Jump Start Your Brain, by Doug Hall with David Wecker, 1995. 

Eureka! Stimulus Response method.

 

Why do leaders need to be creative?  Or should they find creative individuals to work for them?  How can a leaders balance their need for structure with the inherent shotgun approach of the creative types?   

 

Doug Hall spent a decade as a successful product development person for Proctor & Gamble before retiring at 32 and launching his own company called Richard Saunders International, borrowing the pen name from Ben Franklin.  A born entrepreneur Hall and Franklin share many similarities:

+    Same birthdays, 253 years apart

+    Receding hairlines

+    Wives named Debbie

+    Flying kites and playing practical jokes

+    Far flung interests

+    Doug's forefather, Lyman Hall, signed the Declaration of Independence with Franklin

 

The book is about 400 pages long and filled with examples that emphasize Hall's learning points.  It is an easy and quick read punctuated with much humor (fun) to keep you interested.  Not your typical book, it is broken down into three Acts and begins with chapter 101.

 

In Act I Hall describes how he developed the Eureka! Stimulus Response method for tapping into the creative reserves of the mind.  He gives the example of the typical method of idea generation - getting people together in a team, sitting around a table in a room to brainstorm ideas from their minds.  Someone in charge says, "OK, be creative," which Hall describes as death marches because the exercises suffered from a lack of serious fun.  Instead of a brainstorm, he refers to these sessions as Braindrains because they produce very little in the way of creative solutions.

 

With a background in chemical engineering, it is logical that Hall breaks the process down into an equation:

                        E=(S + BOS)^F

Or in detail:

                        Eureka! = (Stimulus + Brain Operating System) ^FUN  

Or better yet:

The big idea comes from allowing your Brain Operating System (BOS) react to stimuli in an environment of fun.

 

Hall offers some excellent ideas on how to unleash your creativity and how to use several tools toward that end.  To get started he has an ABC process for finding those "wicked good ideas."  A:  Total Immersion, preparing the ground before planting the seeds.

B:  Eureka! Seed Explosion, stimuli from A are used to spark wicked good seed ideas.

C:  InterAct Inventing, assembling seed ideas into sprouts, nurture into hard concepts, practical solutions and ready-to-go solutions.

 

Act II consists of nearly 150 pages of techniques and examples of how to implement the Eureka! Stimulus Response and make it work for you.  It's a regular grocery store from which you can fill your cart with different techniques and explore different options with various stimuli, exploring the senses, an exercise in Flapdoodling and meeting Dr. Disecto among other useful applications.

 

The bottom line of jump starting your brain is to look at a problem from a different perspective, tear it apart and turn it upside down in order to find solutions; emphasis on the plural.  In a study done with traditional brain storming a group only came up with 29 ideas in 45 minutes.  Using Hall's Eureka! approach, over 300 ideas were generated in the same amount of time.  Having that many more possible solutions, leads to even greater options in how a problem can be solved.

 

Finally, in Act III Hall says we should Go4it!  He sums up his experiences and encourages you to apply the techniques in the book, after all, what have you got to lose?  He even provides his version of the "Ten Commandments of How to Turn Your Dreams into Reality."

 

The book contains quotes from Ben Franklin, Richard Saunders, clients, trained brains, family and friends throughout.  The book was very fun to read and full of examples worthy of trying.  There must be several applications for most people to use between the covers.

 

In his own words, Doug Hall says, "I wrote this book to help people who have a dream, and to light a spark for those who want to escape conformity.  It's a blueprint for creativity, conquering fears, cultivating gumption, taking risks, and taking control.  Come on, what are you waiting for?  I'm ready and willing:  Let's go for it!  To quote Ben Franklin, 'Up sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.'"

 

Hall also has websites under:

www.doughall.com  - with links to other sites

www.eurekaranch.com  - not as informational as the above

 

This web link provides an excerpt from this book -

www.eurekaranch.com/books/jumpexcerpt.htm 

 

Hall has also published other books

Meaningful Marketing, Jump Start Your Business Brain, and Making the Courage Connection.