Serious Creativity by Edward De Bono

Author:Edward De Bono
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473528031
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

THE ESCAPE METHOD

This is a simple and straightforward way of creating provocations. In any situation there are many “normal” things that we take for granted. We take for granted that a cup has a saucer and a handle. We take for granted that the rim of a cup is circular. We take for granted that a cup stands upright. I prefer the term “take for granted” rather than “assume” because we sometimes feel that assumptions may not be justified. Features that we “take for granted” need not be present on every occasion but are “usually” present and part of the situation.

You must never put down a problem, a complaint, or a negative feature as a “take-for-granted” item. The escape method does not work from negatives because escaping from a negative has no provocative effect.

Sometimes the “take-for-granted” features are obvious. For example, we take for granted that shoes have soles. At other times we make an effort to find “hidden” items. For instance, we take for granted that there are left shoes and right shoes. We take for granted that the heel slightly elevates the foot.

So the first step is to spell out something we take for granted. This should be done formally and specifically. We take for granted that restaurants have food.

The next step is the “escape” from what we have taken for granted. This means cancelling, negating, dropping, removing, denying, or escaping from what we have taken for granted.

We take for granted that restaurants have food.

Po, restaurants do not have food.

There we have our provocation.

The next step is movement. Using the moment-to-moment technique we imagine people sitting in this very nice restaurant but with no food. Next time they come they will remember to bring sandwiches with them. From this develops the idea of a restaurant as an elegant place for indoor picnics. You bring your friends and your food and pay a service charge to the restaurant owner. Perhaps, by arrangement, the picnic hampers can be packed by another restaurant at off-peak times. So just as you entertain your friends to a picnic on a river bank, so you can entertain your friends to an indoor picnic in elegant surroundings.

We take for granted that restaurants charge for the food.

Po, restaurants do not charge for the food.

Perhaps restaurants could charge for “time” instead of food. You paid a certain sum for every minute but the food was free. This might make sense in cafes where patrons could sit for a long time and just order one cup of coffee. Instead of the coffee being very expensive in order to cover the overhead, the coffee would be cheap, but a sort of parking meter in the middle of the table would charge for time. More simply, the bill handed you by the waiter would be time-stamped and on the way out, the time charge be assessed.

It is interesting to note that an “escape” from the necessity of having to pay the bill then and there led to the concept behind Diners Club many years ago.

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