BE Not Afraid To BE WHACKY

One day a new product design team got into a really whacky mood and made fun of their product. They were zany and off-the-wall. The meeting was a great success, and many new ideas were generated.

The next week, everybody was in a serious mood and no new ideas were generated.

Moral: there’s a close relationship between the “aha”of discovery and the “ha-ha” of humor.

If you can laugh at a problem, perhaps you’ll overturn a few assumptions and come up with some fresh ideas.

Indeed, the mental strategies underlying humor — combining different ideas, asking unusual “what if” questions, parodying the rules — are congruent with effective problem-solving techniques.

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said it well: “As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.”

— What crazy, zany things can you do to your issue?

— What can you take less seriously?

One exercise I use to loosen up my seminar participants’ thinking is to have them make up humorous and irreverent mottos for their products and organizations. You might try this with your own issue.

Here are some of my favorite mottos:

“Where you’re not alone until you want a loan.”
— An international bank

“Where innovation is acceptable just as long as it’s been tried before.”
— A large packaged-goods company

“Where creative people meet, and meet, and meet.” — A large computer company

“A leader in technology whether the customer needs it or not.” — Another large computer company

“We put the ‘cuss’ in customer.” — A large retailer

“We’re arrogant and we should be.” — A very large software company

“Lean to the left. Lean to the left. Stand up! Sit down! Strike, strike, strike!”
— A teachers union

“In tuition we trust.”
— A major private university

“We’re the glue that holds your problems together.”
— A software networking company

“You’ll have a good time if you’re lucky.”
— A Las Vegas casino

“We’ve got you by the calls!” — A telephone company

“Call us up and we’ll give you a line.” — Another telephone company

“We’ve got our customers by the bulbs.” — An electric utility

“Not only are we smarter than you are, we’re also younger than you are.”
— A prestigious management consulting company

“We’ve got a product for every hole in your body.” — A paper products company

“Good people, good medicine, good luck.” — A health insurance company

“Customer service is our number one priority: please leave your complaint at the beep.” — A major airline

— What offbeat slogans can you make up to describe a current project?