Leveraging the “Pamplemousse Precept” In Creativity Coaching
For greater than a dozen years my innovation company has taught custom-made artistic problem-solving workshops (what we now name “Un-Suppose” applications), to senior managers in medium and enormous organizations. Evaluations from the actually 1000’s of executives who’ve taken the workshop common 4.8 out of 5. Why such excessive scores? I believe it’s partly as a result of we’ve questioned most of the most elementary assumptions of studying and growth workshops.
To encourage higher participant engagement, as an illustration, we don’t use any PowerPoint slides. We additionally solely inform authentic tales from our personal innovation consulting work so we are able to converse authoritatively about how enterprise creativity and innovation successes actually occur. (No cliché Publish It Notes, Apple, or Swiffer tales from us!) And we by no means, ever ask contributors to generate a dozen makes use of for a brick… or a paper clip, or a straw. Except you’re within the building, workplace provide, or smooth drink enterprise that is, to our mind-set, an absurd train. Worker time is simply too beneficial to waste on overly theoretical artistic pondering workout routines that don’t have “actual world” relevance for the group.
As an alternative, we use an “action-learning” methodology. We require contributors to submit real-world enterprise challenges for which they want new pondering and new concepts. Then we use these challenges to assist contributors apply the artistic pondering strategies we would like them to be taught. So, the workshop feels extra like an ideation session than “coaching.”
Among the many dozens of group ideation strategies we educate are triggered brainwalking, patent prompts, worst/foolish thought, enterprise mannequin mash-ups, TRIZ triggers, thought hooks, questioning assumptions, target-market wishing, pattern triggers, semantic instinct, twenty questions, nice thinkers, drawback redefinition, journal rip n’ rap, whiteboarding, strategic continuums, billboarding, and most lately, AI Concept Prompts.
So…. how would possibly we “stroll our personal speak,” “query our assumptions,” and “want” for methods to enhance our “Un-Suppose” workshop scores from a 4.8 to a 4.9… or perhaps a 5.0?
I believe we are able to agree that generative AI applications as they’re now identified (i.e., Chat GPT, DALL-E, and so on.), have the potential to be enterprise and organizational recreation changers. A lot of the current press about these applications, nevertheless, has targeted on their draw back: selling a scarcity of authentic thought, “plagiarism,” content material inaccuracies, and so on.
An necessary distinction I make within the Introduction to my new guide Quirks… Provocative Tales, Songs, Essays, Poems Adverts, and Jokes concerning the Persona Quirks and Loopy Concepts of Nice Folks in Historical past… Created with Synthetic Intelligence is that these AI applications can even probably be large tutorial aids… serving to studying and growth professionals current info and concepts in a wide range of artistic/completely different codecs to accommodate completely different pupil studying types and preferences. Or, to place it extra merely… they will make educating and studying extra artistic, efficient, and FUN!
Think about this AI generated limerick to assist clarify – hopefully in an entertaining means — the Worst Concept artistic approach:
“There as soon as was a thinker fairly sensible,
Whose concepts would oft’ materialize,
However the “worst thought” technique he’d strive,
To create and let fly,
And odd brilliance would then come up.”
Or the Foolish Concept approach:
“A thinker who sought the absurd,
With foolish concepts, they most well-liked,
In jest they’d create,
Unlikely to equate,
But brilliance from nonsense occurred.”
And even Patent Prompts.
“In a workshop the place minds would join,
Patent prompts would encourage and direct.
From innovations of outdated,
New concepts would unfold,
As a wellspring of thought to good.
Would possibly having contributors generate these artistic executions of the workshop content material make for an much more inspirational and memorable expertise? I believe so! However for those who’re not satisfied, see if these two quick tales don’t assist make the case.
What would Sandy Alderson Say?
At a Dartmouth Faculty alumni occasion a number of years in the past, I had the prospect to speak with fellow Dartmouth alum, the then Common Supervisor of the Mets, Sandy Alderson. My son James, then solely 14, was a fairly good baseball participant, going to the Babe Ruth World Collection as a member of the Stamford, CT All-Star group. And so, understanding I’d see Sandy Alderson on the occasion, I requested James if there was something he wished me to ask the Met’s Common Supervisor.
“I’d wish to know the way they will inform which minor leaguers they assume will make it to the majors,” stated James. Fascinating query, proper?
Sandy Alderson’s reply shocked me. “Some of the necessary issues we search for is their capability to be taught. As a result of now we have a lot to show them.” Spectacular.
The story doesn’t finish right here, although. I’ve a great good friend, Sean Brawley, former touring tennis skilled and the one licensed instructor of Timothy Gallwey’s Inside Sport of Tennis educating philosophy. Once I informed Sean this story he adopted up with a profound query. “Sure, the power to be taught is necessary,” he stated, “however what concerning the coach’s capability to show?” Wow!
Once more, we should acknowledge that completely different individuals be taught in a different way – and that AI content creation applications might help accommodate these studying variations and preferences by presenting the fabric to be realized in radically completely different codecs. Moreover a limerick, how about an AI generated track, joke, story, and even an advert?
Say Hey to The Pamplemousse Precept
Story quantity two includes one in every of my studying experiences from over 50 years in the past. Nonetheless in elementary faculty, I used to be pressured to take French courses after faculty with a dozen equally sad college students. For some purpose, presumably out of sheer boredom, however extra probably because of the cadence of the French phrase for grapefruit, Pamplemousse, at one level the category spontaneously began chanting the phrase “Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse.” The instructor couldn’t assist however take part.
After which, all of us acquired up from our chairs and in a sort of artistic pondering conga line, we danced and sang to the rhythm of our Pamplemousse chant. A lot enjoyable, and clearly a memorable studying expertise that I carry with me even all these years later.
May AI creativity applications make what I’ve now dubbed the Pamplemousse Precept – educating artistic pondering extra creatively to accommodate completely different pondering types – a more-easily-achieved actuality by producing enjoyable and humorous, entertaining and provocative, authentic songs, tales, poems, advertisements, and jokes to strengthen – and make extra memorable – the content material being taught? My 50+ 12 months experiment with a “French grapefruit” tells me the reply must be, “Oui!”
Bryan Mattimore is the Cofounder and Chief Concept Man at Progress Engine, a 23-year-old innovation company based mostly in Stamford, CT. He’s the writer of 5 books on ideation and innovation processes together with Concept Stormers, 21 Days to a Massive Concept, and the brand new AI-generated guide, Quirks. He will be reached at: bmattimore@growth-engine.com .
