Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions are among the common devices that can stimulate thinking and ideating amongst individuals within an organization. Brainstorming is a group decision making technique, based on the idea of people coming together to solve problems. It uses a process by which individuals propose their own ideas into a pool of thoughts, on an un-edited, spontaneous basis, to spur other thoughts and to reach past inhibitions and self-censureship that comes from more traditional techniques. Individuals are encouraged to spontaneously generate and offer as many ideas as they possibly can, whether they are "good" or even "silly". The process uses the psychic energy and enthusiasm of the group toward a common goal, solving a mutual problem or eliciting proposals of what to do in a given situation. The results of seemingly random and open idea exchange are listed and then discussed for validity and how applicable they may be to the particular problem or decision making that is needed.

Richard Florida, a professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon University, argues in his new book, "The Rise of the Creative Class," that with the decline of the manufacturing base, what he call