Why this idea means business : We explore the benefits of being a creative explorer. Learn how having an open mind (and using it) gets you to better ideas. Read this to bring out your inner creative explorer.
How much is this idea worth?
Idea : To use creative thinking techniques to find more and better ideas to grow your brand. Based on our standard business case assumptions, the value of this idea is :-
- Source of business – Innovation
- Skill area – Creativity
- Commercial hypothesis :-
- # customers = 1,000
- Spend/month = $100
- Est. monthly purchases from innovation adoption = +70
- Est. sales increase = +$7k (monthly) | +$84k (annual)
Most of our articles (including this one) start with the same 2 words.
We explore.
This is deliberate. When you’re into ideas – how they work, how to do them better, how to commercialise them – exploring is a key enabler.
It’s a critical component in discovering new ideas and bringing them to life. Creative people are instinctive explorers.
If you’re more of a critic, then this article isn’t for you. Critics sit on their butt, relying on the same old ideas they’ve always used, and killing other people’s ideas to preserve the status quo.
The creative explorer thinks, screw that, let’s do something different. Go somewhere different. Let’s explore (!) what that looks like.
Thinking, feeling and acting like a creative explorer
Being a creative explorer starts with having an open mind. You welcome new ideas and always look for the positives. You ask yourself, how does this idea make me feel? What’s it really about? Where and when could it be useful?
A creative explorer also enjoys exploring ideas. You get a kick out of it. You feel compelled to discover new ideas and learn new skills. The creative process also involves dealing with setbacks. Positivity is key. A belief that there’s always an answer; you just need to explore and find it.
And lastly, the creative explorer takes action. You read books across a variety of subjects. Go to unusual places that are off the beaten track. Try things to see what works and what doesn’t. The creative explorer thrives on curiosity. You ask questions and do things until you find an answer.
Here are a few examples of what a creative explorer does :-
- Gather many diverse ideas.
- Experiment with ideas.
- Show and share what you learn.
Gather many diverse ideas
The creative process endpoint should be an idea that means business, right? An idea that attracts customers, builds your brand and grows your sales.
But to get one winning idea at the end of the process, you have to feed lots of ideas in at the start. This is how idea generation works.
The creative explorer keeps their eyes open for interesting and innovative new ideas. When they spot one, they make a habit of writing it down as a source of future inspiration.
Designers keep swipe files. Writers keep journals and clippings. If you’re really into ideas (like us), you might even put all these ideas into a big searchable Ideas Database.
These ideas can come from anywhere. The more diverse the creative places you visit, the larger and more original the range of ideas you’ll have to work with.
So the creative explorer dips into categories beyond their own. They read books about and by creative people. Join creativity-related mailing lists. They visit interesting places looking for creative inspiration.
People who only look for ideas within their own category (e.g. from competitors and the trade press) usually just come up with the same ideas as everyone else. The creative explorer goes to more unusual places to provoke less obvious thinking.
Experiment with ideas
This idea gathering gives the creative explorer a head start in the creative process.
When a new creative challenge appears, they’re not faced with a blank page. They can review their list of previous good ideas to see if they can apply any of them to their new problem. The creative explorer uses their good old ideas as prompts to come up with good new ideas.
This matters because no one ever finds the winning idea right away. Even Archimedes’ famous eureka moment took time to happen.
This stage of the creative process is all about experimenting. What if we did it this way? How about we combine this idea and that idea? Why not look at how it works in another category?
Being a creative explorer means being comfortable and confident with this uncertainty. If the answer were obvious, everyone would do it.
Plus, it takes time to do properly. Creativity often involves trying things and finding out they don’t work. A good creative explorer accepts failure early in the process. They know that learning what doesn’t work is as important as finding out what does work. It helps them map out the territory so everyone else can follow in their footsteps.
Show and share what you learn
Though the creative explorer often goes off on their own, they know they have to come back and show where their creative journey took them. Value comes when you share the results of your individual creative exploration with others.
Companies with strong creative cultures encourage individual explorations. But they also set up regular sessions where everyone can share where they’ve been, what they’ve discovered and what they’re working on. They enable people to share learnings and ask for help.
This might be part of a regular team meeting. Or as a regular cross-departmental session, giving short updates and briefings on new ideas they’ve discovered.
With such a sharing culture, ideas get a chance to spread through the business. That makes it more likely that someone will connect different ideas to discover your next big breakthrough idea.
When to NOT be a creative explorer
Most businesses work in 2 cycles. The creative cycle focuses on the future direction of the business. It hypothesises and speculates. Plans new initiatives and invents and innovates. Clearly, creative exploration is a vital part of this.
However, there’s also an operational cycle that focuses on the present. It delivers your products and services to today’s customers. It runs on routines and habits, certainty and known solutions. In this cycle, exploration can often be unwelcome. A distraction from immediate priorities that slows you down.
It’s the world of finance and supply chain. It pays today’s bills while your creative brain is working out what’s needed for your business’s future success. You only need to switch on creative explorer mode when you’re thinking about what’s next for your business.
What’s the business benefit of creative exploration?
So what does the creative explorer deliver in terms of business benefit?
Well, first, they boost your innovation chances.
Your innovation process won’t work without creative exploration. You’ll forever be an innovation follower rather than an innovation leader, unless you encourage creative exploration.
Adopt an open-minded approach, and your innovation ideas are far more likely to succeed.
A creative explorer approach also helps boost your brand identity and reputation. It brings an energy and originality to your ideas that will have customers seeing you as a thought leader. This often leads to more sales as customers are drawn to the brands with the most creative ideas. This typically benefits challenger brands over market leaders.
And lastly, creative exploration makes your brand more interesting. Less predictable. It shows that you’re open to ideas and willing to go explore them. As the old saying goes, a ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are for. So, why not go out and explore? Sail your brand ship into some uncharted water. See what adventures you have. Who knows what sort of marketing idea treasures you might come back with?
Conclusion - The benefits of being a creative explorer
Businesses grow on the strength of their ideas. But ideas have a limited lifespan. If you want your business to continue to grow, you need a pipeline of new ideas coming through.
Having creative people in your team, and being good at leading them, is how you get the most out of this stream of incoming new ideas.
It’s about setting up a creative culture where being a creative explorer is encouraged and rewarded.
A good creative explorer gathers a diverse range of ideas. They experiment with those ideas. And they show and share their ideas with others in the business. Giving people the freedom to explore ideas leads your brand to more interesting places with better and more original ideas. Surely an idea that’s worth exploring?
Check out our creative people guide and creative culture article for more on this. Or get in touch if you need a fellow creative explorer to partner you on your creative journey.
Photo Credits
Man looking at ceiling (adapted) : Photo by Anton Danilov on Unsplash
Colour umbrellas : Photo by Malte Bickel on Unsplash
Two people with macbooks and notepads : Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
Person holding compass : Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
Dollar lights : Photo by Chronis Yan on Unsplash
