Don’t ask for great ideas only when brainstorming solutions to challenging problems… When brainstorming, we typically ask people to give us their best ideas. But what if the path to finding great ideas is to intentionally find start with terrible ones? Think about the world prior to vaccines. What would be the dumbest way to […]
10 years ago I write Goal-Free Living. The book as impacted more lives than any book I’ve written. But at the same time, it has remained relatively obscure in the scheme of things. When it was published, someone told me the book was a decade ahead of its time. It seems as though they were […]
This Friday, May 5 at 7PM, I will be on the new TLC television show, Girl Starter. This show encourages young women to create their own businesses through a playful, yet serious competition. Eight young women, 18-24 years old, build businesses from scratch over the course of 6 weeks. The winning team gets up to $100,000 of investment […]
Today we explore a page from Einstein and his perspectives on asking questions. The key is to avoid focusing on solutions and instead focus on the problem. We are in the “Ask” portion of the FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test) Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: At this point in the […]
I was asked by BigSpeak to write an article with three activities that would stimulate innovation with teams. And I needed to do it in under 1,200 words. Here’s the result: Companies are becoming irrelevant faster than ever. Why? The pace of change outside of organizations is moving faster than the pace of change within. The […]
Today we move to the “Ask” part of my FAST Innovation Model (Focus, Ask, Shift, Test). In this installment we explore a well-known challenge and one unsuccessful method used to solve it. This method is one that is common inside of organizations…and it rarely works. Be sure to watch the previous videos! Transcription: Today, we […]
Professional speakers are always trying to justify their fees. Admittedly, it can be a substantial investment for a one-hour keynote. With that being said, for larger events, the cost of breakfast is often times more than the cost of the speech. While that may be true, some professional speakers have the crazy idea that it […]
Over the years I have been to a lot of conferences – either as an attendee or as a speaker. At most events, the formal education portions ends by 7pm, usually quite a bit earlier. A banquet or gathering in the bar typically follows. I recently attended a magic convention with 700 magicians. Unlike most […]
In my last post entitled “When you are the best, you should be worried,” I talked about the importance of comparing yourself to the right people (or the right companies). The day after posting it, I saw this cartoon which advocates practicing (specifically for musicians, but it could apply to anyone).
It is that time of year. Many of you will soon be setting your New Year’s Resolutions. But did you know that only 8% of people are always successful in achieving the desired results. 92% fail!
