Reading Time: 6 minutes An often-overlooked strategy for generating great ideas is to use a theme or vision to drive our thinking. You can use this approach in conjunction with the strategies we’ve already covered: having lots of ideas, reading, watching and listening broadly, carving out blank space, involving others and knowing nothing, being curious. How does a theme […]
Great ideas: Strategy 6 – use a theme or vision Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutes This strategy sounds counter-intuitive, but the “know nothing, be curious” approach puts us on the pathway to developing fresh perspectives and gaining insights. And from that, we can generate great ideas. You can layer this strategy on top of the first four: having lots of ideas, reading, watching and listening broadly, carving out blank space,
Great Ideas: Strategy 5 – know nothing, be curious Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutes So far in this series, we’ve focused on individual activities for generating great ideas – now we turn our attention to how to involve others in our thinking, as a way of developing more creative, robust and valuable ideas than when working alone. This doesn’t mean we give up on having lots of ideas, reading,
Great ideas: Strategy 4 – involve others Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes These days, we are more likely than ever to say that we don’t have any “blank space” in our lives. There’s no room for downtime when we’re so busy trying to finish our to-do lists, maintain a social life (whether online or in the “real world”), do our jobs and keep ourselves mentally and physically
Great ideas: Strategy 3 – carve out blank space Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes Welcome back to the “How to have great ideas” series. My previous article covered the first strategy for having great ideas, which is to have lots of ideas. It’s worth reading that article first, to give you context for the second strategy: to read, watch, and listen broadly. Very few of us read, watch, and
Great ideas: Strategy 2 – read, watch, and listen broadly Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutes Welcome back to my “How to have great ideas” series. If you’re looking to learn new ways to generate great ideas, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in to our first strategy: have lots of ideas. I kicked off the series by considering why we struggle to have great ideas. Quantity (lots) precedes
Great ideas: Strategy 1 – have lots of ideas Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes Navigating change can be tricky – it brings up a lot of emotions, worries, and decisions, and we’re not always sure where we stand. One of our primary needs when facing change is to be able to understand what it will mean for us. It’s easy to get focused on negative aspects and neglect the
Navigating change: The Four Doors of Change Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes As leaders and managers, we’re often expected to have the great ideas, brilliant insights and action plans that will help our people and organisations turn over a new leaf. But in the midst of all the busy-ness of business, it’s easy to get stuck in a “same old, same old” thinking rut. Why we struggle
Why do we struggle to have great ideas? Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes A large part of modern work and life centres on communication. But how often have you been surprised when someone misinterprets something you’ve said? When it happens, we shake our heads at the other person’s inability to understand us, assuming that the error lies at their end. After all, what we were saying was really
Reading Time: 9 minutes Leadership is a challenging endeavour at the best of times. You’re juggling multiple streams of information, competing goals, shifting targets, and the glorious messiness that comes from being a human working with other humans. Then throw a crisis situation into the mix – that’s a tough day at the office!
How-to: be a great leader during a crisis Read More »
