The Two Meanings of Brainstorming
Brainstorming has two meanings and because it is a subject much discussed in this newsletter and elsewhere, it is worth being clear about the difference.
Formal Brainstorming
In creativity circles, brainstorming is a structured creative thinking process invented by Alex Osborn in the 1950s (I believe) for use in his advertising agency. He later wrote about it in his books and it quickly became the standard group based creative thinking process. In a traditional brainstorm, you post a problem on a whiteboard or chalkboard and invite a group of people to suggest ideas. There is to be no criticism of ideas and all ideas are welcome. Participants are encouraged to come up with crazy ideas. This formal brainstorming process has been coming under a lot of criticism lately, including by me. The process is based on a number of assumptions by Mr. Osborn -- but in a clinical setting, most of the assumptions have been proved wrong. Needless-to-say, many people in the creativity field -- especially those who make a living facilitating brainstorming -- refuse to accept the criticism and insist that brainstorming works for them.
Informal Brainstorming
Because of the popularity of the formal method, the verb "to brainstorm" has also become a generic term to describe coming up with a lot of ideas to solve a problem. In this case, there is no formal process involved. For instance, you and your spouse might brainstorm holiday destinations or ideas for a housewarming party. In this case, you are probably not running a formal brainstorm, but just sharing ideas.
Normally, in this journal, when I use the term "brainstorm" and its variants, I am referring to the formal process. For the informal activity, I use terms like "ideation"and "idea generation" in this situation.
Recent Articles
Leading Diverse Teams
Filed under: Business Innovation
Diverse teams are more innovative and smarter than homogeneous ones. But, they are also harder to manager. Here are some tips. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Questions you should ask when an innovative project fails
Filed under: Business Innovation
You can learn a lot from the failure of an innovative project, but you need to ask the right questions. Here are those questions. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Unmarketing the Competition
Filed under: Business Innovation
A look at creative, but unethical dirty trick marketing campaigns designed to damage the competition By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Imaginativefulness and the Fisherman
Filed under: Creativity
What does a fisherman wearing a cycling helmet have to do with imaginativefulness? Quite a lot, it seems. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Actually, Criticising Ideas Is Good for Creativity
Filed under: Creativity
People have long assumed criticising ideas in a brainstorm inhibits creativity. Research and experience shows that is wrong By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Imaginativefulness
Filed under: Creativity
Imaginativefulness is a state of heightened imagination in which your mind allows thoughts, memories and ideas to play with each other freely. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Why and How to Exploit Alternative Uses for Your Products
Filed under: Business Innovation
Discovering new ways customers use, misuse and could use your products can inspire innovation. Jeffrey Baumgartner explains. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
The Cost of Not Innovating
Filed under: Business Innovation
If your company fails to innovate, you pay a steep price in terms of loss of leadershop, tight margins, missed opportunities and more. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Don't Trust the Status Quo
Filed under: Creativity
Jeffrey Baumgartner has never trusted the status quo. He explains why this is so and why you should also not trust the status quo By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Index of all creative articles...
