Category: Brainstorming and Ideation

An Innovation Market Can Find Your Next Winner

Image by Martin Winkler on Pixabay   You have some very promising ideas but limited resources.  How do you choose which of your great ideas should get the money and people needed to bring it to market?  Try using the wisdom of crowds.  Many companies do this with software products which allow people to comment or vote on ideas – and this is fine.  But if you do not have such an app or... Read More--

Generate Great Ideas from a Cluster of Strangers

I recently ran a workshop for a group of CEOs of small companies from different sectors and industries.  We ran the following exercise.  Each person started with a blank sheet of paper on which they answered the following questions about their organization. What are your main products or services? List three or four. What are your main markets? These can be industry sectors, types of customer or... Read More--

Try this Brainstorm Method – The Contradictory Innovation

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Consider for a moment these self-contradictory innovations: The solar-powered torch (flashlight) The inflatable dartboard The underwater hairdryer The waterproof teabag The concrete liferaft At first sight they look silly but each contains the germ of an interesting idea. You can charge up a solar-powered torch in daylight and then take it into a cave. The... Read More--

Get Innovative Solutions with the Ideas Exchange Method

Image by Geralt on Pixabay The Ideas Exchange is a brainstorm method which I use with larger groups.  It is easy to run, quick and effective.  This is the procedure: 1. The problem is clearly stated. 2. Everyone is given two coloured cards (or post-it notes). Say one white and one pink. 3. Working silently and individually they write down a sensible idea to solve the problem on the white card and... Read More--

Get Better Ideas with the Gestures Exercise

  It is well known that our physiology can affect our psychology.  If our posture is more positive then our thinking is more positive.  Researchers Slepian and Ambady report an experiment in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.  They had some subjects move their arms in big fluid movements and other subjects moved their arms in short, precise movements.  Then everyone took a creativity... Read More--

Got a big decision to make? Try the Three by Three method.

    Let’s say you are faced with a tough problem.  You have wrestled with it for a while and now you have to make a decision.  One approach is to use what I call the three by three method. You start by considering many options.  You narrow this down to three choices. Your current best option, the CBO. A sound realistic alternative. An outlandish idea that might just work. This is deliberately... Read More--

13 Great Questions to Choose from for your next Management Meeting

Most management meetings are dull affairs stacked full of short-term urgent problems that need fixing.  Discussions focus on routine operational issues and of course these things have to be addressed.  However, from time to time you and your team should lift your heads and think about a bigger, brighter future.  You should brainstorm strategic and innovative options. The kind of question you ask... Read More--

Reframe the Problem by replacing Logic with Emotion

In business we are trained to be analytical.  We respect data, targets, percentages, market shares and ratios.  MBA students analyse case studies with detailed spreadsheets.  We frame problems in terms of metrics and numbers.  For example we might ask: How can we increase sales by 10%? How can we double brand awareness in our target market? How can we reduce the time to develop new products from... Read More--

Create your own Corporate Miracle Garden

          I recently visited Dubai to give a class on Innovation. I asked the hotel concierge for a recommendation of where to visit on a free morning. He listed all the main sights but I had already seen them. He then suggested something new, the Miracle Garden. It is a remarkable place in the Western outskirts of the city. Dubai is well known for its bold skyscrapers, ostentatious... Read More--