Ideas, Ideas Everywhere…
There’s an old tale that goes… Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. Inside of organizations, there’s a corollary… Ideas, ideas every where, Nor any one can think. Um, ok, I should stick to my day job. But the point is, organizations are drowning in a sea of ideas, yet they never take the […]
Making Connections
One of my favorite topics is to discuss how breakthroughs are generated by looking for someone who has solved a similar problem in a different space. Some examples I talk about in my “Best Practices Are Stupid” books are: A company developed a new type of whitening toothpaste by studying the way non-bleach laundry detergent […]
"Best Practices Are Stupid" Named One of the Best in 2011
I’m pleased that the American Express OPEN Forum (via Matthew E. May) selected Best Practices Are Stupid as one of the top 15 books of 2011. Also, Best Practices Are Stupid was selected as one of the “Top-Drawer Business Books of 2011” by the advertising agency, DDB. And, in case you missed it, there is […]
Ask a Different Question, Get a Different Answer
Today I want to test your mental muscle with an activity I conduct with my clients. If you are a college sports fan, you will most likely be familiar with the NCAA basketball playoffs. 65 teams in total compete. The games are organized into brackets like the one illustrated here. Teams compete with the hope […]
I Won't Work for Money
The other day I was asked to speak for a company that had a limited amount of money and could pay me only 15% of my speaking fee. Today I was asked to speak at a company in exchange for my receiving bicycle in lieu of cash (as you may guess, they manufacture bicycles). The […]
The Invention of the Mouse
Malcolm Gladwell has an excellent piece on how Apple created its first computer after visiting Xerox parc. In particular, he discusses how the mouse was developed. After Jobs returned from parc, he met with a man named Dean Hovey, who was one of the founders of the industrial-design firm that would become known as ideo. […]
What I Learned From An Expired Bottle Of Mayo
The late Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just having enough dots to connect…connect experiences and synthesize new things. The reason creative people are able to do that is that they’ve had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people.” Or, in my words, in order to innovate, you need to […]
A New Innovation Book from ThinkBuzan
I recently had the great privilege of interviewing Chris Griffiths, the author of a new book on innovation, “GRASP The Solution.” He provides some very interesting perspectives on innovation. Chris is the CEO of ThinkBuzan, the organization behind Mind Mapping. Enjoy!
Is Thinking Choking Your Creativity?
As I write this, I am sitting in a Starbucks in London, England. Cars and taxis are zipping by on the street in front of me as I sip my espresso. Although I lived in London for several years, I only drove a car once while there…just once. There is an exceptional transit system in […]
Customers Don't Care How Your Business Is Structured
There is one principle that I wish companies would learn: customer’s don’t care how your business is structured; they just want it to be easy to work with you. Or as the late, great Dr. Michael Hammer would call it, ETDBW – Easy To Do Business With. Sadly, so many companies have decided to make […]