Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Creativity 101 - a challenge

There's a good chance I'll devote more than a few posts to economics. This in spite of the fact that what I know about economics can be written in big block letters on a postage stamp.
(I did take a one-year "econ 101" class in college... 35 years ago... and I took it 'pass/fail' [I passed].)

Acknowledging my basic ignorance, this post will take a different tack, and invoke not Economics 101 but Creativity 101.

Many years ago I attended a short-course on "creativity". I believe it was sponsored by a local chapter of what was then the American Society for Quality Control (now the American Society for Quality).
I remember exactly one lesson from this short-course:
The trick to generating good ideas is to generate a lot of ideas, then toss out the bad ones.
It's easier said than done.

Anyway - here's the challenge.
It seems clear that no one knows how to right our economy.
Lots of proposals have been put forth by the so-called experts - all of them based (I hope!) on some at least semi-plausible model.
Trouble is, there isn't any one right model - if there were, economics would resemble physics more than magic.

How to generate lots of ideas?
Ask a bunch of folks to generate lots of ideas!

So - if you've brilliant ideas for fixing the current economic mess, send 'em in!
NOT TO ME!!!
Send 'em to your Congressional delegation - your Congressman and your Senators. (It wouldn't hurt to send 'em to President Obama & to his economic team, too!)

The only rule: no idea is too weird.
(The hard part of "generate a lot of ideas, then toss out the bad ones" is generating LOTS OF IDEAS. Folks - all of us - tend to self-censor way too much!)

Next time you're on lunch break, jot down an idea or two.
Waiting in dentist office? Jot down an idea or two.
Nothing on TV? Jot down an idea or two.

Collect 'em.
Send 'em in.
(Reminder: NOT TO ME!!!)

Encourage your friends to do the same.

It might help to provide some rationale for each idea - what's your model? ... but if you can't articulate your model, that's okay:
Send in your ideas!

Can't hurt.
Might help.
Costs very little.

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