Chapter 18 Seventeenth Letter The Value of Creativity

The natural world is full of inspiration, and people get it by inspiration. Dear Julie: One of our products has recently been threatened by the introduction of newer, better, faster-acting products from competing manufacturers.How should we face this problem?In order to answer part of this question (which has a lot to do with the rest), I want you to first identify the environment you grew up in, which is also the environment we are in.The present age is an era of rapid changes that human beings have never experienced before.At this point, if you see many statistics, you will definitely be dumbfounded.First of all, let's understand the following facts!

In 1750 AD, the amount of information in the world was twice that of ancient Rome at its peak (around AD 1).This number more than doubled in the next 150 years (up to 1900 AD).The amount of information in 1900 more than tripled fifty years later (1950) and doubled again just fifteen years later (1965) .Over the next eight years (ending in 1973), this number doubled again. According to judgment, the amount of information in the world today doubles approximately every three or four years.With such a rapid increase, how large will the amount of information be in the future?That must be beyond our imagination, right?Such a huge amount of information shows that modern progress is a product of human imagination.Imagination is a creative resource that only human beings have. Over the past few decades, astonishing airplanes, spaceships, fax machines, semiconductors, televisions, lasers, car phones, etc. have been invented. There are more than a hundred such novel machines or devices. thousand.These things have existed in the hearts of Romans or Egyptians in the past, but they have not been discovered until this century.

Why are we so much more creative than our ancestors?I really can't say the reason exactly.However, I dare say that the unprecedented liberation of human imagination should be the main reason.By the time of the 21st century, the progress of the 20th century will be insignificant again, right? What does this fact have to do with the problems we face and the competition with new products from competitors? In this day and age, creativity is required for everything, I believe you already understand this.Creativity is one of the innate abilities of human beings.It is a fact that one of our products is lagging behind in market competition. However, we did not expect such a situation to happen, and of course we will not fail to take countermeasures.

The sense of competition will force every company to concentrate on research, and the victory will surely go to the company with the most outstanding research achievements.That said, the laurels necessarily go to the most innovative companies.In order to come up with a strategy that is superior to other companies and drive the overall plan, creative thinking is the most important weapon.Our business policy has always been to invest the lion's share of our profits in long-term research and development programs (I know you're happy with that policy).At the same time, in order to improve the current products, we have recently broken through several important bottlenecks. Therefore, I am sure that in a short period of time, we will be able to resist the threat of competing products.

From my business point of view, there is no rush for a manufacturer to bring an improved product to market.It is rather smarter to withhold such cards for emergencies (like the one we are facing now).This is the tactic we should choose when the opponent is complacent by showing all the cards in his hand because he has the winning chance, and then surprises and overwhelms the opponent with the hidden trump card in one fell swoop. Through this experience, you should learn the following lessons.Some companies distribute more than half of the profits to shareholders as dividends, but refuse to spend a penny on new product development or improvement. This is a big mistake.Good companies (hope ours is in this category) keep some of their profits and invest them in research and development for the purpose of growth.Since all our shareholders are our own, and there is only one banker outside who regards credit as the most important thing, it is easier than other companies to decide to fully invest the funds needed today into tomorrow's business.Yet even if the conditions were not so favorable, I still think that this must be done.

In order to succeed in business, practitioners must be allowed to develop creativity and a rich imagination.In the past, success was possible with good education and hard work, however, times have changed.To succeed in today's era, in addition to these factors, creativity and rich imagination are required. It is generally believed that highly creative genius inventors are as rare as a drop in the bucket. However, I don't think that creativity belongs to a small group of people who are singled out. It is an innate ability of everyone. Individuals seem to have their own endowments.The rapid increase in the amount of information in the world mentioned above proves this point.

When I started my business, when I was still young, I used to admire the genius-like talents of my older partners in invention and creativity, thinking that I had no creativity at all.Fortunately, due to time, study, habit and experience, I later learned that this is just what I think.If only I knew this earlier, I don't know how good it is.Because I can save a lot of unnecessary troubles, wavering and hesitation.You are still making mistakes that I have made in the past and most people of all ages are making. When you were a child in art class, you couldn't even draw the outline of a figure well, and in English class you couldn't even write a few lines of poetry, so you thought you were unimaginative and uncreative.Thanks to your mother and I, who told you from our experience, you knew that you were not without such talent.Creativity is not only seen in painted pictures, or in beautiful words written, nor does it only refer to great inventions that can be used immediately.Creative thinking, inventiveness, and creativity all manifest in various forms in our daily lives.Your success as a business manager can be said to depend on the creative thinking you practice in carrying out your tasks.For example, how to get new customers?How to resolve disputes with customers?How to contact business and get an order?How to appease dissatisfied employees?How to improve the morale of subordinates? (Including consideration of how to dress and speak in front of subordinates) It is also creative thinking to think about such things.

The use of creativity has four characteristics. For this, I will call it contemplation, solitude and integrated thinking.The following is my analysis of these four points. ●Meditation The first thing you have to do is to immerse your subconscious mind with all the known facts about the subject you want to think about.At this time, what you have to wait for is that many intricate facts gradually become orderly in the subconscious, and then the answer emerges like the light in the darkness.Ideas will even flood your mind one after another.Whether or not an idea pops into your head out of nowhere, once it does, it takes shape.You can experiment with it and then implement it.

● brewing Breaking through the bottleneck is by no means easy, and you must fully understand this.In general, though not without exceptions, ideas take time to develop.Years of patiently probing the facts, through countless experiments, storing all new information in the subconscious mind, and finally seeing satisfactory answers show that some people have taken such a path.Representative of the American poet Robert in the 20th century.Frost describes this as follows: How many times did thunder thunder before Franklin got his revelation?How many apples did Newton drop on his head before he had his revelation?The natural world is full of revelations, which are repeated before our eyes.We receive such revelations by inspiration.

In addition to creative thinking, human beings have invented the wheel, paper, glass, electricity, automobiles, airplanes and so on because of inspiration.Today's science is even more advanced to the point of landing on the moon, transplanting a heart, and instantly transmitting information to all parts of the world. ● alone Solitude is also a very important booster of creativity.In order to be inspired, it is necessary to have the peace of mind that allows creativity to flourish.That said, you need to be still to allow the ideas to come to you.Nineteenth-century American poet James.Russell.Lowe said: Just as society can cultivate a complete personality, solitude is an indispensable factor for the cultivation of imagination.That's why I never come to work after get off work on Thursday and before Monday.And most of my friends thought I was off on Friday.They don't know that Friday, whether I spend it at home or go kayaking, is my day of meditation and the most rewarding and important work day of the week for years.

●Mastermind Napoleon.Hill defined Mastermind in his book "Thirteen Conditions for Creating Great Wealth" as a collection of two or more people to integrate knowledge and efforts in a coordinated spirit in order to achieve a specific purpose.When two or more people coordinate (according to my interpretation, it is the gathering of the wisdom of all people), and discuss the big plan to solve the immediate problem, they will often get more and better ideas than each person thinking hard alone.Napoleon.Hill is right that the result of bringing the two minds together does produce a third mind, the Mastermind, which is invisible to the eye. Creativity and imagination have a close and inseparable relationship with your heart, which can be demonstrated by human brain power in the fields of computers, solar systems, vaccinations, microelectronics, and space travel. to be proven.Make good use of and trust in this power!This is a powerful weapon in our daily life. Give your mind as much information as possible, wait quietly for the creativity to mature, and at the same time, make good use of the principles of Mastermind.In this way, Edison or Madame Curie will wave to you one day. You say I'm a dreamer, don't you?That's right!Especially every Friday, I am a person immersed in my dreams. a dreamer