Thinking about Thinking, Creativity, Innovation and Design
Is the news about fake news really old news? We are told that we are living in a new and frightening era of post-truth. We are surrounded by lies and fiction. Blaming social media such as Facebook or certain politicians are a prevalent way of dealing with the spread of lies and invented fiction. Yet, …
This blog post is about how to obstruct problem solving by ineffective thinking. In these times of positive thinking, readers are attracted by slogans as How to Make the Impossible Possible. In spite of that, we see many times teams that struggle with attaining their goals. But they do work hard! Lots of energy is …
There is a huge difference between "engineering" and "design thinking". It comes down to that engineers are problem-oriented, a design thinker is need oriented. That's a fundamental another approach. For an engineer the problem is obvious, As you can see in the image below, it is even not mentioned at all! Design thinking does not …
This is the third post in the series “21st Century Challenges” about Who Owns Your Medical Data?. In the first post, we discussed the following: In the future, Big Data algorithms and biometric sensors may detect and diagnose a disease before we have started to notice any discomfort or signs. But would you like your insurance …
In an earlier post in the series "21st Century Challenges" about Who Owns Your Medical Data? we discussed the following: In the future, Big Data algorithms and biometric sensors may detect and diagnose a disease before we have started to notice any discomfort or signs. But would you like your insurance company to tell you to stop …
Continue reading "Medical Data: Stagnant Law and Blocking Technology"
Who owns your medical data? The aim of this series of posts is to sketch possible thinking steps that might help us to get a solution or at least a direction for one of today's urgent issues as identified by Yuval Noah Harari in the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (see the blog …
Continue reading "Who Owns Your Medical Data – 21 Century Challenges"
A business model is a plan for the successful operation of a business, identifying sources of revenue, the intended customer base, products, and details of financing. It tells the story around the kind of value the company wants to create. Facebook that has been rather negative in the news lately. It might be because Facebook has an almost …
In our Thinkibility nibble What Is An Interesting Book? we suggested that books with intellectual value should be categorized by the publisher into categories: Mainstream Improvement Criticism Provocation and Alternatives We propose a strong candidate for category 4: Provocation and Alternatives: The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness Subversive Dispels a …
There is no need for inventiveness - the quality of being inventive; creativity - because everything is already invented. Thus, leave your creative thinking to some geniuses that have a special talent for it. And the Internet, that information highway, will do the rest. The great and marvellous innovation that you need will appear on your screen …
We are still wondering why "thinking" (Thinkibility) is not given much attention as a phenomenon in itself, except by some philosophers who have made thinking, without necessity, a highly complex and abstract matter (Opinion is ours). There are no thinking courses, thinking festivals, thinking Olympics, thinking galleries, thinking lectures. In libraries and stores, there are …
Nowadays there are lots of startup challenges. Mostly they define a very broad area in where ideas are sought. It is a rather passive way to innovate. It is assumed that the idea or the startup is already out there, and it only needs some nurturing in the development, mainly on the business side. The …
Many teachers in analytical/critical thinking and writing clearly forbid students the use of analogies, because, in one sense, all analogies are faulty. However, as George Lakoff, known for his thesis that the lives of individuals are significantly influenced by the central metaphors they use to explain complex phenomena, convincingly argues that all our thinking is metaphorical. …
Focus defines the input of information that defines the thinking, and by that, the conclusions, solutions or opinions derived from it. In a schedule: information (A) is semi-processed in a funnel (A,B,C) of biases, assumptions and conditions to a logical solution, opinion or conclusion (C). Area A is the focus area, the area where the …
Continue reading "Focus and Group Dynamics Define the Thinking"
Normally we are asked to help people or teams to get ideas. Because they are stuck, running around in circles, blocked, don't have inspiration or are just not creative "by nature". However, in most of the cases they lack creative thinking tools by wich they can create deliberately alternative approaches or construct systematically breakthrough ideas. …
In Ideathons, a deliberate attempt is made to create breakthrough ideas. They are tightly directed 2-hour events. The participants work together in small groups of 5 to 6 thinkers. There are clearly defined areas - not too wide nor too narrow. Areas where there is an urgent need for better ideas. For that purpose, world-renowned …
Continue reading "Ideathons : breakthrough idea construction"
Creative thinking can be learnt. How? By using thinking tools. There are many tools for creative thinking, examples can be found in the following books: Edward de Bono presents 13 tools in his book Serious Creativity Grace McGartland has 25 tips and techniques in Thunderbolt Thinking(TM) Arthur VanGundy covers 29 tools in Idea Power Michael …
Continue reading "Design Your Own Creative Thinking Techniques"
In an earlier post we republished Michael Michalko's The Difference between the way the average person thinks and a creative genius thinks" As Michael Michalko noticed that an average person focusses his attention on a specific information and excluding all else. In contrast, a creative genius sees the whole but would move from one detail …
Nowadays, innovation is very in fashion. As a person, you should be innovative (creative?). A product should be innovative to tempt you to buy it (why?). Research should be dedicated to innovations (instead of discoveries?). Or even worse, boards of directors feel compelled to proclaim a "year of innovation" or ask their employees for …
In our blog post Daily Thinking – Discovering Patterns we showed some alarming daily thinking habits, like assuming that there is a linear, unambiguously relation between a cause and an effect. For example, it is assumed that increasing e-commerce will reduce traffic. People will less go to shopping malls. However, delivering goods, ordered one by one with take-back guarantee will increase …
Continue reading "E-commerce and Daily Thinking – A Thinkibility Nibble"
Here a sequel to How to Get a More Beautiful Question? Defining the thinking task before beginning an idea generation session is one of the most neglected stages. Most starting questions are far too broad defined. For instance. “In What Ways Might We (IWWMW) get more clients?”. It is more helpful to break it down in …
