Where Do Great Ideas Come From?

Where Do Great Ideas Come From?

Written By: Danielle Campbell

Recently, our KemperLesnik team was fortunate to learn from one of the world’s best creators and innovators, Duncan Wardle, the former vice president of innovation & creativity at Walt Disney Co. and current owner of iD8&innov8.

Our day with Duncan was filled with drills, tips and exercises used to help us push pass our own limitations and generate creative ideas.  The day was meaningful, and impossible to sum up in a single blog post, but here are some of the key takeaways:

  1. Awaken your inner child. Children have this ability to live without fear of consequence. They think, feel, act and speak without apprehension because they do not know any better to understand that the world around them. How many great ideas are left unsaid because of fear? What if we as adults, with all of our education and exposure to the world, could tap into this childlike thinking? The possibilities are endless.
  2. Yes, and…“Yes and…” suggests that a participant should accept what another participant has stated and then expand on that line of thinking. “Yes and…” encourages the creative process and a positive work environment, unlocking new ideas.
  3. Innovation involves getting to a different level of thinking that you could not get to by yourself. When it comes to ideation, it is easy to fall into the thinking that it is a process that an individual should tackle alone, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, ideation is a collaborative experience, and the process of exchanging ways of thinking and perspectives.

The learnings from Duncan’s visit are intuitive – think openly and freely, encourage a positive work environment and collaborate. As simplistic as these concepts may seem, we often stifle our own creative process when fail to remember to do these things. Duncan’s presentation serves as a mirror of our current selves, and also as a reminder of ways to put our best creative foot forward.