Kickstart Your Creativity: Lessons From World-Class Creators

The quality of our life is very much impacted by our ability to creatively respond and address those opportunities (and challenges) that we’ll encounter in our professional and personal lives.

This engaging workshop begins with a review of the science that shows 98% of people are born creative geniuses, includes proven techniques and strategies to regain our innate creativity, and includes breakout sessions where attendees practice their newfound capabilities.

Attendees will increase their creative confidence, learn proven techniques to improve their ability to ideate, and debunk the myths surrounding creativity.

Learning Objectives

This one-hour course includes: instruction, breakout sessions, team activities and a final learning assessment to show participants they’ve already made progress on improving their creative potential.

Participants will learn:

• The NASA study showing we’re born creative geniuses
• Fundamentals of problem solving
• 12 techniques for improving creativity and ideation
• Debunking the 10 myths of creativity
• Fundamentals of design thinking

The Ten Pillars of Innovation: Opportunities Across the Organization

When people think about innovation, they typically are thinking about developing a new product or maybe offering a new service. Or perhaps they’re considering an entirely new business that does something never done before.

The limitation with any of those thoughts, is that it doesn’t consider how anyone outside of product development can contribute elsewhere in the organization. What’s more, thinking primarily about improvements to the product or services offering is severely limiting.

In actuality, new products or new services are just a couple areas for innovation, and there are in fact many more. This class utilizes the work by Larry Keeley and others as written about in the book, “The Ten Types of Innovation,” and presents ten different areas where organizations (and everyone in them) can look to make meaningful improvements and innovate.

Using case studies with real-world examples, this talk explains the variety of areas wherein real possibilities exist for innovation and facilitates a guide for us to begin probing the possibilities for a better future.

Every company needs innovation and creativity to remain competitive – especially in today’s world. And learning where to look for innovation opportunities presents.

Learning Objectives

In this 90-minute informative session, audience members will be able to:

• Learn the ten areas for innovation
• Understand the shared characteristics of the world’s most innovative organizations
• Identify areas for exploration within your organization
• Develop a realistic future competitive position
• Outline an initial roadmap
• Learn how to prioritize opportunities

Intentional Evolution: Creating Your Roadmap

Using recent examples from large and small businesses, as well as from pioneering work from art and architecture, this class explains how people and organizations advance towards a better future and continue doing so in an ever-changing world.

As a result of the uncertainties and challenges facing businesses today, a significant percentage of once (or currently) healthy businesses will encounter significant difficulty operating with a “business as usual” mindset. Yet the reality is that these inevitable changes concurrently bring new opportunities to those organizations that are able to understand, respond and leverage them. However, a successful future is not arbitrary nor is it reached with a haphazard approach. Rather there are proven strategies that can be learned and methodologies that can be applied to not just survive – but thrive in the future.

Learning Objectives

In this informative and pragmatic session, audience members will be able to:

• Understand the concept and application of Intentional Evolution
• Learn the shared characteristics of the world’s most innovative companies
• Explain the power of progression
• Develop a roadmap for successfully navigating the future
• Learn a widowed neighbor taught a young Steve Jobs about work and life
• How to do great work

Navigating The Future of Work: Business & Technology Luminaries On The Next 20 Years

This class distills the thinking from tech and business luminaries as to the ways in which technology will impact our work and lives over the next two decades. The contributors include: Josh Bayliss (CEO Virgin), Tom Kelly (Founder IDEO), John Sculley (Business), Steve Wozniak (Apple), Nolan Bushnell (Tech Pioneer), Carol Smith (IBM Watson), Ed Fernandez (Singularity U), etc.

Nobel Prize physicist Niels Bohr was correct when he humorously commented that, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Nonetheless, we’re obligated to do our best to foresee how today’s emerging Information Technology will impact our work and lives in the foreseeable future.

The talk provides the best thinking from business & technology luminaries as to how emerging technology (incl AI, Machine Learning and robotics) and business trends will impact our work and lives. The new revolution is of interest to any curious person involved in shaping the future.

Emerging technologies will give us the levers to disproportionately augment our work and thinking in unimagined ways. Having an understanding as to how these technologies are expected to impact our work and lives gives us the opportunity to better prepare.

In deference to Niels Bohr (mentioned above), predictions about the next twenty years are difficult. But the benefits and practical value of looking forward nonetheless help guide our thinking about the tools we shape – before they inevitably shape us.

Learning Objectives

In this informative and session, audience members will be able to:

• Understand why the future is not simply an extension of today’s trends
• View the emerging technologies in the context of the industrial revolution
• Learn how to stay abreast of what’s coming
• Future-proof your company and career
• How to be open to new opportunities
• Promises for the next twenty years

Innovation Techniques: Your Toolkit for Tomorrow

Great products and meaningful businesses are not built by accident. Nor are they the result of super-human capability. While talent and commitment are core ingredients, there are other key differentiators and best practices shared by the most innovative organizations.

This course will inform you and it will give you insights and tools to improve your ability to innovate.

The goal is for you to increase your understanding and insight. To not only increase your confidence to become more innovative, but to help you understand that it’s your natural path. And in the end, to make a difference. I want to share with you what I’ve learned and what I’ve found to be particularly helpful. This class will provide you with a further understanding of what innovation is, and how it can be applied. It will give you some of the best thinking on innovation, which comes from many thoughtful people. These people include: John Sculley, Geoffrey Moore, Esther Dyson, Alan Iny of Boston Consulting Group, Kartik Hosanagar from Wharton, Stephen Chackwin, Livingston Holder a NASA astronaut. Also people outside of the business and technology world. Artists like Chuck Close, architect Frank Gehry.

This information isn’t coming from an academic ivory tower, but rather people who’ve taken a practical approach (including myself) and have the scars from real-world lessons. It can be applied to your work and life. Here’s some of what’s included in this course:

Learning Objectives

In this one-hour informative and pragmatic session, audience members will be able to:

• Dispel some of the myths and folklore surrounding innovation
• Learn where and how to find good ideas
• Understand why some companies innovate (and others don’t)
• How to move your initiatives forward
• Characteristics of the world’s most innovative companies
• How to measure innovation