Leaders Who Say ‘I’m Not Creative’ Need These 5 Mental Models to Start Experimenting

Challenge the invisible rules that stall original thinking, then use five practical models to make, test, and improve ideas without surrendering judgment.
EXPERT OPINION BY PETE SENA, FOUNDER, DIGITAL SURGEONS

“I’m not creative. Can’t you just pick it for me?” Rochelle asked during her first weeks as my executive assistant.
Every new employee completed the same exercise: write a short personal blurb for their business card. It was meant to be easy. For Rochelle, it felt like a test she couldn’t pass.
You know that feeling
You know that feeling. Someone asks for a big idea. Your mind goes quiet. The blank page starts to feel like a verdict.
I could have picked her line in 30 seconds. She would have felt relieved but I would have solved the sentence and compounded the root problem.
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So I slid a sheet of paper covered with 30 blank circles across the desk and handed her a pen.
“Three minutes,” I said. “Turn as many circles as you can into recognizable objects.”
Then invisible rules surfaced. Could circles touch? Could she draw outside them? Did every circle need to become something different? The paper said none of that. She supplied the rules herself.
Source: www.inc.com



