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Thinking tools

By Debbie Carter (February 2008 Issue)
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Making connections between seemingly unrelated and random concepts or ideas is a key part of creativity. James Burke suggested that major technological changes occur in response to triggers, some seemingly unrelated, and he gave the following example in his book The Pinball Effect to demonstrate how these haphazard connections are made.
He posed the question: “What is the connection between Napoleon Bonaparte and the modern computer?”

When Napoleon’s troops invaded Egypt, they bought the local shawls, which then went on to create a fashion craze in Europe. To meet demand, the shawls were made on automated, perforated-paper-control looms. This gave an American engineer, Herman Hollerith, the idea to automate calculation using punch cards; these in turn were used to control ENIAC, the first electronic computer.

Developing connections is a skill that can be practised and developed by using some of the following simple exercises.

Exercise 1

Create a list of five random words, think of another random word and try to connect that single word with the other five.

EXAMPLE

Use the five random words cork; politician; menu; ham, and power and the single word doctrine to make your connections.

Your first thoughts might include: a ‘doctrine’ bottles things up like a ‘cork’; ‘politicians’ always have their own ‘doctrines’; a ‘doctrine’ has a ‘menu’ of beliefs and values; some ‘doctrines’ forbid the eating of ‘ham’, and, finally, ‘doctrines’ can be used as the basis for ‘power’.

You can keep the same five random words but choose a new single word and seek to connect as before. Or look for alternative bases for the connections to the original set of random words.

Exercise 2

The aim of this connection exercise is to go beyond the obvious links and to generate as many connections as you can, defining clearly the basis for those connections.

EXAMPLE

The two words are desk and shorts. Your first thoughts might include: both are functional and aid some type of business or sporting activity; both are designed for freedom of activity and, while ‘desks’ have knee holes, ‘shorts’ expose the knees.

Further thoughts could focus on the fact that they are both expectations. You are supposed to work at a desk and you are expected to wear shorts for certain types of activity – or that, in the past, they were both male-associated items.

You can then rate your connections as ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ and find special circumstances where new connections might apply.

References
1. These exercises are taken from How to have Creative Ideas: 62 exercises to develop the mind, Edward de Bono, Vermilion 2007. For further information on the work of the De Bono Foundation UK, visit www.debonofoundation.co.uk

Remember:
The use and practice of creativity is the best way to develop the mental skills and mental habits of creative thinking; to improve those skills, you need to practise.
Here are some essentials to remember when carrying out the exercises.

  • There is no need for a time limit to the exercises or games, although you may want to set yourself five minutes per exercise and, as you get better, you may want to reduce this to two or three minutes.
  • Avoid simple similarities based on letters, spelling and so on.
  • There is no one ‘right answer’; any answer that fits the stated requirements of the exercise is equally valid. However, you will soon recognise which answers are more practical, unusual or offer a higher value.

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