Phil Jackson coaching Dennis Rodman

Today’s post is a creative thinking tool designed to help shift perspective — it has to do with adopting another person’s persona. Stated as a five year old might, it’s simply Let’s Pretend.

Yesterday I wrote about the thinking tool of reversal. Like many thinking tools geared to shift perspective, it requires that you use it now and then in order to  get some facility with it. It’s not always so easy to “flip”; some situations or challenges are not that simple. This tool, Let’s Pretend, (also known as “Creative Hero”) is easier.

Here’s how it works. You give your complex challenge a good think, as yourself. You explore in your mind the various things you’ve tried. Examine the ideas that don’t quite work. Try to put yourself right up against that block. Then, mentally, look in a mirror and see yourself shifting to be another person, your creative hero. It’s good if you’ve thought about this person before so you have some sense of who they are. Anyway, you see yourself shift to be that other person in the mirror.

For me, it’s often basketball coach Phil Jackson. I’ve watched him on TV many times, and have read his book, Sacred Hoops. I admire his style, and his calm “Zen Master” demeanor.

Once you’ve assumed the persona, you ask yourself, what would your hero do if he or she had my problem?  “What would Phil do?” It’s fun to also “feel” like Phil Jackson, or your hero, try to get into their skin and then start thinking. The more you imagine the better this works.

And, you think differently, and that’s the goal.

Phil Jackson managed a quite wacky group of guys during those championship days with the Chicago Bulls. Yes, he coached the great Michael Jordan. Dealing with that ego was one of his skills. He also coached the troubled but talented man-child Dennis Rodman, who often got up to some strange antics. My insight about a recent challenge had to do with how he handled Rodman. Most of the time Phil ignored Rodman’s antics — didn’t feed the behavior. Very occasionally he’d have to notice, but he’d never overreact. I was overreacting to the challenge. Thinking like Phil had me thinking about patience and calm. I was dealing with a troublesome client, and Phil helped me see the challenge more objectively. Then it was fairly easy to sort out.

Who’s your Phil Jackson? Jump into their skin and think like them for a shift in perspective.

*****

PS: If you want to start into more advanced creativity practice, you might consider my book –
Jack’s Notebook, a business novel about creative problem solving. It’s done in story form, this is not your typical didactic business book!

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