BEST Robotics - Meta Skills – Creative Thinking Part III - Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
Marty, I want to hand our Creative Thinking journey to you and your rich expertise. I thought you might begin by stating your perspective on how creative thinking made a difference in your encounter with SEAL training. Having an opportunity to train commanders leading others and the art and science commandership. I know the question that crossed my mind when we met, and our readers must ask: Is training SEAL leaders how to think really a critical requirement? Could that elite organization still perform without trying to influence how commanders deal with creative challenges?
Michael, the Navy SEALs are hardly known for their creativity, brain power, and intellect. Popular culture has all but converted these elite warriors into cartoon characters. One-dimensional combat athletes with cool gear, nice smiles, and fierce eyes.
The truth might shock people if they knew how SEALs are selected and trained. They might also be surprised to learn that Navy SEALs design innovative solutions to impossible missions and then execute those solutions under incredible pressure, as a primary job description.
Wait a second, Marty. Are you saying it's BREAKING NEWS? You are correct of course. What we the public perceive is quite a different image from what is true. It's not about how gorgeous Navy SEALs look on film or in uniform, but what makes you all so successful. Did I misunderstand your introduction to SEALs and Creative Thinking?
Michael, you are spot on! Of course, a lot of time and money has been expended to create that cartoon image. Back to the point of this series and this article specifically. Jens’s thesis on the first two parts of creative thinking is eye-opening, to say the least.
As a retired SEAL officer, a board member with BEST Robotics, and the current President of BEST MindLab, my professional focus has consistently been on how to apply all the insights noted in these enlightening articles and do so in the real world. Let’s start by telling our readers a bit more about the Navy SEALs.
I will admit, SEALs are selected for their physical abilities and their emotional maturity.
However, any SEAL will tell you that the secret isn’t about pushups or being numb to failure and pain. They would say the true secret, the essential quality, rests between the ears. SEALs are selected for their high IQs, their psychological resiliency, and their creative abilities. They see every problem set, however crazy, as a serious intellectual challenge. A critical puzzle to be solved. The stakes are always high which drives SEALs to study reality, to value the truth. ?
Again, wait a second. Can you go a bit deeper regarding what you define as the “creative abilities” of the SEAL? Using some of what Jens described in the previous chapters.
Sure Michael. What makes a team of SEALs unique and special is this cocktail of attributes that allow for maximum intellectual flexibility, and the capability (or willingness) to craft a new plan, individually or collectively, in a rapid fashion based on latest information. SEALs do not follow orthodox rules that shackle innovative thought or restrict nimble interrogation of data or agile responsiveness. They are always psychologically and intellectually “on their toes” training to play and win in all the “tennis courts” of the mind. It is a life dedicated to total readiness.
Funny Marty, as I listened to you, I was thinking of the tennis courts of the mind. And here you are, returning to this metaphor. So, they are like a Noble Prize gifted person, multi-talented in many areas. They are bionic-accelerated individuals in many domains – both the brain and physically.
Yes, that’s correct. We also see this in our BEST Robotics challenge participants. Like SEALs or elite thinkers, they are never wedded to a specific plan, they are always ready to clear their minds and absorb new data and then act on that truth. They experiment and when the challenge begins, they exploit the program’s willingness to allow rapid prototyping of solutions in near real time between rounds in the competition. SEALs practice these methods of free, engaged thinking every day. They too enjoy experimentation and rehearse multiple ideas if proof of concept requires a physical demonstration of the conceived answer. Finding young people who can think like this is part of the institutionalized selection for SEALs. Once selected, it becomes a way of life through training. ?
So now, Marty, we see what the Navy has been doing so amazingly to a considerable number of gifted individuals who served us, among them you. And thank you, Marty, for your years of investment in our country and life. It raises a question. If it is done within the military, the Navy. Can this be done elsewhere? Can we accelerate individuals to excel at levels where they can be exquisite and execute at will no matter the problem, they, or their company face?
Yes, I believe so. We see it in the BEST Robotics example noted above. We also have seen it in older professionals. As we age, we absorb more rules, regulations, traditions, and other social and institutional constraints that slowly and subtly work to influence us. We are encouraged to reign it in, to not take risks. Often doing so, results in moderate penalties. We aren’t taken seriously; we’re seen as odd. Thinking creatively has become an act of courage for people over the age of thirty. BEST MindLab is taking the lessons learned from thirty-two years of observations and insights at BEST Robotics and coupling that with the professional and progressive mental training of the Navy SEALs to kick-start creativity and innovation in adults.
Michael, you know my thoughts about our capacity to be creative well into our 60s and 70s. It’s a fallacy that we lose our creative abilities with age. Instead, at BEST and at BEST MindLab, we’ve seen that the apparent loss of creative and innovative thought is more atrophy than maturation. Unless a person has a cognitive impairment such as dementia or Alzheimer’s, there is no reason they cannot be taught how to use the dormant portions of their mind to reignite the ability to dream in colors and think in soundtracks. They simply need to shed their decades of conditioning, compliant thinking, and self-doubt. Becoming creative again is a wonderful thing and it is within reach of all of us!??
Closing
A question could be asked and answered: why is this thing we call Creative Thinking so important? Why should so much attention be devoted to it? One may answer and argue that it is one of our most significant virtues, talents, and abilities to create and innovate. From the light to the cars. From vaccination to breathing machines and more. These all came from, yes, Creative Thinking. Another answer is that wars cannot end without Creative Thinking. The solution to solving the complex and destructive problems we unleash requires Creative Thinking!
Perhaps the most compelling argument the authors of this three-part series on Creative Thinking have made is that when NASA measured almost 50 years ago the level of Creative Thinking among young children at elementary school, they discovered that 90% scored remarkably high on the creative scale. That same study found that as people age this capability was dramatically, a natural biological gift we rapidly lose due to neglect, lack of attention, and awareness. By the time participants in the study were in their forties their creative scores had dropped by 75%.
So yes, we wrote these three articles on creativity to wake up a society that possesses the ability to nurture and cultivate a new generation of Albert Einstein, but only if that society wakes up to this amazing latent potential in all of us!
Be Bold and accelerate your Creative Thinking.
?