They say what you don't know can't hurt you. Maybe so. Maybe not. But what you do know can definitely hurt you. When it comes to having creative ideas, that is.

Having spent most of my career in the wonderful world of marketing, I've had it drilled into my skull that information is power. Know as much as you can about the market, the product, the audience, the competition, the client, the client's boss, the flight schedules, the late bars.

Know. Know. Know.

Don't guess. Don't wish. Don't think.

Lately, though, I've gained an interesting perspective on creative thinking, as I'm conducting more and more creativity training and brainstorming sessions these days, both in and outside the ad biz. I'm finding that all this knowledge we arm ourselves with is hurting us as much as it's helping.

In acute brainstorming situations, when the sole objective is to find new ideas, I see individual after individual, group after group, struggle to discover truly fresh concepts.

And it's not that these are unintelligent people. In fact, therein lies what may be the problem. I believe what people know holds them back, big time, when it comes to exploring what they don't know.