Creative Problem-Solving in Business with Joshua M. Linkner

On this Episode of Tech Done Different with Ted Harrington, Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE)...

Creativity enables us to examine and solve challenges with greater transparency and originality. Creativity enlarges one's mind. A society that has lost contact with its creative side is a society that is imprisoned, as generations of its members may be closed-minded. It broadens our horizons and might assist us in overcoming prejudices. 

Tune in as Josh explains the importance of creative problem-solving in business and the eight critical concepts for creativity to flourish in all aspects of life. Don't miss out on this episode! You will surely learn a lot from Josh!

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:

• Creativity takes in different sizes and shapes
• The false sense of security in doing nothing
• The five percent challenge

Resources

Connect with Ted Harrington: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Episode Highlights

Creativity is an innate trait that we can all cultivate and improve. It's more about changing your mindset, habits, and approaches. And when you do, you can unleash incredible creative potential.

 Hardwired Creativity

• Many people assume that just a tiny percentage of people are born creative, whereas most are not. Furthermore, research shows that humans are hardwired for innovation. You must understand that creativity is a skill that can be honed through time. 

Small Breakthroughs

• Penicillin and the internet are examples of creative breakthroughs because they revolutionized how we function in current times. However, something does not have to influence to be considered innovative significantly. These minor breakthroughs are considered innovations, but they receive little notice. 

Fear of Being Singled Out

• Most individuals cite their fear of failing or appearing foolish as the fundamental cause for their lack of creativity. But if you're testing many of these minor things, you know that not all of them will work, but it doesn't matter because you didn't destroy the structure by wasting modest funds. Accessing microscopic, enormous, and little breakthroughs does not require a lab coat or hoodie, and they are substantially less dangerous. 

Creative Workspace

• If leaders create an environment that is anything other than a safe place for individuals to express The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, they kill creativity; the solution is to create rituals and rewards that encourage the creative process. Fear, not inherent talent, is the most significant impediment to innovative creation, and fear and originality are incompatible. 

The Eight Concepts of Creative Problem-Solving In Business

• Begin before you are prepared. The majority of us wait until our game plan is bulletproof. However, if we wait, we may miss an opportunity entirely. Therefore, it is more important to move forward with agility and an open mind than wait for optimal conditions. Because let's be honest, there are rarely going to be optimal conditions.
• Rather than falling in love with the solution, focus on the problem. A more effective method would be to fall in love with the situation, be willing to solve it in whatever way, and be ready to give up one possible solution in favor of a better one. Typically, innovators engage themselves in the problem. Even if the current answer is satisfactory, they are always looking for a better one. As a result, they are more concerned with the problem and its solution than with a specific method.
• Create a test kitchen. One of the reasons why individuals don't begin before they're ready is because they believe the beginning must be ideal. The concept of opening a test kitchen, on the other hand, welcomes the spirit of speedy experimentation.
• The fix-it-by-breaking-it concept. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," as the adage goes. Why wait until a process or system has failed before acting? You can evaluate methods, techniques, and product approaches, disassemble them ahead of time, examine the necessary components, and devise ways to recreate them better. It's a series of forced upgrades, forced obsolescence, and forced obsolescence of previous versions. You're getting rid of the prior arrangement.
• Every drop of toothpaste concept represents being resourceful and scrappy with what you have rather than seeking external resources. The government would be the world's most innovative organization if external resources matched creativity, and startups would be the least. It's more vital to be resourceful and imaginative with internal resources than external ones.
• The Dinner Mint method involves considering before submitting a piece of work. That is unexpected, which elevates your delivery to the next level? The smallest amount of X up that extra can go so far.
• Stumbling, failing, or making a mistaken technique is a part of the invention process that involves slipping or making an error. Seven times the standard deviation acknowledges that mistakes and setbacks are inevitable. In other words, if we aren't stumbling on sometimes, we aren't trying hard enough.
• Brainstorming is an ineffective, obsolete technology that requires modernization, and brainstorming is the universal strategy for generating new ideas. If we have a ridiculous notion in a brainstorming session, we tend to keep it to ourselves out of fear of appearing silly. 

Powerful Quotes from this Episode

[05:26] “I think it's the core responsibility to bring our inventive thinking and creative problem solving to the game.”

[07:26] “Harvard released a study showing that 77% of the United States' gross domestic product doesn't come from the sexy attention-grabbing significant innovations. It comes from the little everyday stuff.”

[08:18] “The way you learn to play an instrument isn't like you have one killer lesson, and that's the end. You build skill through the day in and day out practice, and cultivating high volumes of Big Little breakthroughs does just that.”

[17:04] “The optimal number of failed experiments in an organization is not zero. If you have zero failed experiments, you're not pushing hard enough.”

[24:37] “As leaders, sometimes we don't need the next gadget. What we need is to unlock the creative capacity of our team.”

[29:43] “Carve out a little bit of time deliberately, thoughtfully, and pragmatically. Invest and see what happens if you let your imagination come out a little bit.”

[39:57] “All human beings are creative. We all can develop this skill. It doesn't take a lot of effort with the proper techniques and mindsets and a little bit of change to habits. It doesn't take years of study or a bunch of money, but we can significantly improve the outcomes that we care about most in our lives.”

About ISE

ISE is a boutique cyber security agency made up of skilled, certified ethical hackers helping SaaS companies defend against malicious attacks. See what we do on our website. You can also follow ISE on: LinkedIn | and Twitter. Listen to more episodes via our Podcast.