Nine.Books

Paul Sloane is the author of many books on the topics of lateral thinking, innovation, words and puzzles. He is published by Pearson, Kogan-Page and Sterling Publishing. Here is a selection of his books.

The Art of Unexpected Solutions

published by Kogan Page

The unexpected shapes our lives and can represent a threat or an opportunity. This book shows the many ways in which you can create the conditions in business and in life to encourage serendipity and exploit unexpected opportunities.

Lateral Thinking for Every Day

published by Kogan Page

The book is packed with inspiring stories from great lateral thinkers in music, business, architecture, crime, art and warfare. It has practical tips, techniques, examples, puzzles and challenges. It will help you to sidestep the obvious, approach problems from different perspectives and generate really creative ideas.

“Too many of today’s business books come at problems from the same angles. This book turns problems on their head and makes us think differently. It is very useful not just in business, but in life.” ― Brian McBride, President of the Confederation of British Industry

Press release and media coverage

Think Like an Innovator

published by Pearson

Inspiring insights and powerful lessons from 76 great innovators from Curie to Bowie, and Hannibal to Jobs. For each innovator discover the challenge they faced, the innovation they developed and the practical insights to help you apply their thinking.

‘Invaluable tips on how to change your mindset and see great innovation opportunities.’ Professor Moira Clarke, Henley Business Schoool.

‘A refreshing, engaging, insightful adventure into the hearts and minds of inspiring leaders’ Ajaz Ahmed, Founder and CEO of AKQA.

1234 Wacky, Witty and Wonderful Words

by Paul Sloane and Des MacHale

A collection of our favourite fascinating words. It includes cunning curiosities, remarkable rarities, wonderful words and tremendous trivia. All the words are in use or have been in use in the English language. Most of the entries are serious and educational but occasionally we have sprinkled in something unexpected and facetious

The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills

published by Kogan Page

LGLTS3 Unlock the creativity and innovation in you and your team. Now in its third edition, this popular book will teach you dynamic, up-to-date techniques to unleash the creative energies of your people and show you how to put the methods to work immediately. You can use lateral thinking to turn your organization around and make it more agile and entrepreneurial. Paul Sloane describes how the lateral leader develops the vision, culture and processes that transform a regular business into an innovation hothouse. The book is packed with real-life examples, practical methods and lateral thinking exercises you can put to work today.

‘Sloane delivers rocket fuel for the business brain.’ Bill Penn, Founder of Aspectus.

‘No modern business leader should be unaware of these insights.‘ Brian McBride, MD Amazon UK

A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

published by Kogan Page

Open innovation and crowdsourcing are hot topics in strategy and management. This book explains how to use the power of ideas and people outside your organization to turbocharge your innovation. It is written by an international team of eminent thinkers and practitioners in the field. It is a vital read for anyone who want to find innovative products and services from outside their businesses and overcome the practical difficulties that lie in the way.

Contributors include Henry Chesbrough, Braden Kelley, Hutch Carpenter, Renee Hopkins, Stefan Lindegaard, Julian Loren and Kevin McFarthing.

How to be a Brilliant Thinker

published by Kogan Page

Do you want to have great ideas? Do you want to break out of the rut of conventional thinking? Would you like to be a genius? Would presenting brilliant ideas help in your job, career and social life?

How to be a Brilliant Thinker will help you to achieve all these ideals, by helping you to think in powerful new ways. It shows you how to harness techniques in lateral thinking, analytical thinking, problem analysis, idea generation and other areas so that you become much more creative. You will be able to conceive, evaluate and implement great ideas as well as improve your memory, sell your ideas and win arguments. It is packed with practical methods that you can put to immediate use, backed up by exercises, puzzles, quizzes, graphics and illustrations.

‘This marvellous book reveals to how jump out of your well-worn mental habits, beliefs and assumptions and into some powerful, profitable new ways of thinking.’ Chuck Frey, Founder of InnovationTools.com

The Innovative Leader

published by Kogan Page

Everyone understands the need for creativity and innovation in organizations but what are the secrets that successful leaders use to really drive innovation? This book will help you to transform the creative capabilities and innovative performance of your business It contains examples, advice guidance and a wealth of tools you can put to immediate use. There are examples from Virgin, Google, IBM, Toyota, 3M, Disney and WPP.

‘This book provides practical tips to hep anyone in their quest to develop their creative muscles.’ Mark Durrant, Communications Director, Motorola

‘Guaranteed to make you think differently, challenge the way you and your team work and produce results.’ Geoff Dodds, Head of Brand Strategy, Lloyds of London

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers

published by Sterling Publishing

LTP2 The original and classic collection of lateral thinking puzzles, strange situations where you have to figure out what is going on. Treat the puzzles as a game where one person knows the answer. Other people ask questions and get yes or no answers. Great fun on long car journeys! Do you have the ingenuity to come at the problem from different directions, ask smart questions and put together the clues? This books has nearly 100 such puzzles ranging from easy to fiendish.

World’s Best Word Puzzles

published by Logic Press

These puzzles are designed to intrigue and delight both serious and casual word puzzlers. The questions typically ask for an English word or words. The word answers given are the best solutions we can find in either the British Chambers dictionary or the American Webster’s Third International dictionary. The anagrams often involve famous people, places or incidents. You can work through the book on your own but you might enjoy it even more if you play it as a quiz or game with a group of smart people who think they know a lot about words!

What do the words TOMATO and AUTOMATA have in common? When written vertically, both look the same in a mirror. Dip into at random, use as a the basis for home quizzes, or drop into conversations with curious children. This is really a lovely book. Roger Jeynes

160 Top Tips for Public Speakers

on Kindle

This book will help you to become a much better speaker. It will improve your reputation and if you are a professional speaker it will boost your income.

It is packed with tips and techniques that professional speakers use. These insights will help you to overcome anxiety, deliver with confidence and enjoy the applause of your audience. The professional speaker aims to entertain, inform and motivate an audience often with the purpose of galvanising people into action. Speaking involves an element of theatre. It is a performance art which lends itself to an entertainer with a flair for dramatic communication. But it is also a discipline which requires keen preparation and attention to detail. Great speeches which appear natural and spontaneous are usually the result of many hours of preparation and rehearsal.

Professional speakers are constantly in demand for corporate events and conferences. Someone who can challenge, stimulate and energise an audience with strong relevant messages will be offered plenty of well-remunerated work. The tips in this book include many secrets used by successful professional speakers. If you apply them assiduously they are guaranteed to dramatically improve your speaking performance.

‘This is an ideal book for all speakers at all levels. I found myself agreeing with almost all of the tips and there were plenty of new ones, even for a seasoned speaker.’ Mark Lee

‘Really super tips at all levels from novice to expert.’ Tim Luscombe

How to Generate Ideas

on Kindle

How to Generate Ideas is a comprehensive, easy to understand guide on how to generate and evaluate ideas for any topic or challenge. It contains the techniques used in the Destination Innovation Creative Leadership workshops and much more besides. It will enable you to run creativity sessions and brainstorms that really deliver results – ideas that turn into successful innovations. Contents include:

How to set up the meeting: advice on preparation, environment, timing, numbers and materials
Five Problem Analysis Methods including Fishbone, Lotus Blossom and Six Serving Men
24 Idea Generation Techniques including Similes, Pass the Parcel, Break the Rules, Roll the Dice and What If?
Seven Idea Evaluation Techniques including Triage, Payoff Matrix and Six Thinking Hats

This ebook will give you the tools, techniques and tips to make your next creative thinking session into a powerhouse of ideas. It will show you how to set the stage and how to analyse problems so that you are focused on the key issues. It goes on to show how to generate creative and original ideas and how to evaluate those ideas to select the best ones to carry forward. This easy to read instruction set will put you on the path to stimulating, productive and motivational team workshops to drive innovation in your organization.

‘A good reference for innovation. easy logic flow and straight to the point of the techniques.’ Elio Leoni-Sceti – VP Marketing, Reckitt Benckiser.

‘It downloaded perfectly and is great. I’m always looking for new and effective ways of running brainstorms and there are several in here I hadn’t heard of before.’ Sarah Donnegan, Director, Sixth Sense