The Idea Riot

The Idea Riot

by hugh anthony, lifestyle editor

February 03, 2012

theme: creativity + thinking + problem solving

When was the last time you or your organization looked at problem-solving as a brainstorming session!!  Let us suggest instead, an idea riot.  The creative imagination gives us the insight to think outside the box or even be on the periphery of greatness with solutions, but how do you or your organization embrace it.

We are wired to believe that the mindset that creates the problem will be the one that solve it, well that’s wrong.  A couple questions should be asked: Who is experiencing the problem? and what created it?  These are perspectives that the idea riot can explore to bring solutions.

Idea riot views the problem as a complex sub-set of processes that do not allow innovation and creativity as a part of group thinking.  Group thinking in idea riot is as individual as it is a collective, however at the heart of it all, is how we think.

I am not proposing a think-tank in the traditional sense, where you have to meet exhaustively to think through the problem.  No, idea riot allow members to bring divergent and convergent thinking to the process of problem solving, by viewing ideas as composites of an irreverent approach. Fluidity and fluency, relies on how malleable we are and our willingness to bring responses to the problem or ‘mess’ as we see it. Flexibility and adaptability, impacts our mindset to shift in to different gears and allows for spontaneity.

The idea riot embraces originality of thought, identify commonality with group thinking, but employs novel thinking and sensitivity to problem solving by redefining the ‘mess’.  Idea riot is not about urgency, it’s about: ideation, exploration, unconventional wisdom, mind-shifting and creativity – along with how we view and embrace problems.

How do we start and idea riot? That’s not the question….darn!  When will you begin an idea riot?

 

© 2012 Hugh Anthony. All rights reserved.