The Importance of Imagination

Imagination: A Process. Not a Moment

☞ Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Einstein





All the biases of civilization that exist on Earth are the result of imagination. Imagination gave humans infinite dreams and hopes. That's why a country with good imagination is ahead, and a person with good imagination leads a better life than a person who doesn't.



Imaginative books attract readers' attention, and imaginative products are loved by consumers. Imagination is the basic and most important thing that underlies creativity. So Einstein's statement that imagination is more important than knowledge is sympathetic. It was also the power of imagination that Einstein was able to become the best scientist of the 20th century with the principle of relativity.



We need imagination more than ever. Furthermore, more and more will be needed in the future. The way to survive in an era where excellent products are loved by consumers is to develop imagination.



Run your imagination's engine every day to increase output. That is the surest secret of success in the 21st century.






▶ Modern times are the age of imagination. Every street is filled with new items from imagination. People with good imagination are treated. You have to put wings on your imagination.

How to Enhance Your Imagination

1. Start with the end in mind:

As a leader, you firstly need to know your goal and have a vision of what you want to achieve. As previously mentioned, this is the same path you need to take when you build a house.

It is important to have a clear vision of what the end result looks like, unless you are happy to just throw materials together and see what happens. It is vital to apply creative imagination as described earlier, especially the upside-down principle.

While it might sound rather obvious to begin with the end in mind, you would be surprised how many people don’t have a clear vision of what they would like to achieve, let alone how to get there. Instead, they are held back from what they want to achieve by focusing on the obstacles that get in the way. You need to have a strong, clear vision and most importantly, know why your vision is so important to you.

2. Apply the creative and empathic imagination:

Creative imagination together with empathic imagination is a very powerful combination. If you look back at some of the great leaders of the past, most of them had a purpose; something bigger than what they wanted to achieve for themselves.

Great leaders often have a passion that addresses the plight of people other than what they want for themselves. Even if they have experienced hardship, they are able to imagine what it would be like for people in worse conditions. Just think of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa – they were very much driven by their empathic imagination.

3. Engage the imagination of others:

It is much easier to discourage than to encourage people’s imagination, especially if it is not part of the work culture. Sometimes it might take some courage to go against a restrictive way of thinking. As someone said to me recently, “I’d rather have my idea shot down than not say anything and a lesser idea be put forward.”

The Edward de Bono’s Six Hat Thinking Methodology has been effective and popular in encouraging people in the workplace to activate their imagination. The Red hat represents intuition, feelings and hunches and the Green hat represents creative ideas and possibilities.

As a leader of a team, it may be a good idea to read or become trained in the Six Hat Thinking process. In the business world where reason, reality, facts and pragmatism prevail, I have seen people looking worried and even embarrassed when asked to use their imagination – as if imagining things was something only children or creative people can do.

The belief that imagination is somehow inferior to logical reasoning often kills, stifles or smothers potential great ideas. Not only can this belief hinder great ideas but it also shows a lack of understanding about the important role that imagination plays in human life.