In my last column I discussed five of the techniques that I have seen creative geniuses use when coming up with ideas. I have identified more than 60 of these techniques, but I only have space to discuss five more here. I’ll be using the same sample challenge to illustrate these: “How to introduce myself to others in an impressive, memorable way?” And when creating ideas, please remember not to censor them. Even the most impractical, stupid ideas can contain the seed of greatness.

Creative principle 6: Repeat, repeat, repeat

Repeat an action to create new, interesting effects and ideas. The Roman senator Cato the Elder concluded every speech he gave with the words, “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” (“Moreover, I advise that Carthage must be destroyed.”) Eventually this convinced others, and Rome conquered Carthage in the Third Punic War.

For our sample challenge, this technique might produce these ideas: “In your voice mail greeting, repeat your name several times in a row to make it more memorable”; and “Introduce yourself in a rap, repeating several words for emphasis”; and “Repeat the name of the person you’re meeting at least five times in the first 30 seconds to help remember their name — and to make them want to learn your name, too.”

Questions: What is a challenge that you face now? How can you express it as a “How to?” question? How can repetition help you resolve this challenge?

Creative principle 7: Divide and conquer

Break a whole into parts to get ideas. This approach is also known as ‘segmentation.’ As the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes said, “Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.”

What ideas for our challenge can division produce? One idea is to “Divide your information into parts (i.e., name, title, company, contact info, etc.), then print them on jigsaw puzzle pieces and let the other person assemble them.” Another is to “Display your information in separate frames, then play them in a video as a countdown from 10 to 0 where 10 is your website, 1 is your name and 0 is a funny photo of you.” Finally, we could look at each step of the introduction process separately (e.g., first encounter, introduction, handshake, exchange business cards, small talk), and then focus on each part in turn to come up with ideas: “When someone offers to shake hands, give them a hug instead to make you stand out.”

Questions: How can you break up your challenge? What ideas do you get as a result?

Creative principle 8: Exaggerate

Make something about our challenge bigger, better, longer, or worse than it really is, or exaggerate parts of it out of all proportion. Caricaturists use this technique when they exaggerate one feature of a politician to easily identify them.

With regard to our practice case, ideas based on the principle of exaggeration could be “Give myself a playful or exaggerated business title to stand out from the crowd, such as ‘Chief Entertainment Officer (CEO)’ or ‘Senior Executive Cat Herder’”; “Have a large banner with my photo, name and contact details hanging on the outside wall of my office building to show everyone that I work here”; and “Create a business card with a fake Time magazine cover on the back showing me as the ‘Person of the Year’.”

Questions: What can you exaggerate about your challenge? How can these exaggerations help create ideas?

Creative principle 9: Expand your senses

Add more sensory appeal to your challenge, or emphasize other senses. Leonardo da Vinci cultivated a stimulating sensory environment because he understood the power of the senses: “The five senses are the ministers of the soul… Yet, the average human looks without seeing, listens without hearing, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking.”

In finding more innovative ways to introduce yourself, you could “Add a fragrance to your business card that fits the spirit of your company or your personality,” or “Use rectangular biscuits imprinted with your information as your business card, so that the people you meet can eat and enjoy the ‘card’ once they’ve noted down your information,” or “Create a unique cocktail and give it to the other person as an introduction.”

Questions: How can you use other senses with your challenge, or enhance the senses already in use? What ideas does this give you?

Creative principle 10: Go wild

Finally, let’s have some fun. All the ideas you produce here must be wild, shocking or provocative. While working on the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project, Danish physicist Niels Bohr said about a particularly wild idea: “We all know the idea is crazy. The question is whether it is crazy enough?” Richard Branson used wild promotions, such as rappelling from Big Ben, and dressing up as a bride, to create free advertising for the Virgin group.

What are wild ways to make yourself more memorable to those you meet? Here are a few examples: “Handcuff yourself to the other person and make sure they learn all about you in great detail”; “Tattoo your information onto the other person so they will always remember you”; “Give out fake million-dollar bills with your picture and information printed on them.”

Questions: How to meet your challenge with wild, shocking, provocative ideas?

In this column and the last, I’ve shown ten creative secrets to use to get different, unusual ideas. Some of these ideas can lead to meaningful idea concepts, or even breakthroughs. As Lao Tzu said, “To see things in the seed, that is genius.” There are many more of these secrets if you take the time to look for them. I have identified more than 60. How much longer do you want to wait before using these techniques to realize the genius in you?

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2013. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the title “The secrets of creative genius” on 6 June 2013.