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      KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
     ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
                 Volume 26, May 2003
    Publisher: © Key Associates, 2003
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue: On "Creative Expression"

Contents:

• What's Hot in Leadership
• Maintaining Yourself as a Leader
• Frequently Asked Questions from Leaders
• Educational Opportunities
• Useful Websites
• Articles/Publications

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
                                             -   Einstein

"The innovator has to be a warrior.  There are far
more critics than creators."
                                             -   Practical Wisdom

"Innovation has never come through bureaucracy
and hierarchy.  It's always come from people."
                                             -   John Scully 

"If you put fences around people, what you get
is sheep."
                           -   A Creativity Course Participant

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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ESTABLISHING A CLIMATE FOR BOLD
EXPERIMENTATION AND CREATIVITY.

CHALLENGING EVERYTHING.

CULTIVATING "POSITIVITY" AND THE 
CAPACITY FOR SURPRISE.

EXPRESSING OPENNESS TO IDEAS, 
IMAGINATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF 
DIFFERENCES.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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All organizations have experienced the death of
creative expression through "Killer Phrases."  

-That won't work.
-It's not in the budget.
-That's not our problem.
-Here we go again.
-Yes, but...
-We've (I've) tried that before and it didn't work,
-If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
-Who thought that one up?
-We aren't set up to do that.
-They won't let us, etc.

It is easy to succumb to this environment,
but as a leader, it is your job to PUSH BACK.

-Well, it might be worth it.
-Really, tell me more.
-Maybe it's time to try...
-Stay with this--it might have potential.
-There's a time to be realistic later.  Let's
be creative now.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Lots of our creative ideas go nowhere.

Dow Chemical says it takes 3000 ideas to come 
up with one usable one.  So quantity counts.  And
don't forget to have a sponsor, an idea champion
to pave the way for the innovation.

There are no new ideas in our team.  It's seems
like we process the same-old same-old.

Perhaps you have become too homogeneous.  
Symptoms are: decisions are made quickly or
not at all, morale is high but creativity is low.
Break up the group with some fresh minds--
ask a child, a teacher, a consultant, someone
who knows nothing about the issue, a person
in another field or area.  Diversity enhances
creativity.

How do we get out of automatic responses
to everything?

Read Edward deBono's work about the 
mountains and valleys of the mind.  A percept
falls on our brain and washes down into a stream 
of thought.  Our challenge becomes connecting
the different streams by chunneling through
the mountains of the mind and forcing the flow 
of the different streams to connect in new patterns.
Tools such as Trigger Words, Dictionary Words,
Reversing Assumptions, using Metaphors and 
Analogies, Magazine Cut and Paste are a few
of the stimulants to force-fit new thinking.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Instructions for creativity tools can be found
on our website
Creativity Exercises.
http://www.mkkey.com/Key%20Associates/Facilitated%20Exercises.htm

Learn to design and redesign processes that
plague your organization. "Changing Processes
Through and Innovation."
http://www.mkkey.com/Key%20Associates/CreativeToolsandMethods.htm

Inspirational articles, quick tips, links to useful resources, 
and reviews of books, CDs, and software for awakening 
creativity in everyday life
http://www.creativityforlife.com/

Seminars, workshops, presentations.  Visit Paul
Plsek and his edgeware at
http://www.directedcreativity.com/

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Sound Therapy CDs - CDs combine nature sounds, 
sound frequency patterns and audiostrobe to entrain 
the brain into a state of creativity, enhancing visualization, 
lucid dreaming and accelerated learning.
www.mindtech.co.uk

Resources for creativity and innovation-Creativity Web
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/

Visit the Creativity Cafe
http://creativity.net/

Enhance Creativity at Work
http://www.creativityatwork.com/

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Amabile, Teresa. Growing Up Creative: Nurturing a Life 
of Creativity. The Creative Educatin Foundation, 1992.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal 
Experience. New York: Harper & Row, 1990.

Fritz, Robert. The Path of Least Resistance; Learning to 
Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life. New York: 
Fawcett Columbine, 1989.

Higgins, James M. 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques. 
Winter Park, FL: New Management Publishing Company, 1994.

Kuhn, Robert Lawrence (ed.). Handbook for Creative and 
Innovative Managers. New York: McGraw Hill, 1988.

Morris, Jill. Creative Breakthroughs: Tap the Power of Your 
Unconscious Mind. New York: Warner Books, 1992.

Van Gundy, Arthur. Techniques of Structured Problem-Solving. 
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988.

Wujec, Tom. Pumping Ions: Games and Exercises to Flex Your Mind. 
New York: Doubleday, 1988.