August Fast Company Article Summary by Carol A. Thesing

This Old House Is A Home For New Ideas by Curtis Sittenfeld July/August issue, pg. 58-60.

This article really intrigued me with its opening quote by creativity guru Joey Reiman. He said, If you can change your mind, you can change the world. But how do you change your mind? By slowing down long enough to think: Experience the power of a slow company.

My first impression of Reimans statement was, Wow! This is an almost radical idea that doesnt seem to fit with the times or even with this Fast Company magazine. I couldnt wait to read more. I was sure there had to be a hidden twist. To slow down makes just too much common sense to actually be what this article was about. I was wrong.

Reiman is a 46 year old CEO of BrightHouse, an ideation corporation, like to brag about how slow they do business. He firmly believes, great ideas cant be rushed. BrightHouse has an impressive list of clients, including Coca Cola, Home Depot and others. They charge a half a million dollars per project and they only work on one project at a time. For that kind of money, the firm can afford to put all their people (17) on one project at a time. Most projects take about 10 weeks to complete.

Reiman follows a four-step process to achieve a goal of devising breakthrough ideas. The first step is investigation. They interact with anyone and everyone they believe may add insight. The experts could range from a five year old child to a company founder. An average of 50-75 people are contacted.

The second phase is the incubation phase. Reiman says this is the simmering stage, when right and left brain play together. Reiman may take is employees on a yacht to let his employees brains do their thing.

The third stage is illumination and illustration. This is where the big ideas come to life and are recorded. And the last stage is execution and evaluation.

Joey Reiman believes high speeds do not help solve the big problems. He brags about his company being the worlds slowest. He believes to solve the big problems, you need to use a deliberate thinking process. He indicates creativity requires comfort and a sense of childlike fearlessness.

I was pleasingly surprised to find this article really was about slowing down and how important it is to creativity.

In conclusion, I am listing quotes from Joey Reiman, I felt were especially meaningful to me.

 If you can change your mind, you can change the world.  Before you can be creative, you must be courageous.  Creativity is the destination, but courage is the journey.  If your self-worth is high, your net worth will be high.  If you want to be creative, youve got to be able to dance.

My response to this article is written throughout my summary. I really enjoyed this approach to finding great ideas.

When talking with other about the article, most people told me they would like to work at BrightHouse. They also were realistic enough to believe there is more to this story. It would be fun though to spend some time in a work week just trying to come up with the great idea without worrying about all the other things that need to get done.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 1999