Creative thinking to lead a better life

CHENNAI: Creative thinking. That's the way to battle the world's problems, from terrorism to hunger, according to Shiva Subramaniam, one of the world's few master trainers in Edward de Bono's 'Six thinking hats, lateral thinking' and mind-mapping techniques.
The founder of The Paperclip , which acts as a consultant to show companies how to innovate and facilitate cross cultural exchanges, started working when he was in college.He worked as a night receptionist with the Taj Coromandel to "meet more people" and also taught French at the Alliance Francaise. He also worked with Travel Corporation of India for two years. "There was a lot of job satisfaction but gets boring after a point of time," he says.
He finished his degree at the Madras Law College, and practiced in the Madras high court for six years. "It is the most gratifying profession; it's so exciting to argue a case before the judge, giving hope to clients that the desired outcome can be reached," he explains. But the pressure to find a well-paying job led him to Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) personnel department in 1991.
"There was no money in law but a steady income was necessary so I worked at TCS even though I didn't enjoy it," he says. Not being the kind to work halfheartedly , he tried his best to find his niche - in the training department . "I realised that I loved to teach," he says. Seventeen years later, Shiva left TCS as a senior consultant to try something new.
"When I told people that I had left after 17 years in TCS and was starting The Paperclip, people were shocked. Now they want to know all about it," he laughs. "The reason why I called the company The Paperclip is that the paperclip is the simplest innovation - a piece of wire bent to hold paper . Simple solutions are the need of the hour," he says.
He trains corporate groups about six hat thinking, the power of creativity and innovation, and brainstorms with them to generate ideas. Shiva has worked with companies like Tata Power, Bank of America, Nokia, Danfoss, Tata Management Training Centre, HSBC and United Business Media. The six hats are six thinking strategies where each is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either actually or imaginatively. Edward de Bono claimed that if people used all six in their daily lives productivity increases.
Shiva believes that every one is creative and people just need to think right. "All people need to do is focus and structure their thoughts and think together." Once people see the various possibilities then even making a camera out of chocolate would be a very real possibility.
He says kids are not taught to think creatively. Shiva wants to teach mind mapping in schools and wants to create an innovation university. A mind map is a diagram that shows words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to one key word or idea. But for the next five years his plans are only about "coaching CEOs about tools for thinking and creativity."
The mantra of the man is, "Whatever you do in life depends on the kind of energy you bring to it. You have to be completely in love with what you do."
(This series features people who have made careers shifts to follow their heart's desire)