In his book, “A Whole New Mind,” Daniel Pink proposed that we have entered an era in which creative conceptual thinking has become increasingly important. Right-brain thinking that is emotionally and observationally based needs to take its rightful and valued place next to the left-brain thinking of logical analytical and theoretical thought. Both science and business often say that the result of creative thoughts need to contain both originality and appropriateness. To get to that final stage, there is a process (the 4I’s) that takes inspirationinto idea into invention and later into continuing innovation.
So with creative thought a valued process, where does the “first I of Inspiration” come from? Some examples follow that demonstrate that some of the best ideas and solutions come from truly unexpected sources that are about as far removed from the “industry of record” as possible. A humble kitchen. A walk with a dog. Street art in some dicey alleys.
Daniel Pink
Case Study: Nike
A waffle iron led to a revolutionary athletic shoe sole design and the birth of a global mega brand. Track coach Bill Bowerman of the University of Oregon was experimenting with ideas for shoe outsoles that would better grip the newly resurfaced track at the university. One Sunday morning, he poured liquid urethane into his wife’s waffle iron. This evolved into the famed Nike “waffle sole” which was first mass manufactured and distributed in the iconic Nike Waffle Trainer in 1974. In 2008, Nike’s revenues were nearly $19B. That’s a lot of waffles.