On his Creativizer blog for advertising and business creativity, Dave Dumanis points out that people often assume that creativity is all about adding things--"What can we add to this device or this service to make it better?" However, often genius lies in taking something away. He gives these three examples:
Jackson Pollack took away form and representation, and got abstract expressionism.
Beckett took away plot and got the masterpiece Waiting for Godot.
John Cage took away music itself, and got arguably the most influential composition of the 20th century, 33’33″.
I would add that what geniuses take away is the rules or the conventional wisdom about what they are doing.
Picasso took away the old rules about how to paint a portrait.
James Dyson took away the rules about how a vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt.
Nelson Mandela took away the conventional ideas about how an oppressed group responds when it defeats its oppressors.
It can be fun and productive to play with this in the context of what you do. For instance, let's think for a moment about books and what we might take away:
The table of contents. Yes, people like to know where to find what, but sometimes they also like being surprised. What about a book that does away with the table of contents, the acknowledgements, the introduction and throws you right into the content? The format could be enhanced to emphasize this is a journey of discovery.
Taking this one step further:
The cover. Usually the cover is designed to tell people the name of the book and what it's about, the name of the author, and sometimes a quote. Would people buy a book that had a totally white or black cover with no printing on it or the back cover, and shrink-wrapped so they couldn't see inside it? All they would know is that it's a novel and they'd have to buy it sight unseen. Certainly that would be hugely promotable in the media... Obviously this would work better if the storyline had something to do with secrets or anonymity.
This is fun! What could you take away from what you do?
(For more ideas on how to maximize your creativity, see my book "Creativity Now!" It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other online and offline booksellers.)
