These are the slides of a workshop I conducted with my Marketing team. The objective was to ensure I generate sufficient curiosity to make them creative with their work. I won't state that this set of slides is single handedly responsible for steering them on, but there has been a marked difference in the output preceding this workshop and post the workshop. An oft heard compliment about marketing is that its output is awesome! I dedicate this presentation to my marketing team; they truly are awesome!

1. Getting
Creative
Vivek Mehra

2. What is
creativity?
Please write down 5
things that (you believe)
define creativity

3. You become
what you
believe
Do you believe this?

4. How many
frescos did
Michelangelo
paint before he
painted the
Sistine
Chapel?

5. Answer: NONE

6. Where did
Leonardo Di Vinci
paint the Mona
Lisa?
Options:
1. In a quiet room
2. In an open space (field)
3. In his studio surrounded
by his students
4. In a room full of
singers, clowns and
musicians

7. Answer:
4. In a room full of
singers, clowns and
musicians

8. Can I influence your mooD?
Lower your Eyebrows
Raise your upper
Eyelids
Narrow your Eyelids
Press your Lips together
Hold this expression.
What do you feel?

9. • Something like this…?

11. Can I try this once again?
❖ Put a pen between your teeth
in far enough so that it‟s
stretching the edges of your
mouth back without feeling
uncomfortable.
❖ What do you feel?

13. But
seriously...
let‟s try a
more real
exercise

14. How
observant
are you?

15. You have 1 minute to tell me which object is in
both pictures.

16. The answer…

17. What you know prevents you from
thinking creatively ...
This equation is wrong.
Move just one match stick to make it a
valid equation...

18. The answer…

19. Concluding Part 1
Key Takeaways
We influence
creative outcome by
the way we think
We can change the
outcome by thinking
differently
We can become anything we want, if only we believe...

20. Part 2
Getting out of your
comfort zone
Are you ready?

21. Take off your shoes

22. Here is what you should be feeling...

23. Place the shoes under the table and relax

24. What if I asked you to step out
of your comfort zone and...
Asked you to wear someone
else‟s shoes? Would you?
Asked you to wear shoes of
the opposite gender as
yours? Still comfortable?

25. Place all the back shoes on
the table...

26. Understanding shoes,
reward Rs. 3000
Build the tallest structure with the shoes
Each shoe must be touching another shoe
You can‟t place any objects between shoes
The tallest structure will receive a cash award
of Rs. 3000
You have 5 minutes and your time starts
NOW...

27. I can read your
mind
Are you ready?
Follow the instructions carefully
Here goes...

28. Think of a 2 digit number between 10 and 99 (both
inclusive)
Add the 2 digits together
Subtract the sum from the original number (if 39 is
your number)
39 - (3+9) = 27
Hold the number in your thoughts... Don‟t let it go!

29. Find the image next to
your number
Remember it...
Now I will beam it in
from you...
I know what it is...

30. How many of you believe
I know your symbol?

31. This is the symbol you
were looking at…

32. Would you like me to try
again?
Read the following passage
I would like the person who can‟t read this to raise his
hand...

33. "Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabridge
Uinvervtisy, it deosn‟t mttaer in waht oredr the
litteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is
taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can
sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is besauae
ocne we laren how to raed we bgien to aargnre the
lteerts in our mnid to see waht we epxcet to
see. The huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter
by istlef, but preecsievs the wrod as a wlohe. We
do tihs ucnsoniuscoly wuithot tuhoght."

34. The mind is complex…

35. The mind likes „routine‟…

36. What did we just learn...
The mind has comfort zones
It‟s difficult to get out of these
zones, but not impossible
The mind adjusts to anomalies;
prompts us to see what really isn‟t
there
But all of these can be overcome to
unleash creativity

37. Part 3
There is no such
thing called
Failure

38. What is the
definition of
failure?
Please write a definition you believe to be
true.
Here are a few of mine...

43. But the truth is ...
What you feel like doing
What‟s bothering you

44. Plain truths about failure
As an infant you learnt to walk by trial and error.
As an adult, you fear “trial and error”
You are taught to succeed by fearing failure
The fear of failure is “taught” by the following:
lower grades means you know less
lower education means you will earn less
lower earning means you are in a lower strata
of society
low self-esteem, peer pressure follow

45. The other side of failure...
Desire to succeed; DON‟T fear failure
Learn to fail
Practice failure (repeat things you are not good at)
Stay in the present (failure is a projection of a future
consequence)

46. The other side of failure...
Some spectacular failures...
Which of these failures would you rather not be?

47. Part 4
Ideas need to
mate

48. When was steam first used?
James Watt‟s steam engine was patented in 1765
Newcomen made a steam engine in 1712
Edward Somerset made a steam pump in 1663
Giovanni Battista Della Porta created a steam percolator
fountain in 1601
Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf used a steam turbine
to rotate a roast spit, in 1551
Hero of Alexandria used steam to open temple doors in 1
AD

49. • Answer: Hero of Alexandria used steam to open
temple doors in 1 AD

50. Who really invented the
iPod?
Apple in 2001
Creative Labs in 1999
Sony in 1998
Fraunhofer in 1987
Kane Kramer in 1979

51. The truth about the iPod…

52. Idea Mating 1:
Combine Randomly
Make a list of unresolved issues (or problems or
objects)
Make another list of things you like
(objects, thoughts, feelings)
Pair an item of List 1 with one from List 2
You will be surprised at what emerges
Let‟s try this a little differently...

53. Idea Mating 2: Combine
Problems
Follow the same process of
preparing 2 or more lists
Instead of random selection align
similar problems in a list
Practical use:
Problem 1: need to move
heavy objects
Problem 2: need to weigh
heavy objects
Solution:???
Do you know which company
first patented the concept?

54. Idea mating 3:
combine ideas
You know the drill... 2 lists
Put the really diverse ones
separately
Don‟t be limited by your
imagination, use as many
adjectives and creative
words as possible...
One more exercise?

55. Idea Mating 4:
Combine Talent
For managers:
Create brainstorm groups of diverse individuals
For individuals:
Ask the most unlikely person for a solution to your
problem
Not really the best of combining ideas

56. The 7 Deadly
Sins that
prevent you
from being
creative

57. Sin 1: You don‟t believe you are creative
I can‟t pretend to be
something I am not
I can‟t do this
I once tried this in
school and couldn‟t
do it
I have 2 left hands
(feet?)
Remember:
Michelangelo

58. Sin 2: You believe myths about
creativity
It‟s a mystery
to me
It‟s for the
blessed or
depressed
I am more
right brain
I am more left
brain

59. Sin 3: You fear
failure
Do I really
need to say
more (on
this)?

60. Sin 4:You fail to
actI can‟t take
the risk
I need to
plan better
I will do it
tomorrow
I am scared

61. Sin 5: You fail to
produce Ideas
Caught in a
“culture of
helplessness”
I am irritated
I am not a
thinker
I have so much
to do
I don‟t want to
look stupid

62. Sin 6: You fail to look at things
differently
Speaking
first,thinking later
I know that
It is so obvious!
This is how it was
done earlier
Why should I
reinvent the
wheel?

63. Sin 7:Failure to accept personal
responsibility
I don‟t have the
right team
I wish I was her
She didn‟t tell me
how
He goofed up
They forgot
I haven‟t done this
ever

64. Acknowledgments
The various images used in this presentation
are copyrighted by their lawful owners. Of
the many thousands of images I perused, I
found these to be best suited to illustrate the
point. I have not used them for any financial
gain of any sort. If you are a copyright holder
and have any objections to this use, please
feel free to write to me to take them down. I
can be reached at vivek.mehra@sagepub.in