 Welcome to The Creative Life, a collaborative production between the American Creativity Association and Think Tech, Hawaii. I am Darlene Boyd, your host for today's show, and coming to us from Athens, Georgia is our guest, Dr. Alan Black, Dr. Robert Alan Black, also known as Dr. Robert Alan Black. Alan is a worldwide creativity consultant, and the time spent with us today, Alan will offer a brief overview of creative strategies in dealing with change and resilience and a sharing of his horrific real-life experiences centering around his arrest in Abu Dhabi. His story is riveting and involves a host of creativity angels that came together to bring his nightmare to its end. Remember to send your questions throughout the show to questions at thinktechhawaii.com. Welcome Alan to The Creative Life. We could start by you just telling us a little bit of how you began your study and commitment to creativity. I think a number of us that work in creativity were very envious that you had the opportunity to begin your studies with Dr. Paul Torrance, pretty much known as the father of creativity. So how did that come about? Well, in 1976, a year that was full of tragedy as well as very positive things in my life, I volunteered to be a teacher of the gifted in which my oldest son was one of the 23 children at his elementary school. I knew nothing about teaching other than having been a student for many years, but I kept asking the teachers for suggestions. I asked neighbors who were teachers and a couple of them recommended these articles and I read there were two articles by Paul Torrance. The first one basically said all human beings are born capable of thinking creatively. The second one was the fact that we can develop our creative thinking traits and skills as long as we are alive. And I saw that happening with him when he was in his mid 80s and only a week away from his death. He was still thinking creatively and coming up with new ways of doing things. When I read those two articles, that's got me started. Then I met a man who created a creative thinking technique I had never seen before. It's called scamper. Just taking this word scamper, which is kind of like what squirrels and chipmunks and children in kindergarten do, they scamper around. And each of the letters stands for an action word or a verb. Substitute, combine, adapt, minify, modify, put to other uses, eliminate and reverse. To the best of my knowledge, after 40 plus years of studying, it is the most used technique I'm aware of. But when I met him, we had dinner one night at a conference on gifted education. And he kept he listened to me intensely. And then he said, you need to go to Sipsy. Well, Sipsy is an acronym for the longest running and at one time largest creativity conference in the world, creative problem solving institute. It was founded by the man who came up with the one technique called brainstorming, which is also one of the ones used. That's got me started. That led me to take classes on gifted education. That led me to read more books. Then I finished a master's degree in guidance and counseling of gifted, talented and creative, and then went to Georgia, where I live now and have since 79, to study specifically with Paul Torrance. Well, I was just going to say, the alumni, all they think about is football here. I came here because of Paul Torrance. And it's not bad. We became the champions in 21 for the first time in 40 years. Well, for our viewers to know that you were one of the few people that really had quite a strong relationship with Paul Torrance over uninterrupted for years until his passing. So you are a special person to all of us because you're very open in sharing your experience with Dr. Torrance. But I saw this real quick on that point to drive it home. All right. I saw him as my teacher, a guru. His name was everywhere. He was the most published University of Georgia faculty in the history, 200 years, one of the most published in creative thinking, but one of the humblest men I've ever met. The greatest gifts originally were him as my teacher, then my guide. And then one time he wrote in a book, he gave me as a gift to my friend who I am be. But the greatest gift of them all in all the years I knew him, almost 40 years, was his friendship, his personal friendship. But I think that's something and as we continue our conversation today, we'll touch upon how those of us that work in creativity have the share bond and our friendships are very important to us as we proceed in our work. I'd like to wow our viewers at first by sharing in my in your estimation, in my estimation, I think we came up with that you've done 4,000 presentations in more than 24 countries. And these presentations that you've integrated 50 countries, 50 countries. I was a little off of my count. Integrate and you've integrated creative thinking into every presentation. And that that's pretty amazing in itself. And you probably you talk about Paul Terrence's humility, but many of us find you to be very humble in your efforts and very committed to making the world a better place. That became my commitment. I've been an architect, I've been a graphic designer, a news writer, a freelance writer and a couple other things. Before that happened in 76. I continued working architecture, moral freelance over the next 10 years rather than full time because I was teaching part time. But my goal was to teach creative thinking. But I learned soon you have to have really strong business skills to teach a subject that people resist. So I satisfied my need by including creative thinking in everything I did. And it came back in a positive way because when I would interview or survey past clients, I'd say what were the three or four things that really stuck out? Why did you send your people to my master's degree course 20 different times? And they all said creativity. So I did teach creative thinking, just not the way I originally had planned. In your first remarks when we first started this session, you mentioned you referenced brainstorming. And I think it's important to point out to our viewers, often people think that brainstorming is it. If you just brainstorm, then you're dealing with the creative process. But brainstorming is only one part of a process, which you mentioned also CIPC, Creative Problem Solving Institute, where people go back every year and actually refine that process and make it better. People like yourselves, tell us a little bit about that. Well, first of all, brainstorming is a specific tool created by the creative director of BBDNO, one of the most successful, longest lasting ad agencies in the world. Alex Osborn became fascinated about creative thinking and he read what was available. But he needed something to help his people be creative now, not when the spirit was with them, but eight o'clock on Monday morning. And he played with it and he came up with this thing with four guidelines, not rules. Quantity will breed quality. In other words, always shoot for more ideas. Second hitchhike, combine ideas. Often better ideas will come when you combine two totally different ideas into one. Third was to shoot for the fantasy. His way of saying it, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, was it's easier to tame a wild idea down than it is to make a dull idea exciting and so forth. And he had, I'm drawing a blank on the fourth. Oh, no judgment. That's why I was avoiding it. He discovered that you don't generate ideas when you're being judgmental. So and we didn't have the right brain, left brain theories at that time when he was doing this, but he was talking about it. You can't judge and create at the same time. So he said, stop judging. Focus on the creative. You can always judge later. Well, those are the four guidelines and almost monthly I see an article about someone saying, well, research says that brainstorming doesn't work. Well, Torrance taught me to be a good researcher, though I've been a searcher actually for 40 years, not a researcher. But I question any time I see research. What I discovered was they were not researching brainstorming the technique. They were researching badly run meetings. They were calling it brainstorming. Just having five to 12 or 20 people in a room generating ideas is not what brainstorming is. Brainstorming takes techniques and practice and guidance. And I can stop five people in a mall or on the street and help them generate ideas. I don't recommend that way, but it does happen. But I became fascinated when I went to my first Sipsy in 78, these things called creative thinking tools. I didn't know they existed. I had even forgotten scamper from a couple of years before, but I started collecting them and I created a system called creative stamps like stamp collecting. The word stamps is an acronym for six types of tools. Systems, tools and techniques, approaches or attitudes, methods, processes, strategies. And my whole theme, if I had a single tagline, it is choose to be creative. And I do that every day somehow. I hope you don't mind me sharing this or calling attention. But you've had, in addition to a wonderful life and wonderful experiences, but you've also had some terrible tragedies in your life. You lost your son and you also lost the love of your life, Mary, at way too soon. But I noticed on your website, and I really think this is just a follow up to what you've just said, it was your wife that said, called you and mentioned, and you've shared this quote, that you, Alan, are a migrant worker that doesn't pick fruits and vegetables, but you pick people's brains. And that was a long time ago that she said that. But in the time that we've known you, I think that's still true of you. And as I'm listening to you, you certainly do pick people's brains. I do that every day, whether I make money at it or not, because like right now, to celebrate a one week in the year called World Creativity and Innovation Week and Day, starts on the 14th through the 21st, starts with Leonardo da Vinci's birthday and ends a week later. I've been celebrating or honoring it each day by sharing one creative technique that you can learn and continually learn to do it better every, you know, if you want. It's a theme I've been using for years and blogs and websites and groups, such as one of them is, they're all highly creative people's gifts. So they may not see them in everybody, but they can be developed. That's the key. But one of the things I have found with the greatest number of highly creative people is money is not the motive. It may be the benefit or the result, but it's not why they do what they do. And even Steve Jobs, who died a billionaire, money wasn't the issue to him. It was changing the world, or as he said it, put a dent in the universe. He wanted to make a difference. And in his case, like many like him, it was through the efforts of thousands of other people. So, Alan, I'd like to take us to to an experience that you had and the love for life and a love for creativity brought you into this unfortunate experience. So over the years, you also have enjoyed taking pictures of so many things. And I, like many people follow, you call yourself Wandering Alan and you put up albums for us to to review and look out of your travels. And we all find pleasure in sometimes just for an excursion. Well, we'll click into your space and see where you've been and enjoy your pictures. So as as I can correct me on any of this, if I'm not correct, but you were originally in Dubai doing a presentation and then you moved on to Abu Dhabi. Is that correct after your first year apart? A year or a year apart? One of our newer members of the creativity community through Sipsy and he became a member of others. He attended ACA also. Mohamed Arafa, he made the arrangements for the program in Dubai and it was a success. It was a two day program. Most of us spent five days. Others spent seven days. It was a fabulous experience. I had been in Dubai maybe a dozen times before that, but never out of the airport. His Dubai is like Atlanta. You can't get anywhere east or west unless you go through Dubai. But in Dubai, then the next year, he set it up in Abu Dhabi, which is the situation you mean. Nine of us arrived from South Africa, where we had just finished two conferences in Africa. We arrived at like 4.30, 5.30 in the morning. I was the emcee for that day and we were supposed to start at nine. We pushed it back an hour and give us a little bit of rest. But we did that day with success. The second day was also a success. On the third day, I went out walking, which I had been doing for 129 days. Exercise, but also when I walk, I take my camera and or my phone. I prefer a regular camera, but phone cameras are excellent, too. And I was photographing gardens and houses, and then I saw a mosque. And I asked a young man in front of it if he would let me inside because you don't just walk into a mosque. A lot of Catholic churches and Hindu or Buddhist temples, you don't just walk in. I've learned over the years. So out of respect, I asked if I could go inside. And it was pleasant. It was kind of simple, but I took a few photos. Then I went on in about 15 minutes later on another street. I saw another mosque that was more decorative. So I went inside when I came out of it. Walked about the end of the street. There was this little pickup truck, camouflage painted. And the driver opened the back door and he encouraged me to get inside. I didn't feel threatened by it. And I got in. The first thing he said before he pulled away was, where from? I figured that's all the English she knew. The only Arab I know is the word Mahaba, which is like aloha. It means many things. But I said Atlanta and he got all excited. Apparently he had read about Atlanta because of the Olympics. Then he drove me the length of a tremendously long parking lot and then got told me to get out. And there stood a man in a military uniform with all the decorations and the medals and things. And he asked me for my passport, my camera and my cell phone. Four weeks later, at 7.30 or 8.00 at night, 40 kilometers in the desert outside of Abu Dhabi, I was released from the prison because three superior court judges ruled that I was wrongly arrested. I wrote a book which you've read. Yes, I'm honored that you did. My Angels and My Demons. I based it on one of the books I read while I was in the prison, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. One of the other convicts. And that I became friendly with. Was reading that book and we talked about it. And he I borrowed it from him. But what I learned with the prison experiences I have for many years, I learned at the First Sipsy, I went to. Four different points, four different speakers. One was the humorous named Joel Goodman, who said when anything bad happens, ask one question, will I ever laugh about this in the future? And keep thinking until you start laughing. In other words, find the funny are created. I have done that hundreds, if not thousands of times since about a variety of things. The second one was to ask one question. What's good about it? Look for the benefits. Well, when you're in a prison, what are the benefits? I didn't have to pay for the hotel. No, I listed them. But I've been teaching that one for 40 years. The third one was every noun in every language is a metaphor. It is not the thing. It's not the person. It's a metaphor. It's a represents them. And this man from us, Oswalo, his point was change the metaphors in your life and your life will change. If you look at people on the street, as we have in the United States and many other countries right now, because of what's going on in the economies and so forth, you can call them a beggar. You can call them a street person. You can call them an unemployed person. You can find out who they are and find out that they serve six months in the most horrible war they've ever seen and they've never readjusted. But if you sit and listen to them, you find out there's still a human being there. So I would do that. It took me a couple of days. Because of the shock of being in a prison, even though I had worked with. Prison wardens and corrections people for many years as a speaker and trainer and heard the horrible stories many of them shared. And then the movies Black Hawk Down and several of the others about Americans being put in prisons. Fortunately, mine was more like a spa. The one of the positive things I saw that except for one or two cases, the employees were just doing their job. In fact, when I was released, I think they would have shook my hand and applauded if their culture would have allowed it. Well, during it and having read your book, I'm not sure that my vision of it was would be a spa. But but well, I didn't paint it that that positive in the book. But I'd like to take us in the few minutes that we do have left to share. If you would share with us, you your angels were some of your inmates, the wife of an inmate that that you make your call, let her you used your phone. You were when your time in in prison was complete. I do remember your words in your book saying you were let go, but you didn't know where you were going. You were in the desert and you were surprised by one of your angels being there to pick you up. Tell us about that. Because of my involvement with many conferences, I've been a presenter at well over 200 creativity conferences and some of them as many as 40 times. Like Sipsy, I meet the graduate students who attend and some of them keep in touch with me, even though I'm seen as kind of the out of the boxer off the wall, the crane breaker, the contrarian sometimes. All I'm asking is think of it at least six to 12 different ways. Never think of it only one way. Like a phrase I put on Facebook today is I heard it on two or three different TV shows. I've made my mind up. Now, what you're saying is you closed your mind. You're not willing to listen to another point of view, at least for a little while. Explore the negative, explore the positive. There may be more positive than the negative, if you think about it, long enough. But this case, this young woman, I met her in Dubai face to face. Otherwise, we had been on the internet for five or six years when she when she was a master's student. And we were in the giant tower, the tallest tower. As far as I know, on the earth, there may be one taller in Shanghai now. But the burge in Dubai and we had lunch, brunch, actually, and I got to know her. Well, I didn't know she was keep trying following my case. She was living in UAE at the time in a different one of the Emirates about six hours away. But she was trying to get me out. I had no idea she was doing that. And I got to even on the day she left her home at three in the morning. She called almost hourly, trying to reach someone to find out if I was really going to be released that day. And most of the people hung up on her. But at 7.30 when I approached the gate, dragging my luggage and barely holding on, keeping my clothes up because I had lost more weight in those four weeks. Again, and the young guy in the guard post said, oh, your wife is over there. Well, in my smart alec mine, I went, that'd be kind of nice. Unfortunately, she passed away, you know, several years ago. But I looked over and there was Ronda. And there was one of your angels. And my one of my angels. Yeah, the angels I write about a book or the people in the prison. I do mention some of the angels on the outside, which you were making reference to there were. They called themselves the F the fab team, free Alan Black team. I had no idea they were doing what they were doing for a week until I got to talk to my daughter on the phone. And she said, there's a people, bunch of people from Sipsy who were trying to help you. Which was and they're all people I'd known for a dozen to 30 years. They were doing dozens or hundreds of things every day, trying to find a way to get me out. Well, we're coming to the end of our time, but I think to follow up on on your your last description there. There was a petition and over 3,000 people that didn't know you signed that petition for your release. Yeah, but so almost 4,000 almost 4,000. And most of them were people who I had no idea who they are. Your story had been featured on the major networks for some time. You weren't aware of that. And also money was donated to a go fund you. Yeah, and one week they raised over $25,000 in the interesting thing out of the hundred and sixty eight, sixty nine people, most of them were South Africans. Amazing, just amazing. Who had just heard me the month before. Equally is interesting. You made every effort that you could after your release, if it was drivable, to thank people that you did know that worked on your behalf and tried to visit them. And I can't get the enthusiasm for your return was was just worldwide. So, Alan, I'm really glad we had this time. And I know there's going to be more opportunities for us to get together with our viewing audience in the future. And with that, you have been watching The Creative Life on Big Tech Hawaii with our guest, Dr. Robert Allen Black. We hope your time spent with us offered you a perspective enabling you to recognize your ability to be creative and dealing with unexpected, difficult situation. Join us in two weeks for the next edition of The Creative Life. Until then, Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.