ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601100091
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP)
SOURCE: CHARLOTTE CRYSTAL Daily Progress
THOMPSON'S prices range from $5,000 for a three-hour talk to $7,000 for an all-day seminar, plus travel expenses.
We've all heard them.
Killer phrases. They kick the heart out of a new idea and stomp it to death, or let it die slowly.
``You're joking.'' ``We tried that before.'' ``It's not in the budget.'' ``It's more trouble than it's worth.''
Or how about: ``That sounds like something my kid would say.'' ``I'll get back to you on that.'' ``Let's appoint a committee.'' ``You're not paid to think.''
Even: ``The last guy who suggested that doesn't work here anymore.''
Sound familiar? Chances are, anybody in business has either heard these phrases or used them in the course of a working lifetime. They're found at companies large and small, in government agencies, in nonprofit organizations, in schools.
Author, speaker and consultant Charles ``Chic'' Thompson, a resident of Keswick, a small settlement east of Charlottesville, has made a living helping people cut through such killer phrases to clear corporate logjams and create the next disposable diaper, caffeine-free soda, ``two-in-one'' hair-conditioner and shampoo.
``My job is helping people define their box and then, `How do you break out of it?'''Thompson said.
Thompson's two books, ``Yes, But ... The Top 40 Killer Phrases and How You Can Fight Them'' and ``What a Great Idea! Key Steps Creative People Take,'' garnered national attention and helped the 47-year-old draw up a client list ranging from obscure professional organizations to America's best-known companies.
He works with employees from the production line to the executive suites. The business-consulting arms of major international accounting firms have been calling on him lately to help their clients, companies in the throes of downsizing.
Thompson fires up the survivors to fight anger, fear, guilt and depression and do the work of three people.
``Re-engineering, basically, most people think is downsizing,'' Thompson said. ``My approach to it is, while you're downsizing you also have to be growing. You also have to be revitalizing. And so creativity offers that.
``We used to say, `Think like a customer.' That's not good enough anymore. Now you've got to think like a customer. You've got to think like a supplier. You've got to think like an employee. You've got to think like a global resident. And all of that thinking requires creativity. That's what creativity is all about. It's putting yourself in someone else's shoes.''
Thompson helps bank employees brainstorm ways to get customers, now used to the convenience of automated teller machines, to go inside and chat so the bankers have an opportunity to sell other services.
He helps companies come up with new products, using a shock tactic.
``I say, `What could happen to you tomorrow that would knock your competitive advantage to zero? What would you do to handle that; because if you don't, your competition will,''' he said.
For the manufacturer of Clorox bleach, Thompson launched a seminar by challenging the employees to think about how they might keep their jobs if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outlawed chlorine the next day.
After a stunned silence, the employees got to work; by the end of the day the company had more than 200 new product ideas to sift through, Thompson said.
Donald C. Borwhat Jr., senior vice president of GE Fanuc Automation North America Inc., an Albemarle County-based manufacturer of sophisticated industrial computers, said his company hired Thompson about five years ago to help reorganize the workplace and improve morale and productivity.
``Thompson is very good at getting people to think differently, to get their creative juices flowing, to motivate and encourage them,'' Borwhat said. ``It was hard to get the employees to believe ... that we really wanted change. Their attitude was, `We've heard this before.'''
But with Thompson, the employees were open and candid, Borwhat said.
``And he gave us great feedback about employees' areas of concern,'' he said.
Many companies clearly believe Thompson's workshops bring tangible results. Thompson, who says he depends on word-of-mouth advertising, will do more than 120 talks this year. His prices range from $5,000 for a three-hour talk to $7,000 for an all-day seminar, plus travel expenses.
In recent years, Thompson's national profile has grown. At a seminar a year and a half ago for the Society for Marketing Professional Services in Chicago, Thompson shared top billing with Tom Peters, management guru, and Daniel Burrus, a leading forecaster of trends in technology.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Charles Thompson, a creativity consultant, works outby CNBof an office of his home in Keswick. color.