Learn How to Think Different(ly) - Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen by Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen | 10:24 AM September 27, 2011 In the Economist review of our book, The Innovator’s DNA, the reviewer wondered whether genius-level innovators such as Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs challenge the idea that working adults can really learn how to think differently and become innovators. We don’t think so. Reams of relevant research (including our own) proves Jobs right. But neither Steve Jobs nor Apple nor any other high-profile innovator or company has a corner on the think-different market. Take Gavin Symanowitz, whom we recently met in South Africa. Innovators (of new businesses, products, and processes) spend almost 50% more time trying to think different compared to non-innovators. If thinking different can make such a positive difference, why don’t more people spend more time doing it? Just do It. Shake it up. Repeat. As a leader, how often do you think different?
10 reasons why you should be curious post written by: Marc Chernoff Email Do you want a rewarding life? Then be curious. The more curious you are, the more possibilities you will open throughout your lifetime. Open your eyes and look around. “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” - Eleanor Roosevelt Here are 10 good reasons why you should unleash your curiosity: You Will Clarify Yourself – Curiosity allows you to shed light on your troubles, thoughts, and personal circumstances. If you enjoyed this article, check out our new best-selling book. And get inspiring life tips and quotes in your inbox (it's free)... How Great Entrepreneurs Think What distinguishes great entrepreneurs? Discussions of entrepreneurial psychology typically focus on creativity, tolerance for risk, and the desire for achievement—enviable traits that, unfortunately, are not very teachable. So Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, set out to determine how expert entrepreneurs think, with the goal of transferring that knowledge to aspiring founders. While still a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon, Sarasvathy—with the guidance of her thesis supervisor, the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon—embarked on an audacious project: to eavesdrop on the thinking of the country's most successful entrepreneurs as they grappled with business problems. She required that her subjects have at least 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, have started multiple companies—both successes and failures—and have taken at least one company public. Do the doable, then push it Here's another: Woo partners first Sweat competitors later
8 Ways to Ignite Creativity You Might Not Consider | World of Psychology - StumbleUpon Like any skill, creativity needs to be nursed. As writer and stylist Erin Loechner said, “You get what you give.” The more time you spend actively engaging your creativity, the greater your chances of producing exciting and inventive ideas and projects. (And the more fun you have, too!) 1. “I find that when my blood is pumping, my creative juices really thrive,” said Loechner, also author of Design for Mankind, an art and design blog. 2. Problem-solving is a key part of creativity. 3. Years ago, as a mom of young kids, Nellie Jacobs, a bestselling author, award-winning artist and creativity consultant, felt really isolated. Charting your own creative path helps you open doors you might’ve never known existed. 4. “Choose to see everything from a creative viewpoint,” Jacobs said. 5. Jacobs suggested that readers simply observe people. 6. “When looking for creative solutions, focus on doing things the opposite of how you would normally do them,” said life coach and artist Tiffany Moore.
How a Computer Game is Reinventing the Science of Expertise [Video] A crowd observes the match playing on the main stage at the StarCraft 2 championships in Providence, RI. Credit: Major League Gaming If there is one general rule about the limitations of the human mind, it is that we are terrible at multitasking. But clear exceptions challenge that general rule. For decades, a different game, chess, has held the exalted position of “the drosophila of cognitive science”—the model organism that scientists could poke and prod to learn what makes experts better than the rest of us. This real-time strategy game demands the frenetic pursuit of numerous simultaneous goals, any of which can change in the blink of an eye. That intellectual rigor and the corresponding data trail, multiplied across hundreds of thousands of players worldwide, makes StarCraft an unparalleled resource that scientists are only now tapping for the study of attention, multitasking, and learning. Why StarCraft But that’s just one level of play. A screenshot from a StarCraft 2 game.
How to Exercise an Open Mind - WikiHow Edit Article Edited by Sam Rawlins, Krystle C., Richd, Erika Altek and 105 others One hour of increased brain activity via innovative thinking or experiencing new stimuli can make you smarter, more energetic, more creative, more sociable, and more open to new experiences and ways of thinking. The key ingredients are to be open to new experiences and to make changes in previous ways of thinking about these experiences. Ad Steps 1Don’t allow yourself any dead time. 20Browse something that you are not familiar with the internet. Tips Become more like an inquisitive child. Warnings Exercising an "open" mind and "stimulating" your mind are different.
design principles Defeating an enemy; overcoming an obstacle; surviving in the face of adversity: success and failure are at the very core of the game-player's experience. Games offer players a number of choices, some of which lead to success and some of which lead to failure or non-success. Together with the challenges presented to the player, the fact that the player might fail lends significance to the player's choices and actions. There are two kinds of failure in games. The manner in which a game responds to player failure is essential to its design. Progress is defined as the act of moving forward toward a goal. Many games divide progress into discrete units or milestones, where meeting a particular goal ensures that the player will not be set back any further than the current point in the game. Of course, it doesn't always make sense to divide a game into discrete units. It is worthwhile to look at some examples of games that divide progress into discrete units. Further reading:
5 Ways to Develop Independent Thought This is a guest post by Tom O’Leary. A classroom full of 10-year-old students is asked to solve a problem with children crossing the street on the way to school. The children come up with ideas that have been used successfully in other places: traffic calming devices, overpasses, fluorescent jackets and speed limits. All these ideas are conventional, exactly what the teacher wants to hear. Except for one. This idea may not be practical, popular, or even possible, but when it’s ridiculed by the class it might be the last independent thought that the student dares to express — the death of another independent thinker. Independent thought is not popular — it is absolutely, pricelessly, rare. This is a tragedy — independent thought is essential for progress. Logically, when we think like everyone else is thinking, the best we can expect is to achieve what they’re already achieving. Fortunately, you don’t have to be particularly intelligent or well educated to think independently. 1. 2. 3. 4.