Change your hat to change your mind

Leadership creativity is more than generating novel ideas. It is the thought work behind effective choice-making. In this Lesson for Effectiveness, Kate Johnson shares three practical activities leaders can use to strengthen creativity, examine problems from different perspectives, anticipate challenges, and make better-informed decisions. 

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Key takeaways

Creativity grows when leaders make room for imagination without requiring an immediate practical outcome.

Putting yourself inside an unfamiliar image can help you disconnect from everyday constraints and exercise creativity for its own sake.

A pre-mortem uses prospective hindsight to identify the problems that could cause a project or event to fail.

Imagining future success can help teams define meaningful achievements and translate them into action plans.

Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats provides a structured way to consider facts, emotions, risks, benefits, alternatives, and the thinking process itself.

A personal decision audit can help you examine choices, consequences, and lessons without creating a record of regrets.

Timestamps

00:03 Leadership Creativity and Critical Thinking

01:18 Put Yourself in the Picture