Let’s Brainstorm and be all creative. Wohoo!

So how do you get the big idea for that new campaign? BRAINSTORMING! What else? It’s all about brainstorming. Because if you brainstorm, you are creative. It’s like turning on a switch. In fact, it’s enough just to say the word BRAINSTORMING out loud and people all around you will start to spill out great ideas. Those who didn’t know BRAINSTORMING before will be struck by their all-of-a-sudden uprising creative emissions as if a litghtning hit them in their forehead.

Now, back to reality. Brainstorming has become the universal solution for all problems and challenges. But people use the word, not the technique. Usually a BRAINSTORMING happens in a meeting room. Or right there at the workplace. It ends up just being some colleagues sitting together and talking. That’s it.

No creativity methods are used. No one thinks about going some place else – like the park in front of the door, or whatever. Really what Brainstorming should mean is to invest time into finding ideas. This can be done with countless methods that are fun and working and often lead to great results. At least it should mean to get your head clean of all the stuff around you. “Empty your cup”, for all you Bruce Lee fans out there.

The absolute minimum rules of brainstorming: No criticizing. No responding. No defending.

Not even those are applied to usual BRAINSTORMINGS. And then people wonder why it isn’t working all that great. Creativitiy isn’t a gift you’re born with (it might be for some), it’s something you have to train, to work on and to allow happening. You can’t grow a rare orchid in your cold, dark cellar, nor can you breed exotic fish in your daily glass of water.