Stone Soup Creativity
Stone Soup
You can't eat a stone, but in the fable, the stone is the first ingredient that is used for a delicious pot of hot soup.
How did that happen?
It was from the contribution of many others to the singular effort of creating soup. Everyone contributed different items to the pot until the soup was completed.
So what was the contribution of the stone?
It was the idea that inspired others to contribute. It didn't contribute to the final product yet was completely responsible for it.
Creativity And Inert Ingredients
Are you stuck in a non-creative situation? Is your group or team failing to come up with new ideas or solutions to a problem? Maybe what you need is to feel comfortable putting forth ideas that are totally different. "Stone ideas" whose purpose is only to stimulate other ideas, knowing that they won't make it to the end solution.
The paradox of using an ingredient essential to the creation of, but contributes nothing to, the final product.
Maybe it's time to use a stone in your creativity sessions.