Interviews with Creative Thinkers 

In this monthly series, creative thinkers describe how they come up with new ideas.

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You can have a system for solving problems, but you need to have ideas -- not just what you already know, but new ideas.

To get new ideas, you need to use some form of lateral thinking. This is a way to connect seemingly unrelated ideas. One of the best ways to promote lateral thinking is with the visual mode. Sometimes you see something, and everything becomes clear. Maybe what you see condenses many meanings. Think of the Apple logo, for example. You think of quality, usefulness and other good things, just as you do when you think of an apple. How did Steve Jobs come up with the name for his computer? According to Walter Isaacson's biography, Jobs had just visited an apple farm and thought the name sounded "fun, spirited and not intimidating."

Copyright 2024 by Marjory Harris