“Chillis" - Episode 5 - The Common Creative

Chris and Paul share a passion for chillis - and not just because they enjoy the flavour. Chris’ consultancy business is called Chilli Sauce and Paul has been painting chillis for many years. Inspired by this passion, Chris and Paul explore the impact of chilis on creativity and discover some surprising lessons:

• In order to create ‘new new’ ideas, it’s important to break the hard-wired “rivers of thinking’ which exist inside the brain. A jolt - such as the heat of a chilli or the stimulus of an exciting idea or a new person can help the brain cut across its rivers of thinking, form new connections and hence new ideas
• Just as the right amount of chilli (but not too much) can make a good dish into a great dish, so business needs to incorporate the right amount of creativity in order to innovate and grow. Too much chilli or too much creativity will explode the taste buds and a successful business idea!
• Chilis are a meme for exchanging ideas.   In business, great ideas are super-spicy and invite storytelling and sharing. Small tweaks to a business formula are like vanilla flavoured food - pleasant but  at risk of being forgotten
• An idea isn’t an idea until it's been shared and ‘bought’ by someone else.  (For artists, it means work doesn't become an artwork until someone else has bought it)

Links/notes

Edward De-Bono

http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/lateral.htm

Chilli Chopsticks Paintings (by Paul)

Watercolour Tabasco ( by Paul)

The Chilli Pepper and the Columbian Exchange

http://sageshistoryblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-chili-pepper-and-columbian-exchange.html

The Common Creative

https://thecommoncreative.co

Paul Fairweather (Podcast Co-host)

https://www.paulfairweather.com

Chris Meredith (Podcast Co-host)

https://chrismeredith.com.au