Patrick Mulcahy s 5 Steps to Creativity


Patrick Mulcahy's 5 Steps to Creativity

Patrick Mulcahy is CEO of Energizer Holdings, Inc. You recognize his company from that pink bunny you see in all the commercials; you know, the one that keeps going, and going, and going...

As CEO, Mulcahy is often asked to come up with creative solutions to all sorts of problems. Although it may sound like an oxymoron, he has a logical, linear, five-step approach for creative problem solving:

Step 1:

Backgrounding. This step involves gathering any and all information necessary to help you solve the problem.

Step 2:

Define the problem or the opportunity. A lot of people waste time solving something that is not the core problem at all. Mulcahy adds that it may be necessary to go through steps one and two several times until you get a good definition of what the problem is and you have all the data you need.

Step 3:

Developing creative solutions. This is the one that everyone likes to focus on. You can start with logical, obvious solutions and then push the limits all the way to the outlandish. This is also the part of the process that can often benefit from bringing in other people. Lay out the problem or the opportunity for them, debate, brainstorm, and use the collective energy to come up with a solution. (There is also one option that people don't always consider, and that is to do nothing. Sometimes the best solution is to take a "wait and see" attitude.)

Step 4:

Laying out all the possible solutions you have come up with and choosing one.

Step 5:

Executing your idea.

"A lot of people get caught up in the loop of steps one, two, and three," says Mulcahy. "They don't pick a solution and they don't execute an idea. You can be very creative and have wonderful ideas, but if you don't move to action, you really aren't going to get anyplace.

"You can use these five steps for any kind of problem, whether it's business or personal. It can be as simple as where you want to go on vacation. The first thing to think about is what you want to do. In my case, I know what I want to do (I want to learn how to sail), but my problem is how I can carve a couple of weeks out of my schedule to do it. So I'm going to have to sit down and go through this five-step process.

"To me, creativity is hard work. I don't think you just get these light bulbs and these insightful ideas out of the air. I also think it's a misguided idea that there are those people who are extremely creative, and those who are not. There are simply those people who work very hard in a disciplined process to come up with ideas that enable them to eliminate a problem or take advantage of an opportunity."

Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy—the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.

—Norman Podhoretz,
writer




Diamond Power. Gems of Wisdom From America's Greatest Marketer
Diamond Power: Gems of Wisdom from Americas Greatest Marketer
ISBN: 1564146987
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 207
Authors: Barry Farber

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