Posted in The Practice of Life, tagged ideas on August 1, 2008 | No Comments »
According to The Eureka Hunt, an article by Jonah Lehrer in last week’s New Yorker magazine, scientists have finally found neural proof of what creative thinkers and those who study them already know: Insight doesn’t come from focusing on a problem.
Instead, insight comes from focusing on a problem and then taking your mind off that problem, leaving your mind [...]
Posted in The Practice of Life, tagged ideas, innovation, learning, parenting on June 24, 2008 | No Comments »
My company just celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary. To celebrate, we invited some amazing thinkers and doers to talk about whatever they’re thinking about and doing these days. My brain is full of interesting ideas, which I’m sure will spill into the blog over time.
But today I’m thinking about one speaker in particular, Andy Hargadon. His blog [...]
Posted in Facilitation, tagged brainstorming, ideas, innovation, Parenting Wisdom on May 24, 2008 | No Comments »
It’s been a tough couple of weeks with the monkeys. We’re in one of those phases where hanging out with them is sort of fun, but sort of a pain in the a** because we keep finding ourselves having to work really hard to get them to follow directions.
The other day I had to put [...]
Posted in Managing Expectations, tagged cooking with kids, ideas, Managing Expectations on May 4, 2008 | No Comments »
A colleague of mine had a former life in community organizing and development. In that role, he spent much of his time running meetings and getting organizations with various agendas to cooperate for the greater good of the community. He is an expert facilitator and one of the best people I know at working an idea through an [...]
Posted in Direct Communication, tagged emotion, ideas, Parenting Wisdom, social research on April 22, 2008 | No Comments »
I’ve written before about the power of emotion, and about the importance of leaders not hiding their emotions but using them to motivate and inspire others. The Heaths say that good ideas and good messages, too require emotion. 9 out of 10 dentist agree that a healthy dose of emotion helps get your message across [...]
Posted in Direct Communication, tagged ABCs, ideas, learning, metaphors, personality tests on April 14, 2008 | No Comments »
This is one of my favorite of the Heath’s suggestions because it is so true. I tend to be an abstract thinker, and often, no one has a clue what I’m talking about. Until I take the time to get specific and concrete. And then, of course, everyone sees how brilliant I really am.
I’ve actually [...]
Posted in Direct Communication, tagged customer service, ideas, Parenting Wisdom, preschool on April 13, 2008 | No Comments »
It might surprise you that the second principle of stickiness is unexpectedness.
According to the Heaths, the element of surprise is a way to keep people engaged with an idea long after the first telling. Unexpectedness can drive repetition, turning an idea from something you heard once to a legend that continues to be told over [...]
Posted in Career Satisfaction, tagged ideas, work/life on April 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
My company is in the business of helping our clients generate insights and ideas. Finding out what really matters to people in the world, recognizing what it is and how it can impact the creation of new products, services, new businesses or new directions for a brand, and identifying what those new ideas and directions [...]
