Debbie Millman Quotes

What I taught myself was that in any problem you get, you've got to come up with an innovative, brilliant, kind of unusual, stunning solution.

Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.

Creativity is not just for artists. It's for businesspeople looking for a new way to close a sale; it's for engineers trying to solve a problem; it's for parents who want their children to see the world in more than one way.

An optimist is a fellow who believes a housefly is looking for a way to get out.

We're communicators, we're problem solvers, and we're lateral thinkers, and there's nothing that can't be improved with that. The world needs us, and we want to be needed.

A 'problem' is nothing more than a gorgeous opportunity to discover an even better solution.

Of course you can do it. It doesn't require brilliance. It's just giving yourself permission and then being persistent. Persistent in seeing the problem or opportunity and persistent in thinking about it until you have come up with some interesting ideas that might change the pattern. It's really a mindset, not anything in the objective world - that is the problem.

Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.

It's not about your resources, it's about your resourcefulness .

When starting out, don't worry about not having enough money. Limited funds are a blessing, not a curse. Nothing encourages creative thinking in quite the same way.

Solve problems, make art, think deeply.

Creativity is the most practical thing a businessman can employ.

You don't lack resources. You lack resourcefulness .

See every problem as an opportunity to exercise creative energy.

Solving problems should be a joy, a welcome challenge to our creativity.

To be creative, a person has to internalize the entire system that makes creativity possible. Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals.

Entrepreneurship is essentially identifying the path that everyone takes; and choosing a different, better way.

Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.

Sometimes if you have financial restraints, it's a benefit. It forces you to come up with a more creative way.

Some folks are natural born kickers. They can always find a way to turn disaster into butter.

I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company. Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

Instead of asking "what’s the problem?" ask "what's the creative opportunity?

People who are not leaders automatically gravitate toward lines--limitations set by others. Many people are taught this in kindergarten when they are instructed to stay within the lines while coloring. But leaders are more creative than that. They look for options and opportunities. They try to take things in a new direction, or beyond the limit. Progress and innovation are made by people who think without lines.

Every challenge is nothing more than a chance to make things better.

Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being.