A Really Creative Guy

No guy wants a beer belly.  Right?  Most would rather have a “six-pack.”  Of course.  But what if you could have a six-pack AND a beer belly at the same time?  Well, now you can.  The Beerbelly is a “removable spare tire” that holds 80 oz of beer (more than a six-pack), allowing you to bring your favorite beverage into any […]

Creating Luck in Sales

In Goal-Free Living I discuss how to create luck by being less goal-focused. I was recently copied on an email sent to a sales team at a client of mine. Here is how this one sales director interpreted these concepts for his team – with a paraphrase from the book. During my Asia trip I […]

Leaky Ceiling Leads to Creative Solution

Yesterday, I was at a conference in a posh New York City hotel.  While we were inside, the rain was relentless outside.  As the day progressed, it started to rain inside too.  The ceiling sprouted several leaks.  At first the hotel staff used the standard approach for catching the water – white plastic buckets.  But remember, this is […]

Buyer Beware

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a GPS device on BestBuy.com. The item was on sale: $200 off the regular price. Instead of having the item shipped to my house, I chose to pick it up at the local Best Buy store. I love this option because it gives me (almost) instant gratification. Once […]

Where in the World is Innovation?

Today’s blog is related to my innovation and creativity work. I recently discovered a new Google offering, Google Trends. Type in a word or phrase, and it will show you a graph of how often that expression is searched (as a trend, not as actual volume). More interestingly, it will tell you where in the […]

Creative Military Ideas

A while back I read a document which was released by the US military under the Freedom of Information act. Regardless what you may think of the Department of Defense, this confidential document contains some interesting ideas . During a brainstorming session back in 1994, the Air Force requested $7.5 million to fund non-lethal chemical […]

20 Ways to Encourage a Child’s Creativity

One of the individuals I interviewed for Goal-Free Living is Tina Nocera, the author of Because Kids Don’t Come With Manuals: Contemporary Advice for Parents and founder of parentalwisdom.com, a patented parenting website that recognizes parents as the real experts in knowing their own children best. As I recently I wrote an article on Goal-Free […]

Goal-Free Businesses

Today’s topic addresses a question I get asked quite often. “How can the goal-free concepts be applied to business?” After 20 years of helping companies be more innovative and creative, I could (and may) write an entire book on that concept. Since I have so much to say, I decided to create a separate page […]

Riots at Conference During Goal Exercise

Ok, riot is a bit of a strong word. No tables were tossed and no fires were set. However, new ideas did spread like wildfire. And a rebellion of sorts did take place. Let me explain. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spoke at a conference in Washington DC last weekend. After my […]

Creativity: Combining Two Ideas into One

My corporate work focuses on creativity and innovation. Goal-Free Living is the personal manifestation of that work — creative living. From time to time I will post interesting tidbits on creative thinking in general. As background, my perspective on creativity is very simple. It is not about invention. Rather it is about collecting and connecting […]