The Intelligence Estimate

I was waiting to cross the street by my house the other day when I saw a black bungee cord in the middle of the street. I didn't think much of it at first, but the light didn't change for a long time so I had a moment to think about it. The longer the light stayed red, the more I thought, "That could do some damage if someone hits those prongs just right. I should pick that up."

I looked across the street and saw a bunch of other people waiting to cross to my side. Behind them was a sign for the Creative Problem Solving Institute 2006. This is a week-long symposium hosted by some advertising guru who knows more than you do. I know he knows more than you do because he has an institute. Do YOU have an institute? Do you even know where you can get an institute? What do you have? Well, if you pay up to $1125.00 you can have a handy little document suitable for framing that says how creative you are...but it's not an institute is it?

That's the real creativity here: getting people to fork over money for something that, in reality, you can't give them. Creativity cannot be taught anymore than you can teach comedy, you either get it or you don't. In the end you if you cannot tell a joke and have no charisma (Do you hear me Carrot Top?), no amount of teaching is going to make you any better. It will only leave you poorer. Same for creativity. You are either creative or you're not. You can learn some nifty little tricks and buzzwords that will annoy your friends and co-workers, but if it comes pre-packaged with a Powerpoint presentation and a neat little packet of worksheets it's not really creativity. It's marketing. Marketing fooled me once already with NEW Coke and I'm not gonna sign on for that pain again.

So as I stood at the intersection and looked at those smug morons being fleeced, I thought: "You know what? I'd like to see how these "problem solvers" go about those little conundrum. Let one of them pick it up."

The bungee cord is still there.

I'm starting my own institute.