The results of client surveys are clear. Clients are increasingly looking for more creative solutions to their problems. So let’s get more creative!

In a previous life I led the project team that invented CLOVER – the first spreadable ‘butter’. I learned a lot about creative processes.

Forget the thought that creatives are a different breed. You don’t have to be an artist or musician. It’s a process. We can all do it!

My favourite quote is this…

The creative act is not an act of creation in the sense of the Old Testament.

It does not create something from nothing: it uncovers, selects, re-shuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties, skills.

Arthur Koestler (Austro-Hungarian essayist): The Act of Creation

Here are some examples.

1. The Gutenberg press, widely thought to be one of the most ground-breaking inventions ever, was invented around 1440. It combined a die punch for making coins with a wine press!
2. The Sony Walkman was the hi tech item for teens to have in the 1980’s. It allowed people to walk around listening to music on magnetic cassette tapes (invented by Philips) without annoying others too much! The breakthrough in thinking came from:
   1. Discarding the tape-recording function of the cassette decks that we had at home
   2. Moving the speakers to the ears using headphones (that already existed)
   3. Miniaturizing the rest

The objective for CLOVER was to taste as good as butter but spread straight from the fridge. Before I joined the team they’d tried different formulations and different temperatures. No-one had thought of adapting the churn! Maybe it was something to do with my Austro-Hungarian heritage!

What tweaks could you introduce to transform your product or service offering to deliver better solutions for clients?