Book review: Creative thinking begins inside the box
Creativity Unlimited: Thinking Inside the Box for Business Innovation, By Michael Dahlén Wiley (£19.99)
Tuesday 04 November 2008
Related articles
There is a tendency in any discussion of innovation and creativity to focus on "thinking outside the box". As the title of this rewarding little book suggests, Micael Dahlén takes a different view. "Thinking inside the box is the first step in creative thinking," he writes.
Received wisdom has it that the really successful companies and individuals are those that dream up ideas completely from scratch and effectively create whole new businesses. True, there are some of these. But, according to Dahlén, "creativity is not about taking a chance, it is about ensuring success".
He highlights the examples of Pfizer, with its development of Viagra from a blood pressure medicine into "man's best friend"; and 3M, the much-lauded technology company, which developed the Post-it note by thinking creatively about a glue that did not work. These provide evidence that "thinking inside the box increases the likelihood of achieving creative results and also strengthens the impact and value of the creativity".
Nor is this just a hunch. Dahlén, a professor of business administration and marketing strategy at the Stockholm School of Economics, calls on big numbers to support his contention that successful products tend to be simple improvements rather than paradigm-challenging innovations.
He says that in a study of more than 3,000 stocks that were traded on the New York Stock Exchange between 1979 and 2001, the major factor that reduced a company's systematic risk – or strengthened its independence from trade cycles and other external factors – was the amount of time and money invested in research and development.
"Investment in creativity gives a company considerably more security than, for example, its assets, age, liquidity, growth or financial strategy," he writes, adding that the numeral two even increases the risk.
Put this way, creativity is worth getting right. To this end, Dahlén uses the middle part of this highly practical book to outline exercises that can be used as regular training to develop creative powers and inspire creative thinking in groups.
Which leads us back to thinking inside the box. "Thinking only really becomes creative when the box is used in the right way – and the right way to use the box is quite simply to shake it," he says. Creative people do not have higher IQs than others, they just shake the box more often.
Dahlén acknowledges that thinking inside the box can be limiting. One of his central claims is that innovation is born largely from experience and knowledge rather than out-of-the-blue insights. Accordingly, as individuals acquire more knowledge and experience they will acquire too many pieces for the box. The answer, though, is not to go outside the box, but to expand the box.
Doing this involves being aware of the different aspects of the box. In Dahlén's analysis, the four walls cover conventions and rules, common sense, physiology and consciousness. These are all limiting in different ways and as such are barriers to creativity – for individuals as well as companies.
To overcome them and so become more successful it is essential to challenge yourself and your business continuously, to think creatively and innovatively and learn more all the time. The learning element is particularly important, on the grounds that there is no such thing as useless knowledge.
In this way, the individual or business can contribute new pieces to put in the box, so that "when you shake it you'll get more combinations to interpret".
By demystifying the process of creativity, Dahlén has made a valuable contribution to the extensive literature on creativity and innovation that – in these especially challenging times – should inspire new innovators and help those already engaged in the process to pick a path through the obstacles.
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 News in pictures
- 3 Leveson threatened to quit after public attack by Gove
- 4 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 5 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 6 Ed Miliband: 'Cameron is the last gasp of the old guard'
- 7 Savers start a 'jog' on Europe's banks as Greece votes
- 8 For whom the bell tolls: £20m 'Memo' project takes shape on Dorset's Jurassic coast
- 9 Still standing: George Galloway reveals why his staunchly Leftist outlook is still invariably right
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 Patrick Cockburn: Greece's day of reckoning dawns in a climate of anger and uncertainty
- 3 The Blagger's Guide To: The best (and worst) fathers
- 4 We just click: How Lego keeps building on its success
- 5 Revealed: Harry Potter is the Antichrist!
- 6 The Leveson Inquiry: We're in this together!
- 7 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 8 David Flatman: Over and out
- 9 Frank Zimmerman and me: The truth about the troll who tormented Louise Mensch
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness

Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.

Win a sumptuous three-night stay in Austria
Get away from it all in the fresh mountain air at the four-star Hotel Edelweiss & Gurgl.

Win a five-star foodie weekend to Liège
Spend two nights in gourmet heaven at a top hotel in the capital of French-speaking Belgium.

A home to be proud of with Halifax
Download the Halifax's brilliant, free new Home Finder app, and take all the pain out of finding your dream home

Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.

Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page

Still standing: George Galloway

Daniel Radcliffe as drug-taking Beatnik poet

Objets czar: David Usborne’s collection of myriad objects

World's richest woman: Gina Rinehart

Comments