The Brainstrorming Myth

1. Charlan Nemeth

1.1. Suggest that the ineffectiveness of brainstorming stems from the very thing that Osborn thought was most important.

1.2. Findings show that debate and criticism do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition.

1.3. Dissent stimulates new ideas because it encourages us to engage more fully with the work of others and to reassess our viewpoints.

1.4. “Authentic dissent can be difficult, but it’s always invigorating,” Nemeth says. “It wakes us right up.”

2. Brian Uzzi

2.1. Musicals are a model of group creativity

2.2. He spent years analyzing the teams behind four hundred and seventy-four productions.

2.3. Uzzi devised a way to quantify the density of these connections, a figure he called Q.

2.4. Q above 3.2 < Average Q > Belove 1.7

3. Isaac Kahone

3.1. “If you want people to work together effectively, these findings reinforce the need to create architectures that support frequent, physical, spontaneous interactions,”

3.2. He conducted research with groups to determine the effect of physical proximity on the quality of the research.

3.3. When coauthors were closer together, their papers tended to be of significantly higher quality.

4. Yale

4.1. Forty-eight male undergraduates were divided into twelve groups and given a series of creative puzzles.

4.2. The results were a sobering refutation of Osborn.

4.3. Solo students generated more ideas than brainstorming groups.

5. Alex Osborn

5.1. a partner in the advertising agency

5.2. “Your Creative Power”

5.2.1. Filled with tricks and strategies

5.3. —“To get your foot in the door, your imagination can be an open-sesame”

5.4. Brainstorming was central to B.B.D.O.’s success

5.5. There is no place for judgment in brainstorming

5.6. “Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it in the bud,”

6. Ben Jones

6.1. Researchers have to collaborate, because the most interesting mysteries lie at the intersections of disciplines.

6.2. The brainstormers and the people given no guidelines produced an average of three additional ideas

7. Building 20

7.1. Was regarded as a failure at the beginning

7.2. Quickly became a center of groundbreaking research.

7.3. The lab developed radar systems used for naval navigation, weather prediction, and the detection of bombers and U-boats.

7.4. In the postwar decades, scientists working there pioneered a stunning list of breakthroughs, from advances in high-speed photography to the development of the physics behind microwaves

7.5. No script should be followed