We were working with a client and sharing the value of our extreme creativity strategic exercises to boost creative thinking skills. We love extreme creativity questions because they provide an opportunity to push strategic thinking into bigger and bolder areas than an individual or group would envision by simply asking, "What are new and different things we could do?"
Although these questions are valuable, I always imagine workshop audiences initially wondering about when they would use these since they typically lead to incredibly outrageous ideas.
Most companies would benefit from bigger and bolder ideas. When being different than the competition is important (and it always is), an extreme idea can dramatically boost differentiation.
Another reason to embrace extreme creativity questions is they provide a more beautiful, amazing mental landscape to inspire creative thinking skills.
Think about it: when people seek out nature looking for creative inspiration, do they seek out boring landscapes where everything is the same color, elevation, topography, or other physical characteristic?
No, they seek out dramatic landscapes full of amazing visual stimuli: mountains, oceans, vegetation, extreme conditions, and unique environments. In those amazing settings, it's easy for ideas to start flowing because of all the inspiration the scenery provides.
It's the same with inspiring creative ideas. A bland backdrop (i.e., a clean sheet of paper) provides little creative inspiration. A set of bigger and bolder ideas, even if you don't plan to use them as is, can help to inspire other, more actionable ideas.
Not sure about all this?
Apply some extreme creativity questions to your situation and see for yourself how seemingly impossible to implement ideas will suggest other more practical possibilities!
And if you're not sure about doing that, contact us for ideas! – Mike Brown
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