Creativity  a. k. a. What Box?

I perform lectures on creativity. These are special shows designed to show how our perception works and how we can be more creative. Although entertaining, they are results-oriented shows and not designed simply to say; Magicians think differently, I am so clever - nyah nyah nyah nyah. No! I will say that and more! Nor is the lecture designed to have you think as I do - that would be cruel. (My mind is a small playground with a high fence.) Our minds are unique and, since we imagine from what we know, we have our own unique creativity. At the end of the lecture you will a) be aware of how your mind stops you from being creative, b) have tools that will allow you to circumvent your creative roadblocks both individually and as a team and c) how to focus the creative process so as to be targeted and effective. As Rudyard Kipling wrote ". . . think and not make thoughts your aim."

Creativity affects every level of our business from the latest inventions to efficient office layout, from cost trimming strategies to stimulating employee morale. It used to be that if you chewed out a portion of market share, that portion had a resilience. Goodwill, customer loyalty, and even legal protection of intellectual property could guaranty you a degree of stability and security or if you were an entry level competitor, present an unsurpassable juggernaut. Today being number one  is only a ceded position for the next race.  In this new marketplace every aspect of our competition is open to comparison, duplication, obsolescence, and ultimately, informed consumer choice (though "informed" doesn't necessarily  have anything to do with truth - ask any magician). If any area of our business is weak it drains from the other areas whether it be in pricing, service or an inferior product. To remain competitive or to excel one must be creative and know how to apply creativity. These days, just as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "you lose your dreams you die."

The lecture draws on my vocations as a magician, an inventor, an officer, and an alligator wrestler;   yeah really!