Thinking about Thinking, Creativity, Innovation and Design
One of our readers challenged us to simplify the process of applying Stratals as a creativity tool. A stratal is putting together a layer of unconnected, random statements or observations and looking at it as a whole. The purpose is to allow new ideas to materialize from evaluating the strata as a whole and not …
Throughout history stories have help shaped our minds, our ideas and actions. With the increasing acceleration in information and biotechnology we need better stories about future technological, social and economic developments. In this 21th century, ¨societal¨science fiction might be an important genre, if not the most important, to interprete the consequences of accelarating technological developments.
Have we failed to find justice and entered the Post-Truth Era? Our sense of justice may be out date, says Yuval Noah Harari. The problem is not with our morality, it is with implementing these values in the modern world - a complex global world. The numbers are identified as the underlying problem. Previously, the …
This is a continuation of our post The Meaning of Life – Have You Tried Googling It? “How do you live in an age of bewilderment, when the old stories have collapsed, and no new story has yet emerged to replace them?” What will keep us busy when our jobs become obsolete? A new quest …
In 1968, Dick Fosberry won a gold medal in high jumping at the Summer Olympics. Instead of diving with his belly over the bar and landing on his feet, he did it reverse, jumped over the bar with his back and landed on his back. Nearly two thousand years since the Olympics in Athens, mankind …
In "Education - 21 Century Challenges" about "What should we teach children?" we posed two additional questions: What advice should young people follow? Who or where should they turn for advice when adults' wisdom may only be outdated biases? We suggested two (visual) approaches; one that departs from the current situation and one that departs from …
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"
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 many books about innovation, it is stated that "You just have to be willing to challenge the assumptions of your industry, ask fresh questions, and --get this -- embrace your humanness." Daniel H. Pink Such calls are completely inadequate. Moreover, it suggests that the detection of assumptions is simple. On the contrary, the nature …
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 …
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"
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 …
Recently we were thinking about the news. What makes news? Then there is the discussion about fake news. At Wikipedia we found a page that is about Fake news websites: "Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news, deliberately publish hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be real news — often using social media …
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 …
In an earlier post about focus, we stressed the importance of paying attention to the focus of the thinking. Taking a problem or challenge unquestioned as it exposes itself may lead to brilliant solutions for the wrong problem. It is therefore required to pay substantial time and effort to (re)define the focus of the thinking. The problem …
What can innovators learn from art? Observation skills, questioning, and experimentation are vital parts of innovation. Observing everyday activities can lead to new insights where things can be improved on. It can also lead to break-through ideas. The innovation psychologist Leon Segal said: "Innovation begins with an eye." Innovators carefully watch the world around them …
In this blog post, as you can see in the upper left hand corner, we will focus on the quality of information, an essentially white hat thinking activity. Quality of information as a distinctive focus area or Area of Improvement (API) could be vital for many information intensive enterprises, but also for any other thinking …
Continue reading "More, More Information, Yes, Sure, But Relevant?"
When we deliberately think about something, it is very important to have a precisely defined focus. What should be the outcome of the thinking? If we know what outcome we want, then it is not that difficult anymore to know what thinking steps to do.To get a good focus, it is helpful to ask for ourselves …
