From the course: Ideation for Marketers
What is brainstorming?
- Brainstorming is all about generating creative solutions to a problem. This method for creative problem solving came about in the mid-1900s. At the time, a Madison Avenue advertising executive named Alex Osborn was frustrated by his employees' inability to develop creative ideas. So he began to organize group think sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by his employees. Brainstorming encourages people to break free from routine and disrupt pre-existing patterns of thinking. Regardless if a problem is old or new, brainstorming allows for fresh solutions to be found. It's ultimately a practical approach to problem solving. The approach uses a set of rules or techniques to help you, or your team, come up with ideas. Most often, these ideas fuel even more ideas, which in turn fuel more ideas until a breakthrough occurs. Brainstorming works because it encourages different perspectives. And when you examine problems through different perspectives, either individually or in a team, you see something you were unable to see before. It's easy to think that brainstorming is simply the act of sitting down and thinking up ideas. But that's hardly the case. Brainstorming is effective because it involves laying down a set of ground rules and leveraging methods that better tap in to the mind's ability to solve problems. Mastering the art of brainstorming unlocks the ability to generate new ideas on the fly, find new business opportunities, develop new products, services, and processes, or evolve existing ones. Brainstorming is also incredibly valuable at improving productivity, becoming indispensable to your team, and turning problems into opportunities. But most of all, brainstorming is fun. It's a great way to bring a positive experience to your team or to refresh your attitudes on the projects you're undertaking.
Download courses and learn on the go
Watch courses on your mobile device without an internet connection. Download courses using your iOS or Android LinkedIn Learning app.