Ein explain Artikel

I have been reading many articles in the last few years saying that creativity is one of the most sought-after skills in companies. They state that, if you want to get hired or just improve yourself, then, creativity is what you need. If we look at history, the fact that we can drive a car, or have electricity or watch TV at home, is because of someone’s creativity at work. There is no development without it.

Edward de Bono (physician, psychologist, author, inventor and consultant) once wrote that “There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”

I see creativity or the development of creative skills and ideas, especially in presentations, like a journey. To be more exact, like Dorothy’s journey on the book “The Wizard of Oz”. Everyone knows that story, or at least they should.

Dorothy was home when a tornado came and took her to the Land of Oz. Her house landed on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her, and getting Dorothy the Silver Shoes. Dorothy is informed that the only person that could help her find her home is the Wizard of Oz, and to find him she must follow the Yellow Brick Road. On her journey she finds three companions that end up helping her find the Wizard.

Shall we walk the Yellow Brick Road of Oz and find the Wizard that will make us creative and help us to unleash our presentation creativity?

The first thing that should happen to be creative in presentations is being in a position where you have to present. Like in Dorothy’s story, maybe a tornado came and took you to a new job where presenting is needed – in a way that won’t make people die of boredom, and that will make them understand what you have to say.

So, we have now the first step in our journey: our house should land on and kill the Wicked-Witch-Of-Too-Much-Text-On-A-Slide. We want creative presentations, not an entire book on a slide. After that, take the silver shoes of the Witch (which are called Ruby Slippers in the movie), or the content of your slide, and add that to the notes. We might need that later. Now, people will point out that, to be creative, we need to find the almighty Wizard of Oz, the one that will make us creative. To do so, we need to walk the Yellow Brick Road, and now our journey begins.

Yellow Road

When we start walking the Yellow Road, or that road in search of creativity, people are very nice, and the walk is easy. But as you go further you will see less and less people.

However, everything I’ve read up until now talks about creativity as a skill that you can learn, improve and develop. But I have met a lot of people, even in my own family, that look at creativity as something magical that only a few chosen ones are born with. Well mate, let me tell you something: even though some people seem to exude creativity, there is no demigod of creativity, no Chosen One Neo of the creative process. You can learn it, too. Like Dorothy, we just need to find our three companions to help us in our journey.

The first companion is the Scarecrow, a weak little fellow that is in the middle of a field watching life pass him by and scaring some crows, or not. The Scarecrow wants only one thing: a brain to be smart, and that’s what he is going to ask of the Wizard of Oz. What is interesting about him is that, although he has no brain, he shows great wisdom. And it is that wisdom that helps Dorothy and the other companions to conquer many obstacles. In the book “The Creative Curve”, author Allen Gannett states there is no correlation between IQ and creativity for people of average intelligence and above.

I know that there’s been some discussion about that statement, but I believe that it isn’t about how much knowledge you have that makes you creative, but how you use it. It’s the wisdom, or the experiences you have had. What would be the use of having the highest IQ, or reading all the books in the world, and not knowing how to use that knowledge? Or not knowing how to connect things? Steve Jobs once said “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn‘t really do anything special in particular. They just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That‘s because they were able to connect experiences they‘ve had and synthesize new things.”.

If there was a thing the Scarecrow could do well, was connecting things and finding new solutions. If we want to present well, in a way that looks creative, we need to learn to connect things, from concept, through design until how we deliver it. When elements are connected, in the end we are able to see the big picture and understand how everything works together.

There are many presentations that could illustrate that, but I am going to use Steve Jobs’ introduction of the iPhone as an example. Not only did he connect three products in one (web browser, mp3 player and phone), but he also connected the content. He built it up so people could understand the big picture, or the final product. The design, or visualization, was very simple and clear, connected with what he was saying. People understood what he was saying in seconds. That is what wisdom does. It is not the amount of knowledge you show, but how you show it. To get some presentation wisdom, you will need to be in the field for a while. And watch a lot of presentations. Nowadays we can watch excellent content all over the internet, like Ted talks, and other big product reveals, that can be found online.

That takes us to our second companion, the Tin Man.

The Tin Man hadn‘t been able to walk until he was freed by Dorothy and the Scarecrow. After getting to know them, he also wished to meet the Wizard of Oz and ask for a heart, so he could love. As the story runs its course, the Tin Man shows his special trait. He was not just someone that could use his axe and cut things up – he was also the most caring and loving character in the story. He was the one that would cry and have to get some oil to be able to move again. He talked about his history with passion, and how he wanted to love again. He would put himself at risk for the greater good of protecting his loved ones, even if the price was to get stuck and rusted, without moving for many years.

I won’t dwell long on the Tin Man, but that doesn’t mean that what he represents isn’t very important, especially for creative presentations. Why? Because if you don’t develop a love for the subject you are working with, if you don’t have a passion for it from the beginning until the end, working on it over and over again, almost like an obsession, trying to get the best of it – well, people will notice. I love to watch presentations where the speaker has a passion for the theme. You can see how engaged he is when he speaks, how powerful his talk is. If you are going to do something, do it with love. Don’t be lukewarm - be hot or cold, either be all in or quit. The audience who is watching the presentation will thank you.

The last companion is the Lion. What I like about him is that we all associate lions with courage and strength, but the one that Dorothy meets wants to go to the Wizard of Oz to ask for courage, funny right? He could roar very loudly and even scare himself, but he was internally shaking and afraid of anything that would cross his way. I have been talking at work a few times this year about creativity, and I always include that there is no creativity without courage, and I just love that the last companion of Dorothy’s journey is a Lion that is seeking courage. Even though the Lion was afraid of almost anything that would cross his path, he also showed something special, for he was the one that would step in and face any danger. There is a quote from Franklin Roosevelt that I think fits well here: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” That means courage is being afraid and choosing to overcome the fear for something that one considers greater.

Well, my friend, if you are choosing the path of creative presentations you will have to have courage to break some conventions. If you have any experience in this area, you have probably already heard something like “but that’s how we’ve always done that”. Some people even use phrases like “let‘s not reinvent the wheel”, when they want to keep following the same pattern as always. How do you know if those phrases make sense for what you are doing? Wisdom, experience.

Finally, we followed the path of the Yellow Brick Road. Sometimes it wasn’t perfect, but it helped us to find Emerald City, the city of the Wizard of Oz, and we can finally ask the Wizard to be creative.

The bad news is the Wizard is just a charlatan. He is probably very creative himself but not a wizard. The good news is he still wants to help us. He gives symbolic presents to each of the companions, so they feel like they get what they already had. Unfortunately for Dorothy, the Wizard tries to build a balloon to take her home, but it goes horribly wrong, leaving the companions and Dorothy in Oz.

Stuck in Oz, Dorothy and her three companions travel through the country, and each one finds the right place to be, where they can lead and be helpful to others. The Lion stays in the forest, the Scarecrow settles in the City of Oz, and the Tin Man goes to where the Wicked Witch of the East lived.

As each companion finds his ideal place, Dorothy finally finds out how she can go home, and it was something that was with her all the time. She clicks together the heels of her shoes three times and flies over a desert to get home. In the movie, she moreover says to herself, “there’s no place like home” and awakens in her bed. In both book and movie she had with her what she needed to get home, and so do you.

You probably already have in you what you need to make creative presentations. You just need to develop your creative skills and put the three companions in the right place:

The Tin Man, developing a love for what you present and talking with passion. How do you get to love what you have to say? By spending a lot of time with it.

The Scarecrow, with wisdom to connect different things, showing the big picture in a visual manner and connecting the content in a way that makes sense for everyone. How do I get wisdom? By observing other people presenting, with experience and time, trying over and over again.

The Lion, with courage to do something different from others, to try something new, to break standards to achieve something novel but useful that communicates a clear message to your target people. How can I do that? By going forward and not being afraid of making a mistake. It will be good if you work in a company that understands how important it is to make mistakes, and that it is not in the first try that we will achieve novelty.

If you want to deliver a presentation that will be recognized as creative, it must be rich and exceptional. It must be different from others.

Before I come to the end, I want to talk about how, in the story, the Wizard of Oz gave one task to Dorothy and the companions: to kill another witch, the Wicked Witch of the West. In the beginning of this article, Dorothy’s house landed on the Wicked-Witch-Of-Too-Much-Text-On-A-Slide. Now, at the end, I would like to ask you: what Wicked-Witch is still lose in your presentation that you need to kill?

I know some people are going to be asking themselves that question, some will spend time blaming and banning presentations software, or still spin and zoom the content out of focus, while others are just going along and presenting the same way like it has been done in the last 30 years. But to you who are seeking creativity in presentations, I wish you to ask yourself everyday “How am I presenting?

How is my presentation impacting others?” and will I or what I’m saying be remembered in the end of the presentation?

“I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise - Jessica Savitch”

Don’t expect to have the most creative presentation on the first try. It takes time and work. That’s the way with creativity; it takes time to connect the dots, but when you finally do it, it will be well worth the wait.