Better's Blinkist

Originality is your key to a fulfilling career.

But what’s an original? In today’s context, originals are people who not only dream up novel ideas and shake up the status quo, but who also take the initiative to make their unique vision a reality.

25 January, 2020 11:32 Share

Putting new ideas out there requires courage and the determination not to back down when you want change to happen. The first step toward becoming an original is overcoming your fear of taking action and standing up for your own ideas. But how? Find out in the next blinks.

25 January, 2020 11:32 Share

Quantity leads to quality when it comes to generating great ideas.

Picasso’s entire body of work includes countless rugs and prints, 2,800 ceramics, 1,800 paintings, 1,200 sculptures and more than 12,000 drawings. And yet, only a small number of these pieces gave Picasso his success and status as an international art icon. In other words, when it comes to quantity and quality, you can’t have one without the other!

25 July, 2019 12:32 Share

Generating ideas, and lots of them, is the first step to unlocking your creative potential. But you shouldn’t see your brain as a creativity factory, pumping out original ideas the way cars are manufactured on an assembly line.

25 July, 2019 12:34 Share

Procrastination can work creative wonders when you use it strategically.

King’s speech is a fantastic example of the Zeigarnik effect. The phenomenon, named after Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, describes the way that our mind stays open to new ideas and insights, even after we attempt to finish a task and give up. Essentially, King’s unfinished speech left room for his brain to come up with brilliant lines. For great originals, procrastination is a key strategy. It allows them to make gradual progress while remaining open to a range of possibilities. Leonardo da Vinci is another example of history’s prolific procrastinators. He began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503, then abandoned the project before returning to the painting some years later. The Mona Lisa was finally completed in 1519, 16 years later!

25 July, 2019 12:35 Share

Admitting your weaknesses during a pitch will garner you more support.

For one thing, voicing an opinion that threatens to upset the status quo can be a threat to your business career and your network. A massive study conducted across nonprofit, service, retail and manufacturing companies revealed that the more frequently employees voiced their ideas and concerns to their superiors, the less likely they were to receive raises and promotions over a two-year period.

25 July, 2019 12:37 Share

Make radical ideas familiar by getting them out there often and finding common points of reference.

One of these is the mere exposure effect, where repeating yourself will give others time to warm up to your ideas. Research shows that exposing people to new ideas more often will make them more receptive over time. So, speak up and repeat yourself!

25 July, 2019 12:39 Share

Another useful strategy for making new ideas seem less controversial is to frame them in a familiar context. When the idea for the animated classic The Lion King was first pitched to Disney, producers were initially turned off by its dark storyline. But in a meeting between scriptwriters and Disney executives, CEO Michael Eisner and producer Maureen Donley turned things around by highlighting the film’s similarities to Shakespeare’s King Lear and Hamlet. This was enough to persuade the producers, who were much more enthusiastic once the unconventional storyline was tied to a common point of reference.

25 July, 2019 12:39 Share

The best collaborators are the ones that love to prove you wrong.

By throwing a minority opinion into the mix that differs from the two leading views, the consensus is disrupted. Group members are then pushed to assess the situation for themselves and not simply follow what others are thinking. This is a great strategy to break up groupthink and encourage everyone to share their real opinions.

25 July, 2019 12:41 Share

Groupthink occurs when people organized in groups prioritize avoiding conflict and reaching consensus over making the best choice possible. This concept, developed by Yale research psychologist Lester Irving Janis, is the underlying problem in poor team decision making. Another way to prevent groupthink hindering your own creativity is to surround yourself with people who constantly question your ideas.

25 July, 2019 12:42 Share

This creativity wouldn’t have been possible without the powerful group dynamic that emerged as a result of Kohlmann’s calculated decision making. He chose junior officers with a track record of facing discipline as a result of challenging authority. Though these officers all had their own backgrounds and objectives, uniting their disruptive mindset with a common goal created the perfect environment for creativity.

25 July, 2019 12:43 Share

Learn to disguise your ideas to get the supporters you need.

Though you might have a network of people who share the same goals and values as you, it’s no guarantee that they’ll support your ideas. If you want dependable allies, you need to win over your peers by hitting the right tone in your messaging. The trick is not to go over the top, but also to keep people interested

25 July, 2019 12:44 Share

Meredith Perry, the inventor of wireless power solutions for charging electronic equipment, received little support when she first presented her ideas to her physics professors and engineers. They all unanimously agreed that it was simply not possible at the time to charge electronic devices through waves passing through the air. So what did Perry do? She changed her tactics and used a Trojan horse.

25 July, 2019 12:45 Share

As we can see, it’s not enough simply to have creative ideas – you have to know how to find the right supporters and collaborators to make them a reality.

25 July, 2019 12:46 Share