Creative Thinking

creative thinking leadership personal growth Apr 17, 2020

Creative Thinking is the ability to escape your “boxed-in” thinking and reimagine possible solutions.

How does it work?

Creative Thinking increases the number and quality of solutions on the table.

Have you ever used TABASCO® Original Red Pepper Sauce?

You know, the iconic small bottle with the green cap? Odds are, you’ve used it once or twice, or maybe it’s sitting in your kitchen right now.

Did you know that TABASCO® has been producing this famous red pepper flavor for over 100 years?

Back in 1868 Edmund McIlhenny of Avery Island, Louisiana, was fed up with the bland diet at the time and out of pure necessity he came up with the recipe for TABASCO® Original Red Pepper Sauce to add some flavor and excitement to his food.

For 125 years TABASCO® produced one flavor of the sauce.

Why is this important?

Well, in 1993 something happened at TABASCO® that hadn’t happened in over a century. In 1993 they introduced the Green Pepper Sauce, and it was a huge success. So much so that if you fast forward to today, TABASCO® has eight flavors. So instead of just one flavor, the brand has evolved, “From mild to wild, there’s something for everyone.”

But what if, in 1993, the folks at TABASCO® had said “no” to trying something new?

What if instead, the decision-makers responded with, “We’ve always done it this way.” Why mess with a good thing?”

Trying something new requires “out of the box” thinking. It requires us to choose possibility over fear and to think creatively. It also can be the difference between staying stuck in the past and moving into the future.

Now it’s your turn. What possibilities are waiting for you? Where can you start applying “out of the box” thinking?

Creative Thinking in action:

Delta Airlines was in bad shape in 2004. They’d filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Fast forward to 2019, Delta is a leading airline with an incredibly healthy culture and equally healthy profits.

How did they turn it around?

Creative Thinking! Executives at Delta, including CEO Ed Bastian, started making changes to the structure of the business that completely changed the way employees, shareholders, customers, and the general public saw their business.

They provided an employee profit-sharing program that gives 10% of company profits to employees (before taxes).
They brought their booking services in-house (the only U.S. airline to do so) in order to manage their customer data.
They expanded their reach by partnering with international carriers like KLM and Aero México.

Do it now:

Stop asking “Can I?” and start asking “How can I?”

If a bankrupt airline turned its entire business around by introducing Creative Thinking, what could it do for you?

Wise words on Creative Thinking:

“All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
– Albert Einstein