Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Creative Thinking - Expanding the Possibilities Before Selecting the Solution

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

define creativity as the generation of ideas that are both original and useful;
frame a problem in a way that encourages productive exploration;
identify assumptions limiting the team's Thinking;
separate idea generation from idea evaluation;
generate a wide range of possible solutions;
use structured creativity techniques;
combine and adapt ideas to create stronger concepts;
draw insight from other industries without copying unthinkingly;
convert individual ideas into coherent strategic alternatives;
evaluate creative concepts for customer value, strategic feasibility, financial impact, and risk;
use pilots and experiments to test uncertain ideas;
develop differentiated recommendations that remain practical and organisation-specific.

Why This Matters

Once a team believes it understands the problem, it is tempting to move immediately to the first reasonable solution. That is dangerous. The first idea is often:

familiar;
obvious;
based on existing practice;
easy to explain;
similar to what other teams will recommend.

If every team receives the same information, many teams will identify the same immediate ideas:

improve marketing;
launch a loyalty program;
lower prices;
invest in technology;
expand internationally;
create a partnership;
introduce a new product.

These ideas may be useful, but they must not become the recommendation simply because they appeared first. Creative Thinking helps teams move through three questions:

· What could we do? Then:

· What else could we do? And eventually:

· What could we do that would create more value, fit the organisation, and not be immediately obvious?

Creativity expands the solution space before the team begins narrowing it. Without divergence, teams compare only the first few ideas they happened to generate. Their analysis may be rigorous, but the strongest possible alternative may never have been considered.

Discover Your MAD Skills Principle

Don’t confuse creativity with randomness. Great case solutions combine imagination with strategic discipline.

A strange idea is not automatically creative. A complicated idea is not automatically innovative. An idea becomes strategically useful when it is:

relevant to the problem;
valuable to the customer or stakeholder;
differentiated from existing alternatives;
connected to organisational capabilities;
financially and operationally credible;
and capable of being implemented or tested.

The relationship among creativity, analysis, and strategy is: Creativity generates possibilities. Analysis tests them. Strategy makes the choice. A practical creative progression is: Frame → Diverge → Combine → Challenge → Converge → Test → Refine.

What Creative Thinking Is

Creative Thinking is the ability to generate, connect, adapt, and develop possibilities that may not be immediately obvious. It involves:

looking at the problem from different perspectives;
challenging assumptions;
delaying judgement;
making unexpected connections;
adapting ideas from other contexts;
changing constraints;
combining partial ideas;
imagining alternative ways to create value.

Creative Thinking doesn't require every idea to be completely new. Many strong solutions come from:

combining existing ideas;
applying a familiar idea to a new setting;
serving an overlooked customer;
changing who pays;
redesigning a channel;
removing a frustrating step;
using an existing capability differently;
changing the relationship among parts of the business model.

The objective is not just novelty; the objective is discovering a better possibility.

Original and Useful

A creative case solution needs two qualities.

· Originality: The idea should provide a different perspective, combination, application, or direction.

· Usefulness: The idea should solve a meaningful problem or create important value.

Idea	Original?	Useful?	Strategic potential
Copy a competitor's loyalty program	Low	Possibly	Limited differentiation
Add virtual reality to the store without a customer need	High	Low	Novelty without value
Use customer appointments and supplier expertise to create personalised product sessions.	Moderate to high	High	Potentially strong
Improve service reliability through better scheduling	Low to moderate	High	Valuable, though not necessarily differentiated

A recommendation doesn't need to be revolutionary. A focused, useful adaptation may create more value than a dramatic but impractical concept.

Creative Thinking Begins with the Problem

Brainstorming before understanding the problem can generate solutions to the wrong problem. Consider: Store traffic has declined. Possible interpretations include:

customers no longer value the products;
customers have moved online;
the location is inconvenient;
the store experience is poor;
competitors offer lower prices;
target customers have changed;
inventory is unavailable;
store traffic is no longer the right measure of success.

If the team assumes the objective is to increase visits, it may generate:

promotions;
events;
advertising;
loyalty incentives.

If customers prefer digital purchasing, increasing physical traffic may be the wrong goal. Before generating ideas, ask:

What is the actual problem?
What outcome are we trying to create?
For whom?
What evidence supports our definition?
What is causing the problem?
What constraints are real?
What assumptions are we making?
What would a successful solution achieve?

Creativity becomes more productive when the challenge is framed correctly.

Problem Framing

The wording of a problem influences the ideas that emerge.

· Narrow Frame

o How can we increase advertising? This assumes advertising is the solution.

· Broader Frame

o How can we increase store traffic? This opens more possibilities but still assumes store traffic is the desired outcome.

· Customer-Focused Frame

o How might we give target customers a compelling reason to engage with the retailer?

o This permits:

o physical;

o digital;

o service;

o community;

o product;

o partnership solutions.

· Strategic Frame

o How might we rebuild profitable customer engagement using the retailer's expertise, supplier relationships, and physical locations?

o This connects the problem to:

o profitability;

o organisational capabilities;

o multiple channels.

A useful creative frame often begins with: How might we…? A strong "How might we?" question is:

broad enough to allow alternatives;
narrow enough to remain relevant;
focused on an outcome rather than a predetermined solution;
connected to a customer or stakeholder need.

Reframing the Problem

When ideas feel predictable, change the frame. Consider the following reframes.

· From Organisation to Customer: Instead of: How can the company sell more? Ask: How can the company help customers achieve a better outcome?

· From Product to Need: Instead of: How can the company improve the meal kit? Ask: How can the company make weekday meal preparation easier?

· From Channel to Experience: Instead of: How can the retailer increase store traffic? Ask: How can the retailer create a more valuable customer relationship across physical and digital channels?

· From Constraint to Possibility: Instead of: How can the organisation operate with limited staff? Ask: How might the organisation redesign the service so employee time is focused where it creates the most value?

· From Symptom to Root Cause: Instead of: How can we reduce complaints? Ask: How might we prevent the failures generating the complaints?

Different frames produce different solution spaces.

Challenge the Assumptions

Many conventional ideas are protected by assumptions that no one has examined. Examples include:

customers must visit a store;
the company must own the distribution channel;
customers must pay directly;
all customers need the same service;
the product must be sold individually;
employees must deliver service;
growth requires geographic expansion;
premium service requires a premium location;
the current process must remain intact.

For each assumption, ask:

Is it fact, constraint, habit, or preference?
Why does it exist?
What would happen if it were removed?
Under what conditions would it no longer be true?
Which organisations operate without it?

The goal is not to reject every assumption. Some assumptions reflect:

law;
safety;
customer expectations;
financial reality;
organisational limitations.

The goal is to distinguish true constraints from inherited habits.

Real Constraints and Assumed Constraints

A real constraint may include:

regulation;
limited capital;
a contractual obligation;
physical capacity;
implementation time;
a required safety standard.

An assumed constraint may include:

"we have always done it this way";
"customers would never accept that";
"we need to own the process";
"the organisation cannot change."

Real constraints shape the solution. Assumed constraints should be tested. Creative Thinking often begins when the team discovers that a limitation is not as fixed as it appears.

Divergence and Convergence

Creative problem-solving requires two distinct modes.

Divergence

Divergence expands the possibilities. The objective is to:

generate quantity;
encourage variety;
explore unconventional directions;
defer judgement;
build on others' ideas.

During divergence, don't ask:

Will it work?
Can we afford it?
Will management approve?
Is it too strange?

Those questions matter later.

Convergence

Convergence narrows the possibilities. The objective is to:

group ideas;
identify promising themes;
combine complementary concepts;
test value and fit;
compare alternatives;
select the strongest direction.

Divergence without convergence creates a long list. Convergence without divergence produces obvious solutions. Strong teams deliberately use both.

The Rule of Divergence

During idea generation, separate idea generation from judging the idea. If one teammate suggests an idea and another immediately says, "That won't work," the team has moved into evaluation too early. The comment may be correct, but it changes the environment. Other team members begin suggesting only:

safe ideas;
familiar ideas;
ideas the dominant teammate is likely to accept;
ideas that require little explanation.

The team's solution space contracts. During divergence:

capture the idea;
clarify it if needed;
build on it;
evaluate it later.

A useful team phrase is: "Let's capture it before we judge it."

Creating an Environment for Ideas

Creative Thinking depends partly on team behaviour. Team members are more likely to suggest unconventional ideas when they believe:

they will not be embarrassed;
the idea will be heard;
disagreement is respectful;
status doesn't determine whose ideas matter;
early concepts don't need to be perfect;
the team can revise or combine suggestions.

Practical Team Rules

Generate ideas independently before group discussion.
Invite quieter members to contribute early.
Avoid allowing the first confident voice to anchor the team.
Separate clarification from criticism.
Build on ideas using "Yes, and…" or "What if…?"
Record every idea visibly.
Don't require the person suggesting an idea to defend it immediately.
Critique the concept, not the teammate.
Change facilitation roles across cases.

Psychological safety doesn't mean every idea is accepted. It means every idea can be explored before being evaluated fairly.

The Creative Thinking Process

A practical creative process contains seven stages.

1. Define

Clarify:

the decision;
the customer or stakeholder;
the problem;
the desired outcome;
the evidence;
the important constraints.

2. Diverge

Generate many possibilities without immediate evaluation.

3. Combine

Identify ideas that could reinforce one another.

4. Challenge

Question assumptions and conventional approaches.

5. Converge

Group, compare, and prioritise concepts.

6. Test

Examine:

customer value;
strategic fit;
capability;
feasibility;
financial attractiveness;
stakeholder impact;
risk.

7. Refine

Turn the strongest concept into:

a clear value proposition;
a coherent operating model;
an implementation plan;
a credible recommendation.

Creative Thinking Tools

Reverse Brainstorming

Instead of asking: How can we solve this problem? Ask how we could make the problem worse. For declining customer retention, answers might include:

make cancellation difficult;
respond slowly;
hide fees;
ignore complaints;
provide inconsistent service;
make onboarding confusing;
treat every customer identically.

Reverse the answers:

make cancellation transparent;
provide proactive support;
simplify pricing;
respond quickly;
standardise service;
redesign onboarding;
personalise the experience.

Reverse brainstorming reveals harmful conditions that may already exist in the system.

SCAMPER

SCAMPER prompts teams to transform an existing product, service, process, or business model.

Substitute

What could be replaced?

materials;
channels;
partners;
technology;
ownership;
labour.

Combine

What products, services, activities, channels, or capabilities could be integrated?

Adapt

What idea from another customer, industry, geography, or use case could be adjusted?

Modify

What could be made:

larger;
smaller;
faster;
simpler;
more flexible;
more premium;
more accessible?

Put to Another Use

Could an existing resource, capability, facility, relationship, or data set create value elsewhere?

Eliminate

What step, feature, cost, assumption, or barrier could be removed?

Reverse or Rearrange

Could the sequence, responsibility, payment model, relationship, or flow be reversed?

SCAMPER is most useful when applied to something specific. Don't ask broadly: How can we SCAMPER the company? Apply it to:

the onboarding process;
delivery model;
customer relationship;
revenue model;
service experience.

Constraint Thinking

Constraints can force teams beyond familiar solutions. Ask:

What if we had half the budget?
What if we had to launch in 30 days?
What if we could not hire anyone?
What if we could not use the current distribution channel?
What if the customer could not pay directly?
What if the solution had to be reversible?
What if the organisation had to reduce emissions at the same time?
What if we could serve only one customer segment?
What if the solution had to work without new technology?

Then change the constraint:

What if we had unlimited access to partners?
What if the organisation could redesign the process completely?
What if the service were digital first?
What if every customer interaction had to create data?

Different constraints reveal different solution directions.

Analogical Thinking

Ask who else has solved a similar problem? The comparison doesn't need to come from the same industry. A hospital seeking smoother patient flow might learn from:

airports;
hotels;
logistics companies;
theme parks.

A university improving student onboarding might learn from:

software companies;
financial institutions;
membership organisations.

A retailer seeking recurring engagement might learn from:

fitness platforms;
gaming;
subscription services;
community organisations.

Translate the Principle - Don't Copy the Practice

A successful solution in another context may not transfer directly. Ask:

What underlying problem did the other organisation solve?
What principle made the solution work?
Which conditions supported it?
How is our context different?
How could we adapt the principle?

For example: A streaming platform uses personalised recommendations. The principle is not simply "use an algorithm." The principle is: Reduce choice overload by using past behaviour to make the next decision easier. That principle could be adapted to:

retail;
education;
healthcare;
professional services;
not-for-profit engagement.

Forced Connections

Select two unrelated ideas and ask how they could be combined. For example:

grocery store + classroom;
bank + health coach;
delivery service + community hub;
loyalty program + skills development.

The objective is not to force a final solution. The unusual connection may reveal a new feature, channel, relationship, or business model.

The Worst-Idea Exercise

Ask each team member to suggest the worst possible solution. This lowers the pressure to sound intelligent and may reveal hidden possibilities. For example:

· Worst idea: Make customers wait longer to make the service feel exclusive.

Possible useful insight: Could scheduled appointments or limited-access events create a more premium and manageable experience? The original idea remains poor. One element may lead somewhere valuable.

Remove, Reduce, Raise, Create

Examine the current offering or business model. Ask what the organisation should:

Remove: What adds cost or complexity without meaningful value?
Reduce: What is overprovided relative to customer need?
Raise: What should be improved beyond current expectations?
Create: What new value could be introduced?

This helps teams redesign the value proposition rather than simply adding features.

Morphological Thinking

Break the solution into components and generate alternatives for each. Suppose a company is designing a new training service.

Component	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Customer	Students	Employers	Professionals
Delivery	In person	Live online	Self-paced
Payment	Individual fee	Employer contract	Subscription
Support	Instructor	Peer group	AI assistant
Credential	None	Certificate	Industry accreditation

Combining different options can create several distinct business models. The tool is especially useful when ideas feel too similar.

Idea Quantity and Idea Quality

Generating more ideas doesn't guarantee a better answer. However, a small number of ideas often reflects:

early anchoring;
limited exploration;
premature judgement.

A useful sequence is:

generate broadly;
create variety;
group related ideas;
identify underlying concepts;
combine the strongest elements;
then evaluate.

The objective is not to produce 100 minor variations of the same idea. The objective is to explore different strategic directions.

From Ideas to Themes

After divergence, group ideas into themes. Suppose a retailer generates 30 ideas. The ideas might form themes such as:

price and promotion;
personalised service;
community and events;
digital convenience;
partnerships;
product curation;
membership;
store redesign.

Themes reveal the broader logic behind individual ideas. A "workshop," "expert consultation," and "appointment service" may all support one concept: Use expertise to create a differentiated customer experience. The team can now build strategic alternatives rather than compare 30 disconnected tactics.

Ideas Are Not Strategic Alternatives

An idea is one possible action. A strategic alternative is a coherent direction that may include several reinforcing actions.

Individual Ideas

host events;
launch a membership;
create personalised recommendations;
redesign selected stores;
partner with local experts.

Strategic Alternative

Reposition selected stores as membership-based expertise and community hubs supported by personalised digital recommendations and local partnerships. The alternative explains how the ideas fit together. Strong alternatives should be:

meaningfully different;
internally coherent;
capable of solving the central problem;
comparable using common criteria.

Don't create alternatives that are simply different sizes of the same idea unless scale is the actual strategic choice.

Combining Ideas

Many strong solutions emerge from combining:

one customer insight;
one organisational capability;
one business-model innovation;
one practical implementation approach.

For example:

· Customer Insight: Customers feel overwhelmed by product choice.

· Organisational Capability: Employees possess deep category expertise.

· Business-Model Idea: Introduce a paid membership.

· Implementation Approach: Pilot appointments and member events in three stores.

· Combined Concept: A premium membership providing personalised product guidance, curated selections, expert appointments, and exclusive educational events.

The combined concept is stronger than any single feature.

Evaluating Creative Concepts

Once divergence is complete, evaluate the concepts deliberately. A practical evaluation uses six criteria.

1. Customer or Stakeholder Value

Does it solve an important problem?
Will the target group care?
Does it improve a meaningful outcome?

2. Strategic Fit

Does it support the organisation's objectives?
Does it fit the selected customer or market?
Does it strengthen the chosen position?

3. Differentiation

Is it meaningfully different?
Can competitors easily copy it?
Does it build on organisation-specific capabilities?

4. Feasibility

Can the organisation deliver it?
What resources, skills, systems, and partners are required?
How long will implementation take?

5. Financial Value

What revenue, savings, investment, and operating costs are involved?
Can the concept produce sustainable economics?
What assumptions drive the result?

6. Risk and Stakeholder Impact

What could cause the concept to fail?
Who benefits or may be harmed?
What regulatory, reputational, operational, or ethical concerns exist?
Can the risk be reduced through testing or redesign?

An unusual idea that fails these tests should not survive simply because it is memorable.

Preserve the Core, Adapt the Idea

A creative concept may contain a valuable core insight even if the first version is impractical. For example: Turn every retail store into a full community entertainment centre. This may be too expensive, but its underlying insight may be: Customers need a reason to visit that cannot be replicated by online purchasing. The refined concept might become: Pilot monthly expert-led events and appointment services in selected stores using existing space and supplier funding. The team has preserved the strategic value while reducing cost and risk.

Creativity Under Uncertainty

Creative ideas often contain assumptions about:

customer behaviour;
technology;
partner interest;
willingness to pay;
operational capability;
scale.

Don't reject the idea merely because uncertainty exists. Ask:

Which assumption is most important?
Which assumption is least supported?
Can we test it?
Can we begin with a smaller commitment?
What evidence would support scaling?
What result would cause us to stop or redesign?

Pilots, prototypes, and experiments can make creative ideas more credible.

Prototypes and Pilots

A prototype tests part of the solution. It might include:

a mock-up;
sample customer journey;
trial service;
landing page;
limited event;
simplified process;
a manually delivered version of a digital idea.

A pilot tests the concept in a limited real-world setting. A strong pilot specifies:

the customer segment;
the value proposition;
the scope;
the duration;
the resources;
the assumptions being tested;
the success measures;
the investment limit;
the scale or stop criteria.

For example: Test the premium membership with 300 high-value customers across three stores for four months. Measure enrolment, usage, incremental spending, retention, event participation, satisfaction, and cost to serve. This turns creativity into disciplined learning.

Deciphering Case Characteristics

The amount and type of creativity needed depends on the case.

Innovation Cases

Creativity may be central. Ask:

What unmet need exists?
Which assumptions can be challenged?
What new product, service, channel, or business model is possible?
What should be tested first?

Turnaround Cases

Creativity must respect financial urgency. Ask:

What can be simplified?
Which resources can be repurposed?
What is the lowest-cost path to stabilisation?
Could partnerships preserve capability?
What should the organisation stop doing?

A dramatic idea that requires large investment may be inappropriate.

Growth Cases

Creativity can expand the forms of growth considered. Growth might come from:

new customers;
improved retention;
new products;
new channels;
pricing;
partnerships;
licensing;
existing capability applied elsewhere;
a redesigned revenue model.

Operational Cases

Creativity may involve:

eliminating steps;
changing information flows;
redesigning roles;
using different capacity;
involving customers differently;
automating selected activities;
changing incentives.

Government and Not-for-Profit Cases

Creativity may involve:

new partnerships;
alternative delivery models;
shared resources;
community co-design;
new funding structures;
digital access;
better use of existing assets.

The solution must still respect:

equity;
accessibility;
accountability;
public trust;
mission.

Highly Regulated Cases

Creativity should treat regulation as a design condition. Ask:

What outcome is the regulation protecting?
Can the goal be achieved through a different process?
Could regulators be engaged early?
Can a controlled pilot reduce uncertainty?
What ethical and legal limits cannot be crossed?

The nature of the case determines how far the team should diverge and how quickly it must converge.

A Competition Example

A regional retailer is experiencing declining customer visits and sales.

The Obvious Ideas

The team initially generates:

discounts;
more advertising;
loyalty points;
longer opening hours;
more social-media promotion.

These ideas may temporarily increase traffic, but they don't address why target customers no longer find the store valuable.

Reframe the Problem

Instead of asking: How can we increase store traffic? the team asks: How might we give high-value customers a reason to build an ongoing relationship with the retailer that online competitors cannot easily reproduce?

Identify Organisational Capabilities

The retailer possesses:

knowledgeable employees;
strong supplier relationships;
convenient neighbourhood locations;
trusted local recognition;
underused store space.

Diverge

The team generates ideas such as:

personalised appointments;
workshops;
product demonstrations;
local maker events;
repair services;
curated subscriptions;
members-only access;
supplier-led education;
digital recommendations;
community partnerships;
product-rental options.

Group the Ideas

The ideas form four themes:

expertise and personalisation;
community and experience;
recurring membership;
digital convenience.

Develop Strategic Alternatives

· Alternative 1: Price and Promotion: Compete for traffic through discounts, advertising, and loyalty points.

· Alternative 2: Digital Convenience: Invest in online ordering, delivery, and digital recommendations.

· Alternative 3: Expertise and Community Membership: Reposition selected stores as destinations for advice, experiences, curated products, and member relationships, supported by digital tools.

Evaluate

The third alternative:

addresses the customer's desire for guidance and connection;
builds on employee and supplier capabilities;
differentiates the retailer from large digital competitors;
creates potential membership and product revenue;
requires testing of demand and employee capacity.

Refine

The team recommends piloting a premium membership in three stores, offering personalised consultations, supplier-funded workshops, curated product recommendations, and member events.

Test

The pilot measures:

membership conversion;
event attendance;
incremental spending;
retention;
customer satisfaction;
supplier participation;
employee workload;
contribution margin.

The recommendation is not valuable because it is unusual. It is valuable because it connects:

a real customer need;
organisational capabilities;
a differentiated position;
a testable economic model.

Creative Thinking Is Not the Recommendation

Idea generation doesn't determine what the organisation should do. A complete process is:

define the decision and problem;
identify the customer or stakeholder need;
challenge limiting assumptions;
generate a wide range of possibilities;
group ideas into themes;
combine related concepts;
develop distinct strategic alternatives;
evaluate value, fit, differentiation, feasibility, financial impact, and risk;
refine the strongest concept;
test important assumptions;
select the recommendation; and
develop the implementation plan.

Creativity expands the choices. Analysis and strategy determine which choice deserves commitment.

Winning the Room: Presenting a Creative Solution

Creative recommendations can be difficult to explain when teams focus on every feature. Judges need to understand the central concept.

· Start with the Customer Problem

o For example: High-value customers no longer have a compelling reason to visit, as product access has become easier online, while the retailer's expertise remains underused.

· State the Creative Concept Simply

· Explain Why It Fits

o The model leverages knowledgeable employees, supplier relationships, local trust, and underused space - capabilities that large online competitors cannot easily replicate.

· Show the Supporting Components

o personal consultations;

o curated recommendations;

o supplier-funded events;

o member benefits;

o digital follow-up.

Explain the Test

A four-month, three-store pilot will test conversion, spending, retention, cost-to-serve, and customer response before expansion. The analytical chain becomes: Unmet Need → Creative Concept → Organisational Fit → Customer Value → Test. Don't introduce the idea by saying: "We wanted to do something creative." The idea must be justified by the problem and evidence, not by its novelty.

Coach's Lens

Creative Thinking doesn't mean adding more ideas to the recommendation. Five unrelated initiatives are not innovation. They are a list. The strongest creative solutions usually have one clear central idea supported by several connected actions. I look for four qualities:

Relevant: Does it solve the problem?
Differentiated: Is it meaningfully different?
Feasible: Can the organisation make it happen?
Valuable: Does it create customer, financial, organisational, or stakeholder value?

I often ask teams, "What is the one idea at the centre of this recommendation?" If the answer takes five minutes or contains six unrelated concepts, the team has not converged.

Common Mistakes

· Brainstorming Too Early: The team generates ideas before understanding the problem. First, define the problem, the customer, the desired outcome, and the evidence.

· Framing the Problem Around a Solution: The question assumes the answer. Use an outcome-focused "How might we?" question.

· Accepting the First Idea: The earliest reasonable idea anchors the team. Require several distinct directions before evaluation.

· Killing Ideas Too Quickly: Immediate criticism reduces the range of suggestions. Separate divergence from convergence.

· Allowing One Person to Dominate: The loudest or most experienced teammate defines the solution space. Generate ideas independently before the group discussion.

· Generating Minor Variations: Twenty versions of a loyalty program don't represent 20 distinct ideas. Explore various customers, channels, capabilities, revenue models, partnerships, and assumptions.

· Creativity for Creativity's Sake: An unusual idea may be considered strong. Test its relevance and customer value.

· Adding Features Without a Central Concept: The recommendation becomes crowded and expensive. Identify the single strategic idea that connects the features.

· Confusing Ideas with Alternatives: Individual tactics are compared as if they were strategic directions. Group and combine ideas into coherent alternatives.

· Feasibility: The idea requires capabilities, time, or investment the organisation doesn't possess. Identify gaps and explain how they will be addressed.

· Ignoring the Economics: The idea creates engagement but not sustainable value. Test pricing, revenue, cost-to-serve, investment, and scale.

· Copying Another Industry: A successful practice is transferred without understanding why it worked. Adapt the principle rather than copying the visible activity.

· Treating Constraints Only as Barriers: Constraints are used to reject ideas. Use constraints as prompts to generate alternative designs.

· Trying to Launch the Full Idea Immediately: Uncertainty is ignored. Prototype or pilot the most important assumptions.

· Presenting Creativity Instead of Value: The team emphasises novelty rather than the problem solved. Lead with the customer need, strategic fit, and expected impact.

MAD Skills Drill

Use the problem: Customer engagement and traffic have declined.

Step 1: Reframe the Problem

Write three different "How might we?" questions. Each should focus on a different outcome or perspective.

Step 2: Identify Assumptions

List at least five assumptions about:

customers;
channels;
products;
payment;
capabilities;
constraints.

Challenge each one.

Step 3: Generate 20 Ideas

Use at least four techniques:

reverse brainstorming;
SCAMPER;
constraint thinking;
analogical Thinking;
forced connections;
remove, reduce, raise, create.

Don't evaluate the ideas.

Step 4: Group the Ideas

Organise them into themes. Name the broader opportunity behind each theme.

Step 5: Combine Ideas

Create at least three concepts by combining ideas from different themes.

Step 6: Build Strategic Alternatives

Turn the concepts into three distinct strategic directions. Each should explain:

target customer;
central value;
required capability;
economic logic.

Step 7: Evaluate

Assess each alternative based on:

customer value;
strategic fit;
differentiation;
feasibility;
financial impact;
stakeholder impact;
risk.

Step 8: Preserve the Core Insight

If the strongest concept is too costly or complex, simplify it without losing the central value.

Step 9: Design a Test

Identify:

the critical assumption;
the smallest useful pilot or prototype;
success measures;
investment limit;
scale or stop criteria.

Step 10: Deliver the Concept

Prepare a 60-second explanation answering:

What customer problem are we solving?
What conventional assumption did we challenge?
What is the central creative concept?
Why does it fit the organisation?
How does it create value?
How should it be tested?

Don't list every idea generated. Present the refined concept.

Reflection Questions

Does your team tend to jump to the first reasonable idea?
How does the wording of your problem shape the solutions generated?
Which assumptions most limit your Thinking?
Who challenges conventional approaches?
Who tends to evaluate ideas too early?
Do quieter team members have a meaningful opportunity to contribute?
Does your team generate distinct directions or minor variations?
How do you move from individual ideas to coherent alternatives?
How do you prevent creativity from becoming impractical?
Which creative idea from your last case could have been tested through a pilot?

Chapter Summary

Creative Thinking expands the solution space before a strategic choice is made. It is not randomness, novelty, or a long list of initiatives. Strong Creative Thinking follows this progression: Problem Frame → Assumptions → Divergence → Themes → Strategic Alternatives → Testing → Refinement. The process begins with a clear understanding of:

the problem;
customer or stakeholder;
desired outcome;
organisational context;
genuine constraints.

Teams then delay judgement, generate a range of possibilities, challenge assumptions, combine ideas, and create distinct strategic alternatives. The strongest concepts are:

relevant;
differentiated;
feasible;
valuable;
testable.

A weak team selects the first reasonable idea. A strong team expands the possibilities before deciding which one to commit to. The goal is not to be different. The goal is to discover a better possibility.

Key Takeaways

✓ Creative Thinking generates ideas that are both original and useful.

✓ Understand the problem before generating solutions.

✓ The way a problem is framed shapes the ideas produced.

✓ Use outcome-focused "How might we?" questions rather than solution-led questions.

✓ Distinguish genuine constraints from inherited assumptions.

✓ Separate divergence from convergence.

✓ Generate ideas independently before group discussion to reduce anchoring and dominance.

✓ Encourage quantity and variety during divergence.

✓ Use structured tools such as reverse brainstorming, SCAMPER, constraint thinking, analogies, forced connections, and morphological Thinking.

✓ Adapt the underlying principle from another context rather than copying the visible solution.

✓ Group ideas into themes and combine their strongest elements.

✓ Individual ideas are not the same as strategic alternatives.

✓ A coherent alternative connects customer value, organisational capability, activities, economics, and implementation.

✓ Evaluate creative concepts for relevance, differentiation, feasibility, financial value, stakeholder impact, and risk.

✓ Preserve the core insight when simplifying an ambitious idea.

✓ Use prototypes, pilots, stages, and decision triggers to manage uncertainty.

✓ A creative recommendation should contain one clear central concept, not a collection of unrelated initiatives.

✓ In the presentation, lead with the problem and value created rather than claiming the solution is creative.

Looking Ahead

Creative Thinking helps case solvers ask, "What could we do?" The next chapter introduces Ethical Thinking, which asks an equally important question: What should we do? Ethical Thinking helps teams examine rights, responsibilities, fairness, consequences, stakeholder impacts, and the values that should guide a recommendation.