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This is a linear thinkertoy technique that explains how to get ideas by dividing a challenge into two or more components and then reassembling them in new and different ways. Sometimes the solution to a problem lies within the problem itself. Cherry Split allows you to take a challenge apart and then reassemble the parts…

This is a linear thinkertoy technique that explains how to get new ideas from a challenge’s attributes. Imagine renovating a house with many rooms. Each room, however, is separate from the others: bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on. Regarded this way, they are separate attributes that together constitute a house. To change the nature of the…

This is a linear thinkertoy technique that explains how to find ideas by reversing conventional assumptions. In the figure above, we assume that the far-away figure is larger because things are supposed to grow smaller as they move away from us. Yet this assumption doesn’t hold up. For any challenge, if you start with incorrect…

In order to get original ideas, you need to be able to look at the same information everyone else does and organize it into a new and different pattern. This is active thinking. A passive thinker is unable to move beyond the given information to new ideas, while an active thinker is constantly organizing information into…

Before you start looking for ideas, you need to know what your goal is. A successful business person pays attention to problems, converting the problems into opportunities and deciding which opportunities are worth pursuing. These opportunities become productive challenges. Here is an exercise on learning to pay attention. Select a colour at random and spend…

Pumping your mind is like making a path through tall grass. Originally there is no path, yet as you walk the same way each time, one appears. In the same way, you may have no idea at first, yet as you exercise your mind using these techniques, ideas appear. Eleven ideas that will encourage you…

Nothing is more harmful to a positive creative attitude than fears, uncertainties and doubts (FUDS); yet most people let FUDS control their lives. It is much more productive to learn to control your FUDS, to transform destructive, negative attitudes into a new, positive reality. Tick-Tock is a very powerful exercise that is designed to help…

How to build habit forming products? In Hooked, Nir Eyal has some suggestions. The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions. Habits — Automatic behaviors triggered by situational cues. With little or no conscious thought. Our actions have been engineered by the products we use. What makes some products so habit…

Dan Roam’s book Show and Tell offers some plain insights to help us tell a better story! Always remember: The Three Rules As presenters, our goal is simple: To help others see what we see. To do this, we: The 3 Rules: RULE 1: TELL THE TRUTH There is no faster way to establish trust…

The drama takes us on a journey: “First make me cry, then make me laugh.” With a drama, we change our audience’s beliefs. The DRAMA breaks our heart, then mends it. Most presentations given as conference keynotes, sermons in church, TED talks, or told around the campfire are intended to change the audience’s beliefs to…