Executive Recruitment

The Executive Manager

Radical Creativity from Incremental Creativity - large movements from small changes

Positive radical movement is the holy grail of nearly every decision maker. Every CEO wants to radically shift his profit and loss statement into the black, every inventor yearns to find the next killer gadget and every screenwriter wants to make the next significant leap in film.

Radical creativity (also known as transformational and disruptive) is the root of radical movement. The polar opposite of radical creativity is incremental creativity. A pervasive perception is that the two are separate and distinct, whereas in fact they are intricately linked.

There is significant data to suggest that radical creativity results from incremental changes:

a) The IT revolution took over sixty years. The first computers were monoliths made up of vacuum tubes and magnetic drums. Particular problems over a long period led to the development of the solid-state transistor. This in itself was a radical leap in technology and resulted in computers evolving into slightly smaller, faster, cheaper and energy efficient entities. The development of integrated circuits was the next leap, resulting in transistors being placed on silicon chips. The next radical leap was the coming of micro-processors which allowed thousands of integrated circuits to be placed onto silicon chips. The first Intel chip paved the way for Microsoft et al, but it still took years of incremental improvements before the first desktops arrived. Desktop computers led to their interconnectivity and led to the Internet. The Internet triggered e-commerce.

b) Many artists tend to incrementally experiment with certain ideas, after which new knowledge or other inputs will lead to radical shifts. This tendency exists with artists (review any artist over a period of time) and also on the macro level - cubism, German expressionism, Italian futurism, Russian constructivism, Dada and Surrealism and continuing to developments in American art (e.g. the Harlem renaissance, social realism, abstract expressionism).

c) The French Connection chain significantly boosted profits by a very small change - the FCUK campaign.

In conclusion, radical change results from incremental changes and the input of new knowledge, which itself will have been the result of incremental improvement. Through the use of organised, systematic and structured processes it possible to speed up positive radical movement.

Good Idea Generation - a process

It seems incongruous that good idea generation can be a process or that a process may lead to insight. However, if you examine the behaviour of people who regularly generate good ideas - such as creatives in advertising - you will find that common patterns of behaviour do emerge and it is possible to make insight more likely.

a) Creativity is often triggered by the need to solve a problem. People who generate good ideas tend to clearly identify the problem through a tangible process. They will look at a problem from various perspectives, create multiple definitions of it and ask many others to contribute to the precise nature and basic qualities of the problem as they see it.

b) Problems require intense investigation. People who generate good ideas intensely investigate the problem using various knowledge bases and information sources. This allows frame breaking, reduces path dependency and parochialism and allows the intellectual cross-pollination that gets people thinking in new directions.

c) Forced productivity. People who come up with good ideas force themselves to produce ideas without evaluating those ideas. They will separate creative from critical thinking and simply bash out ideas using a variety of techniques. Common methods involve linking to diverse objects and concepts, vertical and lateral thinking techniques. They will regularly maximise the size and quality of their idea pool. This patterns the mind into seeking answers and triggers cognitive activity at multiple levels.

d) Seek stimuli. People who think of good ideas seek out stimuli from novel, diverse and numerous sources. The range of stimuli is infinite and this tends to suit people who have or benefit from a life long interest and curiosity in many subjects.

e) Constant conscious thought. People who generate good ideas constantly think about the problem at all times. Often they describe themselves as incapable of thinking of anything else, no matter what distractions may be present. Hence the common occurrence of descriptions such as "obsessed," "single-minded," "preoccupied," "compulsive," "consumed," "captivated," "infatuated," "absorbed", "immersed," "possessed," "hooked" and so forth.

f) Engagement in rest and unrelated activities. People who generate good ideas will allow for rest and engagement in unrelated activities, which allows unconscious processes to take over. It is at this point that insight is common. Having progressed past the previous stages numerous times, the solution presents itself when engaging in something completely unrelated.

g) Incubation. Following intense cognitive activity, it may be that the problem is set aside. A solution may present itself at any point thereafter.


The above process can be learned, controlled and the effective use of it is just as much a matter of practice as any tool. It explains why some people are more able to regularly generate a large number of diverse and novel ideas. Two relevant footnotes should be applied:

a) It is compelling that the more complex the problem, the longer the process.

b) Further, the closer the idea is to the origin of the S-curve (a measurement of impediments), the greater the number of intermediary issues requiring resolution before a solution can be obtained.

Creative Thinking versus Critical Thinking

The process of creative thinking is often, mistakenly, intertwined with critical thinking. There is a tendency to write and edit simultaneously, couple hypothesis generation and evaluation, combine problem identification with solution. (Pictures 58 )

To increase effectiveness, one should first apply creative thought, which is meant to be daring, uninhibited, free-spirited, imaginative, unpredictable, and revolutionary. The trick is to ignore content and maximise the size and richness of the idea pool.

Second, critical thinking is exercised to achieve applied creativity. This is reductive, logical, focused, conservative, practical and feasible. During this stage, the idea pool is reduced to achievable, appropriate ideas.

Now onto the Idea Pool itself:

Maximising the size and richness of the idea pool is a conscious process that has a lot in common with a) lateral thinking and b) the elicitation of tacit knowledge. It is the pre-critical thinking phase and some elements include:

a) Coming up with ideas for the sake of generating ideas.

b) Using a variety of stimuli and frameworks to open up as many pathways as possible.

c) Not having a conscious direction.

d) Not stopping when a goal seems fulfilled.

e) Consciously stimulating change in direction.

In short, the key principle is to produce first and scrutinize second - writing and rewriting are two separate processes. This applies across the board, from business problem solving to arts such as screenwriting. The more people try to understand meaning, the less they produce.

Five domains that reinforce the argument that simply being prolific improves the quality of creative output.

a) It can be concluded with great confidence that quality of output is closely related to sheer quantity. The single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.

b) In the early stages of a task, relative lack of experience, knowledge and methodology limits performance to sub-optimal levels. With time these factors improve and productivity increases exponentially.

c) Incremental steps towards a goal produce more output than a "do your best" approach.

d) The major part of learning takes place subliminally and unconsciously. When we are strongly motivated by an endeavour, we will become good at it by working on it at various cognitive levels.

e) Subliminal perception and learning - many skilled actions are initially learnt with much effort, then, with practice, they come easily and smoothly