The world of problem solving can be broken down into two types: analytical and creative. For example, analytical problem solving focuses on improving efficiency by finding the root cause, fixing it, and achieving a definite outcome. The analytical approach has been found lacking with problems beyond efficiency: adapting to change and finding new growth opportunities. Creative problem solving requires creativity not only in finding solutions but more importantly finding and defining new problems. Often the hard work is defining the problem before trying to solve it. In fact, Herbert Simon and Richard Buchanan identified a special class of problems they termed “wicked problems.” These are complex, open-ended, never-ending ambiguous problems, which require continuous creativity.

In my real-world experience at P&G I found most problems in the business world required creativity. Sometimes, the challenge was finding valuable new problems or finding problems you never knew you had. In addition, evaluating and implementing new ideas also required different kinds of creativity. Building on the pioneering work in creative problem solving of my mentor, Dr. Sidney Parnes, I gradually learned how creativity works in the business world and evolved the eight-step circular process (Simplexity).