstorming

A group creativity technique where criticism is not allowed during idea generation, and the focus is on quantity and building on other ideas.

Mind Mapping

A visual tool involving a central idea and branches used to organize thoughts, visualize relationships between ideas, and assist in strategic planning.

Brainwriting ($6-3-5$ method)

A structured idea generation technique involving $6$ participants who each write down $3$ ideas every $5$ minutes.

Critical Thinking

A convergent style of thinking focused on analysis, evaluation, logic, and narrowing choices to select the best answer based on feasibility and cost.

Divergent Thinking

A creative thinking style that asks "What if?" to produce many ideas and expand possibilities during the early stages of problem-solving.

Reverse Thinking

A technique for solving problems by looking at them from the opposite perspective, such as Henry Ford using a meat packing "disassembly line" as inspiration for his assembly line.

Constraint Stretching

Intentionally limiting resources to move beyond conventional solutions and force thinking to become sharper and more focused on essentials.

Role Storming

A method to break mental patterns by stepping into someone else's mindset and thinking from their perspective to solve a problem.

Analogy Thinking

Solving a problem by comparing it to something from a completely different domain, such as applying $F1$ suspension technology to Nike's Shox cushioning.

Idea Mashups

The process of combining two existing ideas to create a new concept, such as combining "Uber" and "Gym" to create on-demand trainers.

Six Thinking Hats

A comprehensive analysis method developed by Edward de Bono where different "hats" represent specific perspectives: White (facts), Red (emotions), Black (risks), Yellow (benefits), Green (creativity), and Blue (process control).

Storyboarding

A tool used to visualize an idea or process through a step-by-step visual sequence, particularly useful for understanding user journeys.

White Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method that focuses exclusively on objective facts and information.

Red Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method used to express emotions, feelings, and intuition.

Black Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method concerned with identifying risks, potential problems, and reasons why an idea might not work.

Yellow Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method that focuses on exploring the benefits and positive outcomes of an idea.

Green Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method representing creativity, new possibilities, and alternative ideas.

Blue Hat

The perspective in the Six Thinking Hats method concerned with managing the thinking process, control, and determining next steps.