Innovative Singles
By Peter LloydI asked a group of single, middle-aged adults to write a personal ad about themselves. Then we talked about creativity, after which I asked them to write another personal ad. Here's what happened:
- A woman who wanted a white knight to sweep her off her feet changed her approach entirely. In her second ad she asks, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Do you really care? If you share similar concerns, please call me and discuss ways to solve these and other earth-shaking problems."
- An "inventive, multi-talented," fellow sought a "together woman" in his first ad. In his rewrite, he turned out to be "a cunning, long-necked, stinking, dirty old man looking for an infinitely loose woman who can't get enough creativity."
- A "leonine male seeking a lioness" is now a "humanoid searching for aliens from Venus."
- A rock-climber re-set her sights on a "right-brained romantic."
- In another pair of ads, "bicycling and serious films" lost out to "being crazy together."
- Someone who was "easy-going" in her first ad became a "gambling female, adventurous, who loves excitement, willing to take a chance."
- A woman who described herself as a "strange visitor from another planet" didn't change a word of her first ad. And I wouldn't want her to.
It just goes to show, that if you give people a chance to be creative, they will always astound you. It also means that if you're looking for a left-brainer to waste the rest of your life, you'd better hurry. They're going fast.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.