Boot To
The Head!
A Whack on the Side of the Head:
“That’s not my Area”
Redone in Microsoft PowerPoint
By Tristan Ford
Redone by Osfield Incorporated
The Solar Cell
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A solar technician has a problem.
Her research lab is experimenting with a new solar cell material,
gallium arsenide, which is causing her problems in the slicing stage
of cell production.
Her task is to use a special high speed wafer. She cuts the material;
it cracks.
She tries changing the position of the saw. The material still cracks.
She is quite frustrated.
At home that weekend, she is in her husband’s shop watching him
make cabinets.
She notices that when he wants to make precision cuts on certain
types of wood, he reduces (rather than increases) the saw’s cutting
speed.
She gets an idea: why not try the same approach on the gallium
arsenide.
She does, and it works.
Boot To the
Head!
What this woman did
exemplifies an important
part of creative thinking:
recognizing the basic idea of
one situation and applying it
to another.
“That’s not my Area”
 How many times have you heard; “That’s an administration
problem” or “That’s an engineering problem” or “That’s a
marketing problem?”
 The idea is none of those problems are purely engineering,
administration, or even just marketing problems.
 In fact, they’re all connected in some way. They are all of
the above.
 They have to work together in some way to get the job
done.
 This applies for a ton of other jobs and life challenges too.
 But if you develop the “that’s not my area” attitude, you
won’t ever be able to recognize these problems and
creative thinking will become much harder for you.
Boot To
The Head!
Cross-Fertilization
Looking in new fields for different ideas
is great.
Many significant advances in art,
business, education, entertainment,
politics, and science have come about
through such cross-fertilizations.
Nothing will make a field decline more
quickly than keeping out foreign ideas.
Boot To
The Head!
Exercise:
Suppose the following people went to
lunch together.
What could they learn from each other?
There are no wrong answers.
 A bus driver and comedian
 An automobile mechanic and a politician
 A kindergarten teacher and a software programmer
 A priest and the head waiter at a five star restaurant
 An airline pilot and a geologist
 A policeman and a librarian
 A circus clown and an air traffic controller
 A TV producer and an elementary school teacher
 A bull fighter and a gardener
 A fool and a banker
 A choreographer, a librarian , a prostitute, and a professional
football player
Boot To
The Head!
Exercise:
Do you get your own ideas from any of the
following?
o Outside people
o Places
o Activities
o Situations
Numerous People have claimed that these
outside influences have helped them.
• Magic- Through the study of
performance you can learn the
power that certain symbols have
when they are associated with one
another.
Flea Markets
• Flea markets are one of the last
outposts of a free enterprise.
• If you want to know what a free
economy is all about, go to a flea
market.
• There you can see the other people’s
opinions of the products by looking at
the prices that they selected
themselves.
• Sports provide a good source of ideas.
• People have found an interesting parallel
between why some teams always win and
why some mangers are able to motivate
people so well.
In the course of their evolution, natural
systems have solved in variety of
problems-often in quite ingenious ways.
If you look at nature with an eye toward
similarity, you’ll pick up some good ideas.
Chapter Summary
• The main idea of this chapter is that
always solving your problems the same
way, can damage your creative thinking.
• Thinking inside the box will slowly
create the “That’s not my Area”
attitude, and you won’t be open to the
great ideas that surround you daily.
• Journey outside the box and experience
what others can contribute.
 Develop the explorer’s attitude: there are always new things
to discover!
 Don’t get so busy that you loose the free time that you need
in order to complete step one.
 Read more than just one genre. You never know what’s there
until you go there. Go outside the box.
Boot To
The Head!

Fiction is a great genre to start with. It helps your imagination get a head start. An
imagination is one of the things that helps to develop the explorer’s attitude.

When an idea comes to your mind, don’t let it go. Write it down A.S.A.P! Never let it
go even if it doesn’t sound good at first. It will later on. Whether it’s the next day,
or a decade later.

Don’t be afraid to take risks or advice from a new person. You’ll thank yourself in the
end that you did.

Look for new ideas in tons of different places. Think of someone else’s ideas as well.
Boot To
The Head!
Boot To The
Head!
• This has been an Osfield Incorporated reproduction
• Revised from Tristan’s highly animated version
• BYE!