Alex F. Osborn is known as the father of brainstorming. As an advertising guru in the middle part of the 20th century, he employed this technique as a creative thinking procedure.
Below is a summary of his brainstorming rules:
- Encourage freewheeling – The wilder the idea, the better.
- More is better than less – Don’t limit the discussion. Encourage it to go deeper.
- No criticism – Withhold judgment until later in the process. Criticism stifles creativity.
- Combine and refine – Some ideas will not thrive as a standalone idea but may when combined with other ideas.
Happy brainstorming!