The Need to Seed and Feed New Ideas
by Christine Williams-Timme, Visionary of SmartSamantha
There is an enlarging creativity gap in our youth and our future entrepreneurs. As reported in a recent Newsweek article, creativity in children has declined consistently since the 1990’s (Newsweek, July 10, 2010). In addition most K-12 programs, while focused on basic skills development, unfortunately offer very limited (if any) classes on creativity and entrepreneurship. On-going funding cutbacks do not bode well for expanding offerings in these important areas.
What does this creativity gap mean to you and our country? The implications are manifold, such as fewer successful entrepreneurs meaning lower employment, less effective leadership, and the U.S. losing its edge in innovation and research and development.
How can we help close this gap? The seeds of creativity planted in all young minds need to be more effectively nurtured to help turn more ideas into a fruitful harvest. After all, many success stories, whether business, personal, societal or otherwise, started as an idea.
Wanting to help close the creativity gap and encourage the sprouting of new ideas, I created the SmartSamantha Bizdoms® Adventure book series. SmartSamantha BizAdventures is a fun story-based framework for planting and cultivating ideas through activity books, short stories and novel. The activity book series begins with the “6 P’s of Ideas” where the lead character SmartSamantha and her sidekick Wally O.S.D. (One Smart Dog) successfully sprout and harvest her idea. A key to her success is applying what I coined the “idea comes true” formula.
(What + How + Who + “To Do”) + (Sell + Sale) = Idea Comes True
Much of the guidance provided in the SmartSamantha book series is based on my experiences starting and running a successful small business, FinListics Solutions, over the last 20 years. FinListics provides financially-focused education to companies, both big and small, around the world. Through these 20 years, I have seen many of my ideas come true and many wilt on the vine.
Through both management of FinListics and interaction with our clients I have complied a list of many practical Business Wisdoms or what I like to call Bizdoms which are shared throughout SmartSamantha’s adventures. I have also discovered that there are 6 P’s common to the “Idea Comes True” formula. These 6 P’s of ideas are:
- Product- The What
- Plan- The How
- Partners- The Who
- Production- The “To Do”
- Promote- The Sell
- Purchase- The Sale
Minds of all ages can enhance their creativity by following SmartSamantha’s lead as she and Wally turn her teen dream into reality by applying the 6 P’s. Readers color the pages of SmartSamantha’s story and are encouraged to apply the six P’s to their own ideas. No video game, just getting their hands and minds to work in conjunction drawing and formulating the ideas of their dreams -- the ideas of our future entrepreneurs. While SmartSamantha’s storyline involves starting a business, the concepts underlying the 6P’s and Bizdoms are applicable to many kinds of ideas.
One key component to the SmartSamantha adventure series is Mentoring. Mentors play such an important role in this ideation process. Mentors can be seasoned business executives, parents, grandparents, extended family, teachers, club leaders, etc. These mentors help individuals of all ages cultivate their ideas using the SmartSamantha resources. In our “instant” and “on-demand” society, young people and even adults need the hands on reinforcement of mentors to understand that cultivating the best ideas takes time and effort, but can produce the most rewarding results.
When exploring Samantha’s 6 P’s of Ideas, I have enjoyed watching the ideas in inquisitive minds come to life with SmartSamantha. The book and its principals so far have successfully sprouted several new business ideas such as a hip boutique for teens and young women called Drop...surf or city look pretty.
So today join the creativity wave! Start to seed and feed a smart idea and together let’s close the creativity gap.