“Don’t wait. Get small. Think big.” This post by Seth Godin is well worth a read.

“Typical middle management, always thinking about this year’s profits, never about next year’s losses.” From Doctor Who: The King of Terror by Keith Topping

“There are two kinds of organisations – one kind that likes to be on the cutting edge, to do what hasn’t been done before, to embrace the new. The other kind fears that, and holds back to let someone else to go first. Betting on change is always the safest bet available.”
from The Big Moo, edited by Seth Godin

I would like to add:

The cutting edge does not necessarily …

Human intelligence has many dimensions, and this article explores Howard Gardner’s notion of Multiple Intelligences.

Evaluate and plot your Multiple Intelligence Quotient (MIQ).

Here’s mine:

This article by Brendan I. Koerner suggests that your happiness may be worth $3.2 million (US).

Can we really hope to measure happiness in monetary terms?

Perhaps the measurement of happiness requires some longer-termed accounting for tangibles like less sick days; and for intangibles like increased willingness to share ideas, innovation, and job effectiveness.

Do we want to measure happiness in monetary terms? If we were ever successful in …

Thanks Jeff for the heads-up on this:

Decide what you want to learn.
Read everything you can on it.
Grab for insights.
Tie insights together.
Concentrate on magazines, not books.
Find your own special topics, and pursue them.
Go to conventions.
“Find your man.”
Keep improving your questions.
Your field is bounded where you want it to be.

Read the full text.

One of the techniques I use when struggling with a problem is to force myself to look at it from different angles. This is done by: Asking the right questions to reveal hidden insights. Looking at what is in front of me from different angles. Turning things on their sides.

Here’s a fun and useful example of this approach:

Recently, I got it into my head that I’d be so …

Remember the last time you showed someone from out of town around your city? You start seeing things through their eyes. You notice the little things – the state of the pavements, the state of the general population, the quality of the public transport system, the smells in the air…

We humans are good at taking things for granted – ignoring the things around us that don’t change much …

You are disconnected with your creative self if you are often bored or you rely primarily on extrinsic drivers to organise your thoughts.

Have you noticed how young children can often amuse themselves for long periods of time just about anywhere and with anything? This child-like curiosity and present engagement with the world around them is an expression of their innate creative selves.

In our hyperstimulated society, we often become …

The following points were inspired by Bruce Mau Design’s An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. They provide a good foundation to present my thoughts on the conditions necessary to maximise the creative return from an ideas-generation session.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been.

The journey is the point. Pick …