Osborn’s second rule stated that no one was to criticize ideas as they were generated. Simply go for volume and crank it up to 11. The argument being that while many of these ideas might be of low quality, or unrealistic, leaving no stone unturned made it more likely that a truly rare gem could be discovered.įorget practicality here. Key to Osborn’s whole process was creating a space that motivated everyone to throw out as many ideas as possible what’s known as divergent thinking. Contrary to the popular idea that point of a brainstorm is to come up with the best ideas, Osborn’s emphasized the quantity of ideas generated rather than the quality of the ideas. The first rule Osborn established was to define the end goal of the brainstorming process, which was to generate as many ideas as possible. Over the years, the definition of brainstorming changed and widened to include individual ideation sessions, but the original term was intended to leverage the power of group thinking to align a team to storm the castle of a problem with a multitude of ideas. By 1958, 80% of America’s ten largest firms were utilizing Osborn’s method. With more creative ideas, BBDO saw billings increased to over $100 million in 1951, and in 1953, Osborn followed up with Applied Imagination, in which he coined the term brainstorming, and defined the rules below. “It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one.” Alex Osborn A key tenet of thinking up was to think broadly and wildly, generating as many new ideas as possible. Alex Osborn, (the O of BBDO) originated an idea he called “thinking up,”, and released a book, How to Think Up, in 1942. Durstine left the organization, and billings were plummeting. In 1939 one of the largest ad agencies in America, Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn (BBDO) was failing. The practice practice of brainstorming came from desperation. Read on to unlock your team’s brainstorming potential. As originally conceived, brainstorming has four rules (we’ve added an important fifth), which guarantee original thinking and fresh ideas. The problem with that method is that it requires the brainstormer to wear too many hats: ideator, note-taker, editor, goal-setter….it’s too much to allow the brain to access pure creativity.ĭon’t get us wrong, individual ideation is an important and valuable step in the brainstorming process, but in a lot of cases, the problem of failed brainstorms is a problem with the underlying definition and expectation of what a brainstorm is. For a lot of people, the concept of brainstorming is sitting down alone with a notebook and racking their brain for a brilliant idea. We talk a lot about brainstorming here on the blog, and it’s one of the number one reasons our clients come to us.
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