Walt Disney’s Creative Strategy is a personal brainstorming exercise created by neuro-linguistic programming expert Robert Dilts. However, it can easily be applied to groups as well. The strategy involves people putting themselves in three distinct sets of shoes — the dreamer’s, the realist’s, and the critic’s.

What are these roles exactly?

• Dreamer: Someone who generates as many ideas as possible without worrying about the limitations
• Realist: The person can turn ideas into step-by-step plans and find the necessary resources to achieve them
• Critic: The one in charge of analyzing risks and ensuring the safety of the idea^[1]

By having your brainstorming group first brainstorm ideas as dreamers, you gain a larger pool of wildly innovative ideas. By having them brainstorm as realists next, you get them to tap into their resourcefulness. Lastly, having them brainstorm in critic mode helps you identify potential pitfalls in your plan and eliminate them as effectively as possible. The list of ideas that make it to the end of this exercise are ones that are creative, realistic, and relatively low on risk.