Four years ago when my siser & I sat down to brainstorm how I could raise the funds for my first album, and she introduced me to Edward De Bono's "6 Thinking Hats" system, I had no idea where that coffee would lead me. By the end of it, having considered the objectives, pros, cons, facts & feelings, we finally donned our 'green' hats of lateral thinking & had come up with the Lucky Packet Project alternative album funding model. That simple exercise of scribbling down a crazy idea to 'sell an album that did not exist' has sent me on a journey that has resulted in my becoming a speaker on innovation.
When Journey To The Core decided to feature me in May this year, they asked that I include skills I have learned along the way. It felt fitting to share 6 Thinking Hats as an invaluable tool in creative thinking, and we had a fun day dramatising the process. After the show flighted I was inundated with emails about the hats and how helpful people had found the insert. One of the people who had loved the concept got hold the De Bono Institute of South Africa, and when they discovered I had given them such great free publicity they naturally got in touch to find out more.
After sharing my story with t
hem, Zander Powell arranged for me to speak at the Innovation Summit in Maropeng (which led to me being chosen for the cover of SA Innovator Magazine for November) and at the end of my talk, Nicola Tyler (founder of De Bono Business Solutions), bought two of my albums & asked that I sign one for Edward De Bono himself!!! Last week she handed the CD over to him with my thanks for his amazing book, and he and his entire team then watched the Journey to the Core episode about my project & how the hats had made it possible!
I could never have known that a coffee with my sister (who by the way just qualified as a De Bono Lateral Thinking faciliator), would result in me not only innovating in the music industry but also one day having a copy of that album being handed to the very man who had inspired the project!!! If all goes well I will be training to become a 6 Thinking Hats facilitator in December and next year I should be teaching people around the country on how to use this exceptional approach to problem solve!!!
Incredible to consider the unexpected things that result from following through on an idea. That is the real magic of saying "YES" to life - you never know where that 'yes' will lead you - so just go for it!!
