How We Don't Think Alike

If it seems like the longer you work on a project, the less creative you are able to be, you may be right. Over the weekend, I happened across an article in the New York Times entitled: “Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike” by Janet Rae-Dupree that addresses this issue with some interesting theories.
Rae-Dupree says that the more we know about a certain topic, the closer the walls of the box become. For example, if you “know” that the best way to market a certain product is xyz, at some point your mind won’t even be able to entertain abc. She uses the example that engineers end up making gadgets that are perfect for other engineers to use but that no one with a regular understanding of gadgets could ever understand. If you don’t believe that, just try reading through the instructions for anything at Best Buy.
I think everyone in social media has been witness to this at some point or another. Imagine a meeting at a social media or Web 2.0 company in which everyone is speaking the same language and a perfect plan has been reached only to have your client look at you and say, “I don’t get it.”
Are we in social media to believe that even in this ever-changing field we are perhaps becoming, dare I say it, stagnant or even comfortable? Perhaps our familiarity with the subject is our own worst enemy as we struggle to stay forever innovative and progressive.
As I have been thinking about the seeming decrease in the level of creativity as projects unfold, I have come up with some of my own solutions.
- Sit down and brainstorm the moment a project comes in. When the information is new, ideas seem to be the most creative and the most freely flowing. If a project sits around for weeks, I usually end up at my desk staring at the screen for hours with a pathetic trickle of ideas.
- Talk to people outside of your field. If you have to explain to your mailman what an RSS feed is, you will realize how much of the language is highly specialized and unfriendly to new people, thus alienating new ideas from coming in from people who have a different perspective.
- Listen to your clients. This one is hard because of course, we are the experts and we know the market. Yet somehow, clients can come up with great ideas that we must sheepishly admit that we in all of our social media glory never thought of.