BRAINSTORMING 239. Get Random Ideas Hold a virtual brainstorming session. Challenge people to call–in from the most random place they can think of (coffee shop, park, baseball game, etc). Why? Studies suggest that getting away from the office can spur creativity. One study found that participants were more creative in a bustling coffee shop than in a quiet office, attributing it to distraction. “A moderate distraction, which induces processing difficulty, enhances creativity by prompting abstract thinking.”1 In his book Iconoclast, author Gregory Burns explains, “Sometimes a simple change of environment is enough to jog the perceptual system out of familiar categories... when confronted with places never seen before...the brain jumbles around old ideas with new images to create new 2 syntheses.” 1 See Ambient Noise and Creative Cognition. 2 See Iconoclast. 126