Can we start a blankie business? The Case for Affirmative Judgment

Imagine that a child came up to you and asked, “Can I start my own Blankie business?”

How would you react?

If you are like many people, you might giggle and respond with, “maybe when you get older!” or “probably not”.

The problem with this initial reaction is that when we select ideas, we typically tend to focus on the reasons why an idea won't work. And, there is usually no shortage of flaws in any new thought.

However, when seeking creative solutions, it is absolutely essential to use affirmative, or positive judgment.

Remember, in my last post, when I spoke about the importance of deferring judgment in divergent thinking? Well, affirmative judgment is just as important in convergent thinking.

The best thing to do, when examining a creative idea is to ask, “what do I like about this idea?” Search for the positives, work to improve the idea, make modifications, and then go into concerns (and I will be talking later on about how to address concerns).

Now, let’s give it a try, by going back to the idea of a child starting his own business. How could you react to your child's question?

“Can I start my own blankie business?”

You might like to say...

“You know what I really like about your idea…” or

“I really like your thinking. Tell me more.” or even

“Great idea! Who would you like to sell the blankies to?”.

At this point you may be thinking "That's great, but what's the point? He still won't be able to start a business!"

Now, meet David. David went to his parents with an idea to create happy blankies, to help children across the world. His parents listened to the idea, and thought about the positives. As a result the family created a business that allows people to buy a blankie from Happy Blankie, and have one automatically given to a child in need. Read more about David here:

Happy Blankie Mission from Happy Blankie on Vimeo.

Happy Blankie Mission. Check out http://www.happyblankie.com for more details and information

Great ideas often take time to emerge. Practicing affirmative judgement makes that process possible.

Popcorn Me: A Lesson in Delaying Your Judgment

Several years ago, I was running a creative thinking workshop for Kindergarteners and their parents. Our overall theme was popcorn, and we brought in five garbage size bags of popped popcorn to eat. My students and I performed a skit, where each of us was a kernel, waiting to “pop” with an idea. I then began to share with them the four essential guidelines for divergent thinking:

1. Delay your judgment. Don't judge an idea- good or bad.
2. Strive for as many ideas as possible. Novelty typically comes after the first 30 ideas generated.
3. Seek Wild and Unusual ideas.
4. Build on other ideas.

“The most important thing”, I stated, “is to NOT judge your ideas. Remember, in divergent thinking, all ideas are good ideas!”

And with that, I gave each parent a pad of post-its to capture ideas, and challenged each parent/child with, “what are all the things we could do with these five large bags of popcorn?”

I could see the kids eyes light up with excitement.

“We could have a movie party!”

“We could build a tower!”

“We could give it away!”

“We could make a popcorn me!” cried one of the 5-year-olds.

“You couldn’t do that” said his mother without hesitation…

“Remember we are using divergent thinking and we need to delay our judgment” I quietly reminded the mother.

“Right. Sorry.”

As parents and teachers, it is often difficult to delay our judgment with silly, wild and unusual ideas. However, this is where we are squelching creativity in our kids. Yes, there is a time and place where it is not appropriate to be creative (I would prefer my son not be creative in how he uses the potty). But there are a hundred opportunities a day that you can allow for those silly ideas to be honored and not put down.

So, as you go about your day, think about how you are responding to the ideas that your kids come up with. Do you react immediately, perhaps without thinking through the possibilities? If so, then why not try delaying your judgment. Find out what happens if you just listen to what they say, without feeling the need to reach a decision.

In a future post, I will explore the idea of affirmative judgment- the principle for convergent thinking - so that when you do respond, you don't hinder your kids creativity.

Popcorn me? Let’s explore that idea. How could we make that happen? I decided to make a "popcorn me" with my son today (although it was the popcorn that doesn't have kernels as my son is under 5). What might your "popcorn me" look like?

This I believe...

Given how much interest there is on the topic of creativity, it is surprisingly difficult to find a commonly agreed definition. In fact, there are probably as many definitions of creativity as there are pizza toppings in your local restaurant. However, even though there are many definitions, one theme reappears in many different contexts, and that is that creativity is the generation of is novelty and usefulness.

I must emphasize, at this point, that many creativity researchers say this only touches one aspect of creativity, and I would certainly agree with them. But, it does at least provide us with a starting point for thinking about what 'being creative' might involve.

In order to understand what else might be involved, I want to give you with a very brief overview of my view of creativity. It isn't a definition (there are already more than enough of those) but rather a tour around some principles, and beliefs, that shape my thinking on the topic:

1. Everyone has the ability to be creative and we can all become more creative with practice.

2. Creative thinking is natural. One of my students recently said, “we each have been created, therefore we are each born to create!” I couldn’t agree more. You create everyday- whether you think so or not. Did you get dressed this morning? Make lunch? Decide how you would craft that important document? We are constantly creating our lives, and we have choices in how we do this.

3. Creative thinking is an essential life skill. I stole this one from my department chair- Dr. Gerard Puccio. We need to be able to think differently and to problem solve in order to get through each day.

4. Creative thinking is more than just coming up with new ideas. It is about living life in a way that is open, authentic, and curious. It is a mindset and approach to everything we do.

5. Creativity is relevant in the arts, education, business, science, math, English, health, and well- everything! Often times when I hear about creativity in relationship to kids, it is discussed in relation to the arts. And while that certainly is one domain that creativity is important, there are many, many more (and we will discuss this as I move along on this journey).

6. You can be perfectly healthy and highly creative at the same time. I have come across a number of books that discuss creative people as being emotionally unstable, depressed, bipolar, etc, which I think sometimes leads people to the belief that you can’t be a healthy creative person. This is simply not true. And with that, I refer to #1.

7. Creative ideas come from hard work and dedication to the situation at hand.While many people describe a creative insight as an “aha” or “Eureka” experience, it is usually prefaced with a great deal of thought and hard work around a challenge or situation.

8. A creative life can lead to a happier life. I have uncovered this both personally and with a number of my students. When you learn creative thinking skills, the world becomes a blank canvas to paint and create opportunities. You simply need to be open to exploration.

So, that's what I believe; what about you? How do you define creativity? Please share your thoughts.

Who am I and why am I here?

Hello! My name is Dr. Cyndi Burnett, and I am an Assistant Professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State.

When I started my academic career people would often ask me - politely - what I taught. I think they expected some sort of recognizable answer such as "english", so when I replied “I teach creativity”, their expressions would quickly turn from a friendly smile into glazed look of utter confusion.

“You mean like arts and crafts?”

I had to learn to hide my disappointment at this response.

“No, creativity. You know, coming up with new ideas, and solving problems in different ways” I would say, bringing my smile back to the conversation.

Fortunately, over the last decade, things have improved considerably. Now, in the year 2011, I don’t get the glazed-over look nearly as often. This may be because of the recent press coverage of IBM’s Study that highlighted creativity as the core competency skill for CEO’s, and the Newsweek Creativity Crisis article. However, I believe the reason why creativity is inching its way toward center stage is because of the state of the economy. With great problems comes the need for great solutions. And, great solutions do not come from doing the same thing over and over (unless it worked really well the first time). In addition, President Obama has been tossing the word “innovation” like a pizza pie in Italy, so the general population is at least familiar with the words creativity and innovation.

Despite the increasing familiarity with these terms, a 2009 CBS New Poll stated that only 42% of the population believed that creativity can be taught. And that, my dear readers, is the reason for this blog.

After 12 years of teaching creative thinking to babies, the elderly, and everyone in between, I can assure you that creative thinking CAN be taught and nurtured. And, it all starts with you - the teacher and/or parent who is open to learning how to nurture and foster creative thinking in both you and your kids.

In addition to my professional work in creative thinking, I am also the mom to two wonderful kids, who will sometimes act as the testers of my creative thinking tools, techniques and activities! Some of the activities in this blog will be geared toward toddlers/preschoolers and others will be aimed at older children. Whatever the case, feel free to modify as you see fit.

Enjoy the creative journey!

Feel free to follow me on Twitter (cyndiburnett) to receive updates on what is going on in the field of creativity.

Would you like a slice of Blueberry Pizza?

Did you wince at the sight of this title? Many people do! The surprising thing is, they have probably never tried blueberry pizza.

Typically, I find our educational systems and business organizations run around saying they want to be more “creative” and “innovative”, but the ironic part is, they are usually not genuinely open to novelty. Creativity and innovation come in to play when novelty and usefulness are bridged together.

So who would eat blueberry pizza? Meet five-year-old Ronan. Ronan likes to put his clothes on backwards and requests blueberries on his homemade pizza. He inspired me to begin this blog to help people of all ages open their minds to novel ideas and become more creative thinkers. So thanks for joining me as we begin the discussion around blueberry pizzas.