Interview with
world's most
prolific inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu

HBS Case Study
based on
What a Great Idea!

Test your Creativity

Before starting a brainstorm session, warm up your creative fluency with one of these exercises from What a Great Idea!.

1) The Baking Soda Warm-Up

Take three minutes to write down as many uses as you can for baking soda. Let your mind blast away in divergent directions.

Quantity, not quality wins.

2) The Second Right Answer

This exercise demonstrates the benefits of revisiting your challenges and looking for additional answers.

Challenge: Count the number of squares you see in this graphic.

Now, look for more.

Now, look for still more.

3) The Final Exam

This question was on many of our high school math exams. This exercise demonstrates that many times we have to challenge our assumptions to come up with the right answer.

Challenge: Can you make this equation correct by moving only one digit and not moving or adding signs?

26 - 63 = 1

Hint: (62-63 = -1) is not a correct solution. Now challenge your assumptions.

Answers

Do you have a creative exercise? Please email.