Customer Reviews

Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small

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This is an excellent book on creative thinking. It shows you how it does not take a rocket scientist to be a creative genius. The authors demonstrate several creative thinking strategies that work very well. They indicate that most great ideas come from two basic thinking strategies, including problems in search of solutions and solutions in search of problems. The first strategy (problems in search of solutions) leads to the development of many new incremental products and services. They are not so new in their concept, but they represent a different twist on existing concepts. The second strategy (solutions in search of problems) leads to totally brand new technological and innovative breakthroughs. Both strategies add tremendous value to our society, to commerce, and represents incremental hundred of $billion in national economic wealth.

The authors illustrate their creative concepts by many examples taken from the business world, and how corporations have introduced really innovative and successful products worldwide. Examples include many creative financial services and product concepts. So, if you work for a bank or a financial service company, you may find a lot of food for thoughts here. But, examples are also taken from many different industries. So, regardless of where you work, this book will have practical applications for you.

I work in a small think tank of one of the major financial institutions on the West Coast. Parts of my yearly MBOs entail coming up with new financial product structures for my employer. I was a bit in a creative thinking rut. Just by reading this book, following the strategies suggested by the authors, I came up with a couple of very interesting product concepts that I cant wait to present to my management. This book is really fun, and it will enhance both your creativity and your career.

I've often been considered a creative type fella' - a good problem solver. Lately though, my brain has been full of cob webs and dust bunnies - creative thought was almost impossible. That all changed a few weeks ago, when I began reading this book - it re-energized my thinking and removed the barriers that were impeding my creative flow. After reading the book, one particular thought began repeating itself inside my head: "Sowing seed into the collective consciousness". I truly believe in the concept of sowing and reaping - that everything we do should not be money motivated. That is what this book teaches - that not every good idea should be kept inside of our heads, simply because we do not have the money or resources to do anything with that idea. Why be selfish? Why not share our ideas with others - others who may be able to utilize that idea or variations of it to solve critical issues in their lives - personally and professionally?

Another aspect of this book is to teach concrete easy to learn problem-solving techniques. No fancy terminology, no vague concepts - no empty marketing "fluff" that has been generated to fill the pages of a book. These techniques can be utilized by everyone - from the blue collar worker, to the homemaker, to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

The authors of this book don't leave their readers empty handed either. They have created a Web site (www.whynot.net), where their concepts and techniques can be put right into practice. In fact, at this very moment - a small town in New Mexico is about to utilize that Web site to begin making dramatic changes to their community.

This book is a "must read" - I suggest that it be purchased and read prior to the new year - use it's teachings as a catalyst for making major positive changes in your life in 2004.

I have a huge interest in creativity and have read many books on the subject.

What I liked most about the book was its pragmatic approach to creativity/problem-solving. Rather than going through dozens of techniques and suggestions to inspire breakthrough solutions, it breaks the process down into two parts: Finding solutions and Applying existing solutions; and four techniques. While there is definitely a need for truly original ideas and solutions, there is also value in building on existing ideas. Many books on entrepreneurship preach this method for generating business ideas. This book does a good job on telling you how to do that.

In addition, the writing style of the authors make it a fast and enjoyable read.

As for negatives, I thought the discussion on "Why can't you feel my pain?" could have been explained better and the placement of some exercises disrupted the flow of the book.

Keep in mind that the focus of the book is presenting a way to look at problems and solutions. While there are suggestions and examples, I would not consider this a step by step guide to creativity.

Overall, a very good book worth reading.

All these years, you've been eating bananas the wrong way. The part you think is the top? Wrong. It's the bottom. You doubt that? Look at any picture of a monkey eating a banana. He holds what you think is the top in his fist, where it becomes a serviceable handle. Then he peels the top --- what you think of as the bottom --- and happily munches away.

For that matter, when you eat ice cream, how do you put the spoon in your mouth? Right side up, I'll bet. Tasty? You may think so. But would you change your mind --- and your eating habits --- if you knew your taste buds were all on your tongue?

Let's consider car theft. You may think you have thwarted criminals by putting a Club on your steering wheel. And you have --- for your car. At the same time, however, you have sent the car thief down the block looking for another victim. But if you had installed a Lojack, the would-be thief wouldn't have known your car was protected. Yes, he might have stolen it. But the odds are very good that he would have been caught --- and sent away where he couldn't steal any more cars. Which is why Massachusetts decreed that cars with Lojacks get a 25% discount on insurance. And why auto theft in Boston dropped 50%.

brilliant ideas? Yes. But not, say Yale professors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres, beyond your reach. Innovation, they argue, can be taught. You just need an open mind, a decent imagination and a willingness to challenge received wisdom. Like Bette Nesmith (yes, mother of the leader of The Monkees). She wondered why artists could paint over their mistakes but typists couldn't. The result: White-Out. The later result: Gillette bought her company for $48 million. Or like Wayne Gretsky, the first hockey player to take the puck behind the opponent's goal. That created a blind spot, which he could use to pass or score.

In the pages of this book, you'll find one great idea after another. How about organ donation? Like many good Samaritans, you want your parts given to others upon your death. The problem is you haven't signed your driver's license or any other form to give doctors permission to mine your body. Result: in 2001, there were only 6,081 organ donations in the United States. But what if you flipped the process? What if, instead of opting in, you'd have to opt out of organ donation? Then we'd be like Sweden: 600,000 potential donors.

"Why Not?" is full of great ideas. Some have become reality; others remain on the drawing boards. (One of the best chapters, even if it's sort of a commercial, takes you through the invention and launch of Honest Tea, a very welcome low-sugar health drink that will someday make its co-owner, Barry Nalebuff, extremely rich.)

But even better than the stories and the little jokes is the mental process that the authors suggest. They show you why it's good to ask, "What would Croesus do?" --- that is, how would you approach a problem if money were no object. They take you through a process of assessment and analysis, so you can tell if your idea has any chance of making it in a marketplace filled with new products.

Most of all, they make your world a little more interesting. Because their key idea --- "how to solve problems big and small using everyday ingenuity" --- is provocative, fun and, just possibly, profitable. And that is a combination even better than eating a banana the right way.

This book introduces some techniques for coming up with creative ideas and (esp.) products, and then describes many examples of innovative products or product ideas which can be derived from application of the techniques. The example products and ideas were really interesting, and I got a number of "nice idea, I can use that in my business problem" thoughts (my business is software development), but not nearly as many as I got when I read "Whack on the Side of the Head", which for me is still the king of creativity books. "Why Not?" seemed a good book for someone who wants to invent products, whereas "Whack..." is pure fuel for how to think more creatively.

Through their clearly written chapters, the authors provide a decent framework for approaching problem-solving. And through myriad real world and conceptual examples (mostly real-world) they demonstrate how to implement it.

One of their main points is that there really is very little that is new under the sun. Most innovations are derivative or otherwise improvements of (or opposites of) existing processes/products/etc... Through examples they show how many ideas are borrowed from different industries, etc... (and importantly, how YOU could use this same process).

That is all fine and good, and I found the book pleasant and entertaining to read... it is NOT (nor does it seem to be intended to be) a particularly deep or scholarly textbook -- though the authors are highly regarded professors in the Yale Business School.

Also, on the negative side, a large percentage of the examples in the book are well known to MBA's and those that regularly read business journals, businessweek, etc...

But all-in-all, it seems to be a worthwhile intro book in the topic. While I would not consider this book a blockbuster, it certainly ties together ideas from pure "creativity" books to real world examples.

Over the years I have developed a library of books on thinking. This book is a welcome addition on creativity and will empower you to find new solutions, particularly in the corporate and government arenas. I also recommend Serious Creativity by Edward De Bono (author of over 40 excellent books on creativity including Lateral Thinking) and Optimal Thinking--How to Be Your Best Self by Rosalene Glickman Ph.D. (to discover the successor to positive thinking, and how to use it consistently to optimize creativity and every situation).

To me, the subtitle of Nalebuff and Ayres's book is especially significant because few of us understand how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small. So often we ask, "What didn't I think of that?" I wholly agree with Nalebuff and Ayres that we could have, had we been willing to view a given situation (need, problem, irritation, etc.) from several different perspectives. For whatever reasons, we seldom do so. That is, we see and hear what we expect because our mental "filters" perpetuate fixed mindsets.

Let's pretend that you have entered the Nalebuff and Ayres Executive Hardware Store. Either Nalebuff or Ayres greets you, offering a complimentary toolbox rather than a cart to use while shopping. "If you need anything or have any questions, please let me know." You then thoroughly explore each of the store's three main departments.

Problems in Search of Solutions: Tools which enable you to take the perspective of an unconstrained consumer and internalize the external effects the external effects of decision-making

Solutions in Search of Problems: Tools which help you to identify "idea arbitrage" and experiment with "things the other way around"

Problem Solving with a Purpose: Tools which enable you to think effectively and productively "inside the box"

The proprietors realize that no visitor to their store needs all of these tools at the same time, nor will all visitors use any one of the tools in precisely the same way. The central purpose of Nalebuff and Ayres' book is to offer various "tools," then explain what each can do and how to use it properly, thereby to change "the way people think about their own ability to affect the world. Our goal is to make it natural -- even expected -- for everyone to challenge the status quo and ask, Why not do it this way instead?"

They cite countless examples from a wealth of real-world experiences, many of which illustrate what I call "the invisibility of the obvious." I agree with Nalebuff and Ayres that innovation can be taught. Many of the most innovative consumer products (e.g. Post-Its as well as those derived from Velcro and Gore-Tex) were created by technology and fabrics already available. To ask "Why didn't I think of that?" is to acknowledge the invisibility of the obvious.

Heightening our awareness of potentialities within the so-called commonplace, thereby enabling "everyday ingenuity," is precisely why Nalebuff and Ayres wrote this thoughtful, thought-provoking, and eloquent book. It will be of greatest value to decision-makers in literally any organization (regardless of size or nature) who are in urgent need of generating new and better ideas, perhaps re-configuring mature products or services, and generating ideas which will be the seed of entirely new products and services.

The quotation from George Bernard Show with which they begin the first chapter seems especially appropriate to the conclusion of my brief commentary: "Some men see things as they are and say, `Why?' I dream of things that never were and say, `Why not?'"

Fill your own toolbox and then have at it!

This book is worth buying if the subject interests you, but manage your expectations, The paperback version of this book is probably fairly priced. The authors are highly regarded academics with impressive academic credentials and extensive exposure to government and commercial clients. From reading this book, it seems a safe bet that neither has much experience of executive responsibility, i.e. managing large numbers of people, and without detracting at all from what they have to say in the realm of neat conceptual models, a lacuna in the book is solving the big and small problems of managing or simply dealing with real people.

STRENGTHS OF THIS BOOK
1. Covers many ideas for problem solving.
2. Easy to read.
3. Real life examples.

WEAKNESSES OF THE BOOK
1. Little on implementing ideas, nothing practical on creativity in people problems ("How to get things done.")
2. Overly folksy writing style. Is this really how Yale professors express their ideas these days?
3. No index. (Why not? - is it meant to be a practical book or not?)

OPPORTUNITIES FOR A READER TO USE THE BOOK
1. Read it in one long bath, and you will emerge with a few new ideas to try in your work or elsewhere in life.
2. Use to check your thinking before pitching an idea or when evaluating someone else's proposal.
3. Good bibliography and further reading guide. (Which makes it even odder to have no idex.)

OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AUTHORS TO IMPROVE THE NEXT EDITION
1. Add one page summaries of key points and techniques from each chapter.
2. Add an index. Pay for it yourselves if the publisher won't.


Overall, worth buying, reading and using.

"EPICTETUS" (London, Hong Kong and San Francisco).

Often, coming up with a new idea is nothing more than looking at existing ideas in a new light. Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small by Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres does a very good job in offering a number of techniques that can help you do the same...

Contents:
Preface - Why "Why Not"?: The Way Things Never Were; Good Ideas and How to Generate Them
Problems in Search of Solutions: What Would Croesus Do?; Why Don't You Feel My Pain?
Solutions in Search of Problems: Where Else Would It Work?; Would Flipping It Work?
Problem Solving with a Purpose: Principled Problem Solving; The Case for Honest Tea; Reinventing Regulation; Implementing Why-Not
Appendix; Endnotes; Further Reading; Acknowledgments; Expanded Table of Contents; About The Authors

This is one of those books that makes you emotionally want to say "Well, duh! That's obvious!" But rationally, you know that very few ever ask the question "why not?" As such, we attempt to solve the same old problems with the same old solutions (that didn't work the first time, either). The techniques that Nalebuff and Ayres explore aren't fundamentally hard to grasp, but they will take you down paths that are not normally explored. For instance, "What Would Croesus Do?" views a problem from the perspective of an "unrestrained consumer". Cost to solve is no object, so throw all the money you want at it. Once you have a solution (or solutions), start to distill down the essence of the solution to get 99% of the benefit for 1% of the cost. The example used is getting unwanted late night phone calls that wake you up. An unrestrained consumer would hire someone to screen all their calls. But what if the phone company allowed you to have your phone answered without a ring between specified times, and it would only ring through if the caller knew or used a code? The calls are screened for far less than the cost of a servant... Or perhaps we take "Where Else Would It Work?" and look for additional problems that might be solved by an elegant solution. An example here is the phone keypad. Everyone knows how to use it. But how many of us struggle to set digital alarm clocks using forward/backward buttons? Perhaps you use the keypad to allow the time to be keyed in directly..

This is one of those books that you don't have to restrict to "just" your job or your personal life. Once you get into the mindset of asking "why not?", you will start to see problems in a creative light. You'll start to understand that we're not lacking answers, we're just lacking people who ask the right question... A very good read, and one that could potentially change your life...