A nice piece on design, seeing, opportunities and creative thinking: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/43

Observation: Sidewalks in Singapore appear to be built without any awareness of the buildings on either side. I am not just referring to aesthetic differences either. Walking down a street often entailed the constant stepping up, stepping down, or stepping over ledges or open gutters between sidewalks of different buildings.

Thought: This approach to urban development seem to indicate compartmentalised thinking. The designers and planners of a new …

Wonder

The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’ just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider.’ ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other …

The service on Singapore Airlines is impeccable and faultless, even in Cattle Class. It was certainly not your average domestic no-frills flight.

And they know it.

The global airline industry is as competitive as any global business. While American Airlines is struggling with their inability to keep their aircrafts compliant with basic US FAA maintenance regulations, Singapore Airlines seem to be actively leveraging their reputation and record of good …

Here are some ways to make a difference to the world, using Tim Berners-Lees as an example: A World Wide Web of Ideas.

My take on the key concepts are:

Altruism – giving something away returns far more, and enables more people, in the long run.

Influence – a personal story attracts more attention than the best message-managed PR gloss.

Freedom – the freedom to explore ideas is a …

Reflecting on my current feature post Businesses that have persistent IT emergencies:

Most businesses are not ready for innovation. Or indeed the latest technology, the latest practices, … At least, not until they get the basic basics right first.

The basics being:

Who are you?
What are you about?
What do you do?
Why are you doing it?
How are you doing it?
Are you doing it effectively?
Are you doing it well?
Is your work …

The demand for innovation (the myriads of definitions thereof) is certainly out there more so than ever before, judging by the magazines and media. I am talking about business innovation here – that is new ways to design, run and “be” a business.

I predict that increasingly many colleges and universities will start offering degree programmes and qualifications in “Innovation”. It will be interesting to see the different approaches.

Notable …

A wonderful hat tip to the ingenuity of humans.

Fun pics from Dark Roasted Blend.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others. You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its …

This fun little ad epitomises “play” to me. It is that sense of continual wonderment at the world, of newness, of conscious engagement with the smallest of things, and the simplest of the stuff that surrounds us. It is being awake to the moment.

You want to be more innovative, more creative? Try and live like this everyday. …