The Limits of Positive Thinking

The magical potency of positive thinking has been a common theme among motivational speakers for a long time. In 1952 Norman Vincent Peale published his seminal book, The Power of Positive Thinking. He advocated that you should always be optimistic. You should build a mental picture of yourself succeeding.

Start Here for Creative Leadership

How can leaders fight apathy or indifference in the workplace and create an environment where creativity and innovation can naturally flourish?

Innovation Management: The Value of Seeing What You Have

If your job is to get your company, team, or community to innovate, you know how organizational forces can make it hard to even try something new. Visualizing the resources available is an effective first step in overcoming some of those organizational forces. Simply being able to see, and show, what you have allows you to make a compelling case for marshalling resources and even spark some initial interactions in that direction.

From the Future to the Present: Visualization and Innovation

Recent discoveries of exoplanets that are relatively close to our solar system are used to illustrate the importance of “visualization”—of future consumer lifestyles, work and recreation, and product and service preferences—for the process of innovation. Different aspects of the visualization concept are discussed, including distinctions between consumers and companies, the importance of widely shared images and competition, and a possible role for Zen philosophy. Particular attention is devoted to visualizations associated with digital innovations, such as smartphones, voice assistants and the internet of things. A key conclusion of the discussion below is that the concept of disruptive innovation should be expanded to include the idea of disruptive visualization. The latter phenomenon will probably become more prevalent in the future.

Top Diagramming Techniques for more Efficient Meetings

Do you ever find yourself stuck in a meeting that’s stalling? Does the agenda seem to accomplish no tangible outcomes? Perhaps you find yourself wondering what’s next after an important summit, or frustrated with the lack of direction after a meaningful brainstorm or discussion.

How a Decision Room Can Enable Change and Innovation

One of the challenges leaders face in times of uncertainty and rapid change is helping senior managers to engage in bigger-picture thinking. To enable this process, a growing number of companies are creating “decision rooms” – dedicated areas that help them visualize challenges and opportunities from a number of perspectives and make better decisions.

9 Practices for Cultivating Creative Aliveness

Are you looking for a way to feel more creatively vital, more alive? Here are nine practices that can help you to cultivate your creative self.

Adult creativity: Why we should make time for play

We learn when we play as children, in fact this accounts for most of our early learning. Play acts as a learning laboratory for trying out different internal models on an external world. This is not dissimilar to our traditional brainstorming sessions.

New paradigm of work requires a more whole-brained approach, says Michael Gelb

Accelerating change and complexity has resulted in ever greater demands on the individual's time and energy. To succeed today requires a balance of creative and pragmatic skills, explains creativity expert and author Michael Gelb.

Got a Problem? Take a ‘Walk’ Around It

Visualization - the powerful technique used by the world's best athletes to condition their subconscious minds for peak performance - is also a potent problem-solving tool. Here's a simple four-step visualization technique that can help you solve nearly any problem you may face.