Marty Neumeier is the Director of Transformation for the Liquid Agency as well as author of several bestselling books in which he explains how almost anyone in almost any organization can help to achieve breakthroughs in creativity and innovation. He has introduced a weekly series of mini-commentaries, “The Rules of Genius,” now featured by the Liquid Agency Exchange. You are also welcome to take the Metaskills Quiz. By answering ten questions, you will discover your personal creative style or talent “handprint.” Please click here.
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Don’t jump into planning as soon as you’ve sighted a goal. Learn to be still and listen. Pay attention to the nagging voice. The uneasy stomach. The barely felt longing. Your subject may have something to tell you.
Resist the temptation to impose a cookie-cutter solution on an intriguing problem, or a groundbreaking solution on an insignificant problem. Hold back until you’ve had enough time to sort through your feelings and consider the issues. Depending on the nature and scope of the challenge, this could take five seconds or five days. It takes what it takes.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re searching for facts, you’ll cast your eyes downward as if the information were on the table? And when you’re trying to invent an answer, you’ll look upward as if the solution were in the clouds? These are commonly observed tendencies in problem solvers. But when you’re trying to access your intuition, looking won’t help at all. You’ll need to feel.
Feeling your way to a solution is like an athlete deciding his or her next move. It happens more in the body than the brain. It gives you direct access to your intuition so you can bypass the usual fears, distractions, default solutions, and ego traps that can make your work less than brilliant. Feeling lets you forge a connection with your subject that mere thinking can’t reach.
Close your eyes and drift with the problem. Let it whisper to you. Imagine you’re a psychologist, and the problem is your patient. Listen carefully. Give it your deepest empathy and fullest attention. Be available to the problem. Don’t try to fix it. Feel your way forward.
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Marty Neumeier is a designer, writer, and business adviser whose mission is to bring the principles and processes of creativity to industry. His latest book, METASKILLS, explores the five essential talents that will drive innovation in the 21st century. His previous series of “whiteboard” books includes THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY, about the role of design in corporate innovation; ZAG, named one of the “top hundred business books of all time” for its insights into radical differentiation; and THE BRAND GAP, considered by many the foundational text for modern brand-building.
He has worked closely with innovators at Apple, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, HP, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft to advance their brands and cultures. Today he serves as Director of Transformation for Liquid Agency, and travels extensively as a workshop leader and speaker on the topics of innovation, brand, and design. Between trips, he and his wife spend their time in California and southwest France.