See the Positive

Tuesday June 21, 2011
Scientist W.I. Beveridge noted:

“The human mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with a similar energy.”

Greek philosopher Heraclitus had a similar insight: “Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.”
Most people have a warning device in their minds to alert them to new ideas.

Unless the idea cleanly dovetails into what they’re doing, they’ll react by saying:

“It won’t work.”
“It’s dumb.”
“I don’t get it.”

When you evaluate new ideas, however, remember that your purpose is to help get good ideas produced — not to revel in the beauty of your criticism.

Thus, when you judge new ideas, focus initially on their positive and interesting features. This will counteract a natural negative bias, and help you to develop more ideas.

Exercise: list five benefits to wearing your clothes inside out on Mondays?*

— What are two positive things you can say about your issue?
— What virtue does the idea have that’s not evident at first sight?
— What’s interesting and worth building on?
— What might be fun about implementing the idea?

Tip: The playwright Jerome Lawrence had an evaluation technique, the “creative no,” that he used whenever he collaborated with someone else.

It works like this: either member of the partnership can veto the other’s ideas. However, when one partner exercises this veto, he also takes responsibility for coming up with a new idea that both partners like. Thus, it’s not only destructive, but constructive as well.

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* A few benefits to wearing your clothes inside out on Mondays: Clothes would last longer because they’d be worn on both sides. It would allow you to see where potential tears and rips are. You could display your sweat stains as “art.” It might force you to have Monday as a “work-at-home” day. It would make you buy clothes that were “soft on the outside” (e.g., no snaps or zippers) because you’d have to wear them next to your skin once a week.
(Courtesy of Roger von Oech)