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372 : APPLYING CREATIVITY TO THE IDEA DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

and analytical disciplines of accountancy, finance, operations and
marketing over more intuitive approaches. The mythology of single right
and wrong answers is perpetuated by never-ending assessment – indeed,
American commentators have estimated that the average student who has
completed four years of college has taken more than 2,600 tests.28

It is worth noting how many business schools use the globally
recognised GMAT test (Graduate Management Admission Test), whose
emphasis on logical reasoning and numerical dexterity may eliminate at
admissions stage right-brain thinkers with a tendency to think
contemplatively and to see problems not just in terms of right and
wrong solutions. In other words, the GMAT assumes that all good
management thinking is left-brain dominated and then contributes to
the perpetuation of that myth.29

logic fits the work culture The focus within education and training

on the single correct answer tends to continue in the workplace, where
it is often the logical thinker who will fit the culture who is preferred
over the intuitive and imaginative. Given all these different aspects, it is
hardly surprising that the one-correct-logical-answer syndrome has
become such an inherent part of our thinking that we are estimated to
use only about 2–10 per cent of our creative potential.30

But creativity is so important that if you cannot use your whole-brain
thinking to be creative, you risk your business idea being literally half-
brained. This risk is all the more real during the process of idea
development because the team responsible for developing the idea is
probably restricted to just you, with one or two other partners at most.

The challenge is to reconnect with the more than 90 per cent of the
creativity which has been educated out of you.

the challenge is to reconnect with the more
than 90 per cent of the creativity which has
been educated out of you

reconnect with your creativity The 1981 Nobel prize-

winning work of neurosurgeon Roger Sperry on split-brain theory
provides reassurance that everybody can be creative by combining logic
and intuition. He demonstrated that the right and left hemispheres of