Business with a Purpose: Starting, building, managing and protecting your new business

Business with a Purpose: Starting, building, managing and protecting your new business by Darrell Griffin

CREATIVE THINKING IN BUSINESS WHAT IS CREATIVE THINKING? Some people like to refer to it as "thinking outside the box." The "box" represents the barriers that have been put up to creative thinking by our modern education systems. Modern education does not promote creative thinking. It promotes learning by memorization. Most modern businesses do not promote creative thinking. A creative thinker in a large company is often thought of as a renegade, a trouble-maker. One of my favorite sayings is, "Do what you have always done and you will always get what you always got." While keeping your goal in mind, as well as framing all of your thoughts and decisions using good Godly principles, always be willing to try new ideas. Let’s see how creative thinking can benefit your goal of starting and running a business: Deciding what type of business you want to start Deciding what to name your business Deciding what products or services to include in your business Finding finances for your new business venture Examining various growth opportunities Where to locate your business When and how to expand your products and services Dealing with competitive situations Creative solutions when needed resources are in short supply Growing your business One of the goals of this section is to help you become an idea machine. Not all of your ideas will be good or even executable. I think we can agree that the more ideas you can generate, the better your odds are that one or more of them will be on target to meet your needs. The bottom line here is to learn to go for a quantity of ideas at first and then filter through them, looking for the nuggets. One of the greatest authors on the subject of creative thinking is Edward de Bono. One of his most famous books is entitled, "Lateral Thinking, Creativity Step by Step." In his book, he explores what he calls "lateral thinking." "Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humor. All four processes have the same basis. But whereas insight, creativity and humor can only be prayed for, lateral thinking is a more deliberate process. It is as definite a way of using the mind as logical thinking – but a very different way… Lateral thinking is Continues...