Some weeks ago, in London, the coach and captain of the Australian cricket team came to see me. At this point the team were on the way to beating England 4-1 in the test-series. They told me they were looking for some new thinking and creativity.
On my trip to Australia a few weeks ago I gave a session on lateral thinking and creativity to the Australian cricket team and organisers, in Sydney. They were very receptive.
Leading up to that session I invented a new form of cricket. Youngsters can kick a ball around in any alley and so practice and become interested in soccer. With cricket it is much more difficult for yongsters to get involved because you need space, fielders etc. for cricket to make any sense. So I invented a simple game of cricket that could be played by just two players in an alley. John Buchanan, the coach of the Australian team, seemed to like the idea.
The main point of this message is quite different. In my experience it has always been the most successful organisations that are always on the look out for new ideas. The Australian cricket team is very successful and still wants new ideas. In my experience the organisations that are in deep trouble and desperately need new ideas are the last to seek them. Such organisations have convinced themselves that there is nothing wrong with their thinking but the 'world around' is giving them a hard time - so there is no point in better thinking.
I once had a very well known corporation tell me that they were in such serious trouble that they had no time for creativity!! Maybe it was that sort of attitude which had gotten them into such trouble.
Edward de Bono nmt
11th November 2001
Paris
Go to top