Why the true creative person wants to be a know-it-all

One of the best advertising people ever was Carl Ally.

He said the true creative person wants to be a know-it-all.

They want to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, modern manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and lean hog futures.

Because they never know when these ideas might come together to form a new idea.

It may happen six minutes later or six years down the road, but they know it will happen.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Present bias

Immediate costs and rewards loom larger than future ones.

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Lateral thinking

Better solutions sometimes appear when we stop pushing through the obvious route.

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Processing fluency

Easy-to-process things feel truer, safer, and more appealing.

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Why the true creative person wants to be a know-it-all

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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