Tim Hurson does a lot of things. He is the author of the excellent book Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking. He is also a co-founder of ThinkX Intellectual Capital and a founding director of Facilitators Without Borders. Plus he does quite a few other things, including working on two new books!
Tim took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Thoughtwrestling readers. So please read and enjoy our latest Thoughtwrestling Interview!
In a short paragraph, can you describe the contents and themes of Think Better to our readers?
Think Better is simply about a repeatable process we can all use to have more ideas, better ideas, more of the time. It proposes that thinking is a skill that anyone can learn and develop — just like tennis or golf. Everyone knows they can improve their athletic performance with a little training and practice. Well, the same applies to your mind. I use lots of stories, anecdotes, and scientific evidence to support the idea that with a little training and a little practice, every single one of us can think better. Then I present a straightforward, six-step process that people can follow to think more productively and creatively about virtually any challenge. It’s extraordinarily powerful, but very simple. It’s not rocket science. It’s just that most of us have never been taught. Once people learn the productive thinking framework, they often tell me that what once looked like a mystery, now just looks like the next step.
Who is the intended audience of Think Better?
The short answer is “people”. When my I first began working on the Productive Thinking model, I was targeting organizations, both profit and not-for-profit, but it quickly became clear to me that organizations don’t think, people think. Sure, I was interested in helping people solve complex organizational challenges around innovation, capacity building, marketing, and so on, but at its heart, thinking is about people. Shortly after Think Better came out I received a letter from a reader. She said she appreciated how the productive thinking framework could help in her business, but what she really wanted to tell me was that her 14 year-old son had been having problems at school, and one evening she sat down with him and went through the model. After a few hours, two amazing things happened: first, together, they figured out several strategies he could use to deal with his issues at school, and second, they discovered a whole new aspect to their own relationship. I don’t think I’ve ever received a more wonderful letter. So Think Better is for anyone who could benefit from having more ideas, more creative ideas, more implementable ideas, more of the time. It seems to me, that covers just about all of us.
One of the parts of Think Better that I found most interesting was the concept of the “third third” – a point during the idea generation process where you think you’ve come up with all the ideas that you possibly can, but your mind is actually in the best state to be it’s most creative. Can you describe this a bit, including some of the research behind it?
One of the things we know is that we human beings tend to do something called “satisficing”. We’re so uncomfortable with unresolved situations, that we tend to jump whatever will get us out of this state of ambiguity — we satisfice. When we have an unresolved problem, we often stop thinking once get the first “right” answer. We don’t need to think any further, because we’re no longer in that uncomfortable place of irresolution. More often than not, though, there’s a second right answer, and a third, and even a 99th — which are usually much more creative than the first one. But we rarely get there, because we’ve stopped thinking too soon. I often tell people that a conclusion may simply be where you stopped thinking. If we can push through those first right answers and keep searching for solutions to our dilemma, there’s a good chance that we can break through to something much more exciting, innovative, and useful. Several studies have shown that in a good idea generation session (that gets to real innovation), the first third of the session usually produces old-hat answers, ones everyone has already thought of before. They’re okay, but there’s nothing innovative about them. The second third of the session starts breaking away from those conventional responses, and the third third is where the wild, silly, or politically unacceptable ideas come out. And it’s those ideas that often produce the biggest breakthroughs. The third third is where we’ve finally break away from what we know and start exploring what we don’t.
Can you describe the process of writing Think Better? Were you able to assign regular work sessions for the book or did you find yourself working in irregularly scheduled chunks of time?
I’m don’t think this is necessarily true for every writer, but for me, writing means writing. I know that sounds tautological, but for me it’s true. The process of writing requires me to write — not to think about what I’m writing, not to talk about it, not to plan, but to actually write. This allows me to get material down. Usually, it’s not very good. But once I have it down, then I can edit it. For me, the creative part comes in the editing, the rewriting. In that way writing is just like thinking. It doesn’t matter that my original ideas are half-formed, what matters is that they’re formed at all. Then I can work on them and make them better. Oddly enough, that realization takes a lot of pressure off. One of the things that always used to stop me was the unspoken notion that I had to write a final draft, that whatever came out had to be golden prose. No wonder I stared at blank screens so long! Now I don’t care what comes out, just as long as it comes. Once I have the basic material, I can start to work on it. For me, the mantra is “First, get it down, then get it good.”
Can you give us an overview of what thinkx (your company) does? Are there some examples of your work out there that we might not immediately associate with your company?
ThinkX has consulting partners in ten countries. We provide training, facilitation and coaching in productive thinking. We help organizations — including private companies, not-for-profits, and governments — tackle innovation challenges, organizational restructuring, new product development, strategic planning, and marketing issues. Most of our commercial work is confidential. Our most important work, though is through our not-for-profit arm, Facilitators Without Borders, where we provide the same services, pro bono, for communities that can’t afford our commercial prices.
I believe that your company, thinkx, is based in Canada. Do you notice any differences between Canadian companies and work environments than in other parts of the world?
Yes, substantial ones. Canadian companies are usually pretty conservative. I think that’s due both to our national character and to the fact that many large Canadian companies are branch plants without significant authority to stretch beyond the thinking already laid down by their parent organizations. The vast majority of ThinkX’s business is outside Canada. A few months ago I was sitting in the Toronto airport waiting for a flight to Vancouver and I realized that although I fly somewhere almost every week, this was the first time in three years that I’d actually flown within Canada. I find that sad.
Has the current economic climate had a positive or negative impact on ThinkX’s business?
Both! We lost a fair bit of business as companies have chosen to reign in their budgets, especially training and development budgets. But we’ve gained even more business from organizations that have decided that the best time to invest in true differentiation is when everyone else isn’t.
Newsweek’s recent article on “The Creativity Crisis” suggests that American public schools are failing to teach kids to be creative. Do you think they could be doing a better job and, if so, how?
Yes, I do. We have to stop teaching kids what to think and start teaching them how to think. Knowledge is a commodity that is rapidly decreasing in value. That’s not because it’s not important. But because its so readily available. Anyone with an internet connection can access 99.99% of the knowledge human beings have ever generated — most of it for free. So knowing is no longer the issue. We have to be able to work with the knowledge we have and grow more. That means thinking — using our knowledge and our interventions creatively, productively, and wisely. The important skills of the future will be in those areas. In that sense, schools have to transform from being primarily repositories of knowledge to being crucibles of creativity. I have an idea for a book on productive thinking for the 11-13 age group. It’s a project I’d love to do, and I’m looking for a graphic illustrator to work with. If any of your readers are graphic or comic illustrators have them contact me!
One of your projects is Facilitators Without Borders. Can you give us an anecdote or example of some of the work that you’re doing there?
See above.
Do you have plans to write more books?
See above. I’m also working on two other book sat the moment, There is No Box, and Shock of the Possible, both for my current publisher, McGraw Hill.
Any final wisdom to share with our readers?
Eat your greens, and don’t overdo the alcohol.
Thanks so much, Tim, for answering our questions!
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