The Creative Contrarian 20 "Wise Fool" Strategies to Boost Creativity and Curb Groupthink

Tackle your thorniest problems using the Wise Fool’s savvy Strategies! 

The Wise Fool is the archetypal contrarian known for his creativity, irreverence, and humor. He looks at life in unorthodox ways and pushes back against the status quo. Throughout history, powerful decision-makers (Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese emperors, Persian sultans, and European kings) consulted Wise Fools to question the assumptions that kept them mired in stale and obsolete solutions.  

In The Creative Contrarian, best-selling author (A Whack on the Side of the Head), speaker, and toy designer (Ball of Whacks) Dr. Roger von Oech provides readers with a fully-illustrated “Wise Fool Guide” to challenge established procedures and engage in creative thinking.  

Roger shows how to gain the confidence to speak up in “groupthink” situations — and boldly present a different perspective. From laughing at your most beloved ideas to test their validity to adding constraints to problems to reveal new solutions, he offers a framework for creativity that works in business, design, education, and anywhere new ideas are required — and appreciated! 

Employing a wealth of stories and examples, The Creative Contrarian presents 20 Wise Fool Strategies:  

• Some offer ideas to enhance your creativity (“Reverse Your Perspective,” “Look for Ambiguity,” and “Kiss a Favorite Idea Goodbye”)  
• Some provide tips on how to break away from the herd (“Buck the Crowd,” “Flex Your Risk Muscle,” and “Seek Other Right Answers”) 
• And still others convey prudent warnings in an unpredictable world (“Exercise Humility,” “Imagine Unintended Outcomes,” and “Develop a Thick Skin”) 

Together, these jewels of insight will help you see things from the Wise Fool’s perspective! As the Wise Fool puts it: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have”; and “Every ‘right’ idea eventually becomes the ‘wrong’ one.” 

The Creative Contrarian: 20 “Wise Fool” Strategies to Boost Creativity and Curb Group think is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking fresh solutions to common problems at the office, in the classroom, or at home.  

Roger von Oech has spent a lifetime listening to his Wise Fool. He started his company, Creative Think, in 1977, to stimulate innovation in business. His seminars and products have enhanced the creativity of millions around the world.

His clients have ranged from Apple, IBM, Cartier, Columbia Pictures, Nestlé, and Disney to NASA, Coca-Cola, Sony, Google, Microsoft, and USA Swimming.

He is the author of four books on creativity, including the classic million- seller A Whack on the Side of the Head (translated into 25 languages). He’s the creator of the Creative Whack Pack card deck and iOS app. In addition, he is the inventor of a line of magnetic manipulative geometrical toys, the most popular of which is the Ball of Whacks.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio State, and earned his PhD from Stanford University in a self-conceived program in the “History of Ideas.”

Introduction 1

Part I: Meet the Wise Fool 9

Part II: The Wise Fool Strategies 23

1 Buck the Crowd 25

2 Flex Your Risk Muscle 37

3 Laugh at It 49

4 Seek Other Right Answers 59

5 Keep Playing with It 69

6 Reverse Your Perspective 81

7 Fool Around with the Constraints 91

8 Build on an Odd Idea 99

9 Look for Ambiguity 103

10 See the Obvious 111

11 Use Your Forgettery 117

12 Drop What’s Obsolete 125

13 Kiss a Favorite Idea Goodbye 131

14 Revisit a Discarded Idea 135

15 Find What’s out of Whack 139

16 Stop Fooling Yourself 145

17 Exercise Humility 153

18 Imagine the Unintended 159

19 Develop a Thick Skin 169

20 Shed an Illusion 173

Part III: Use Your Wise Fool Know-How 177

Selected Bibliography 193

Index of Proper Names 196

Acknowledgments 199

About the Author 200

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