The Creative Contrarian

Tackle your thorniest problems using the Wise Fool’s savvy Strategies!

The Wise Fool is the archetypal contrarian known for his creativity, irreverence, and humor. He looks at life in unorthodox ways and pushes back against the status quo. Throughout history, powerful decision-makers (Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese emperors, Persian sultans, and European kings) consulted Wise Fools to question the assumptions that kept them mired in stale and obsolete solutions.

In The Creative Contrarian, best-selling author (A Whack on the Side of the Head), speaker, and toy designer (Ball of Whacks) Dr. Roger von Oech provides readers with a fully-illustrated “Wise Fool Guide” to challenge established procedures and engage in creative thinking.

Roger shows how to gain the confidence to speak up in “groupthink” situations — and boldly present a different perspective. From laughing at your most beloved ideas to test their validity to adding constraints to problems to reveal new solutions, he offers a framework for creativity that works in business, design, education, and anywhere new ideas are required — and appreciated!

Employing a wealth of stories and examples, The Creative Contrarian presents 20 Wise Fool Strategies:

• Some offer ideas to enhance your creativity (“Reverse Your Perspective,” “Look for Ambiguity,” and “Kiss a Favorite Idea Goodbye”)
• Some provide tips on how to break away from the herd (“Buck the Crowd,” “Flex Your Risk Muscle,” and “Seek Other Right Answers”)
• And still others convey prudent warnings in an unpredictable world (“Exercise Humility,” “Imagine Unintended Outcomes,” and “Develop a Thick Skin”)

Together, these jewels of insight will help you see things from the Wise Fool’s perspective! As the Wise Fool puts it: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have”; and “Every ‘right’ idea eventually becomes the ‘wrong’ one.”

The Creative Contrarian: 20 “Wise Fool” Strategies to Boost Creativity and Curb Group think is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking fresh solutions to common problems at the office, in the classroom, or at home.

Introduction 1

Part I: Meet the Wise Fool 9

Part II: The Wise Fool Strategies 23

1 Buck the Crowd 25

2 Flex Your Risk Muscle 37

3 Laugh at It 49

4 Seek Other Right Answers 59

5 Keep Playing with It 69

6 Reverse Your Perspective 81

7 Fool Around with the Constraints 91

8 Build on an Odd Idea 99

9 Look for Ambiguity 103

10 See the Obvious 111

11 Use Your Forgettery 117

12 Drop What’s Obsolete 125

13 Kiss a Favorite Idea Goodbye 131

14 Revisit a Discarded Idea 135

15 Find What’s out of Whack 139

16 Stop Fooling Yourself 145

17 Exercise Humility 153

18 Imagine the Unintended 159

19 Develop a Thick Skin 169

20 Shed an Illusion 173

Part III: Use Your Wise Fool Know-How 177

Selected Bibliography 193

Index of Proper Names 196

Acknowledgments 199

About the Author 200

Roger von Oech has spent a lifetime listening to his Wise Fool. He started his company, Creative Think, in 1977, to stimulate innovation in business. His seminars and products have enhanced the creativity of millions around the world.

His clients have ranged from Apple, IBM, Cartier, Columbia Pictures, Nestlé, and Disney to NASA, Coca-Cola, Sony, Google, Microsoft, and USA Swimming.

He is the author of four books on creativity, including the classic million- seller A Whack on the Side of the Head (translated into 25 languages). He’s the creator of the Creative Whack Pack card deck and iOS app. In addition, he is the inventor of a line of magnetic manipulative geometrical toys, the most popular of which is the Ball of Whacks.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio State, and earned his PhD from Stanford University in a self-conceived program in the “History of Ideas.”

If you don’t ask “why this?” often enough, somebody will ask “why you?”

The Creative Contrarian is for people who like to “think differently,” and also for those looking for ways to hone their creative edge.

If being innovative is part of your job—engineers, entrepreneurs, managers, programmers, designers, teachers, parents, coaches, artists, and students—then this book is for you!

Using a fun and engaging style, Roger von Oech presents 20 “Wise Fool” Strategies to boost yourcreativity and curb groupthink.These include: “Use your forgettery,” “Flex your risk muscle,” “Drop what’s obsolete,” “Laugh at it,” and “Reverse your perspective.”

Jam-packed with innovation boosters for taking the initiative, this book provides practical tips to help you develop a “how-else-can-I-look-at-this?” attitude. Reading it will make you a little less dogmatic, and a lot more playful; less convinced you’ve already got the best answer, and more skeptical of “received truths.”

You can’t see the good ideas behind you by looking twice as hard at what’s in front of you.

PRAISE FOR Roger von Oech:

“Roger von Oech has won a loyal following
around the country.” —BusinessWeek

“Using von Oech’s ideas may beat
consulting the I Ching.” —Fortune

“Roger von Oech runs laps around everyone else in the
creativity consulting business.” —San Francisco Examiner

Be a Creative Contrarian:Consult Your Wise Fool!

The Wise Fool is the archetypal contrarian known for his creativity, irreverence, humor, and candor. This character looks at life in unorthodox ways, and pushes back against the status quo. Throughout history, powerful decision-makers (Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese emperors, European kings) consulted Wise Fools to challenge the assumptions that kept them mired in stale and obsolete solutions.

This book presents 20 Wise Fool Strategies to provoke your thinking. Some offer ideas to enhance your creativity. Some provide tips on how to break out of groupthink situations. And still others convey prudent warnings in an unpredictable world. These jewels of insight will help you see things from the Wise Fool’s perspective.