“We’ve been brainstorming ideas, but we haven’t decided on what to do”, “We brainstorm all the time but end up with the same ideas”, and “We brainstorm around ideas that only management wants”. Last week I visited a prospective client in the manufacturing industry, these are some of the things that they told me when I asked them about their innovation efforts.
Category Archives: Creativity
Use These 20 Questions To Help Stimulate Innovative Thinking
Innovation is as much about attitude and perspective as it is about process. A big one for me is shifting perspective to stimulate innovation. So, how do you inject ‘perspective’ into your thinking? It all starts with a provocative question.
Are “Best Practices” Stifling Innovation In Your Business?
“Best practices are just past practices. You need next practices.” I once said to a client. The reason? Visit any traditionally managed business and you’ll see the same pattern: they operate like their competitors. They hire the same people and have the same business model, processes, and everything else in between.
Open-mindedness: The Secret Weapon of Innovation Leaders
Open-mindedness: Bullsh*t or Superpower? Forget charisma, forget vision. The one quality truly separating innovation rockstars from the mediocre is a shockingly underrated superpower: open-mindedness.
“That’s The Way We’ve Always Done It!” Is A Sign That Your Business Needs To Change
Continuous improvement. Every leader wants it, yet most businesses believe they’re improving when they’re just doing business the way they’ve always done them. And this is where decay starts. Innovation has many enemies. One of them is an aversion to change. This plays out in an organization when people say “That’s the way we’ve always done it”.
Marc Andreessen: The 5 Personality Traits of An Innovator
Are all innovators alike? Yes, in both personality and skills. Anyone can learn the skills necessary to innovate, but personality traits are different. Some people are born with highly developed curiosity, openness to new ideas and experiences, risk-taking, persistence, and imagination.
The Curious Spark: Why Uncommon Insights Ignite Innovation
Imagine a world where every invention was predictable, every solution a mere derivative of what came before. Shudder, right? Innovation thrives on insights, those unexpected sparks illuminating new possibilities and guiding us toward groundbreaking ideas.