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Nick Skillicorn
CEO & Founder at Improvides
Berlin, Germany
If innovation and creativity are important to your business, contact me to find out how I can help you take it to the next level.
Author, Creativity Coach and Innovation Consultant with over a decade's experience in enhancing creativity and managing large-scale innovation projects.
I work with the world's leading companies to build their innovation capabilities and success rates. I help them achieve this by helping them develop their corporate and leadership innovations capabilities, give their teams the techniques and tools to evaluate and refine ideas and execute innovation projects, and actually improving people's creativity to generate the ideas (Yes, it can be done).
Frequently voted as one of the top innovation bloggers in the world, I consult with some of the world's largest organisations on how to improve creativity.
This helps them break through their creative challenges and find avenues for growth they didn't see before, earning them more money and recognition as leaders of innovation.
Learned Helplessness in creativity
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February 05, 2021
How is it possible for a human to control a fully-grown, 6 tonne elephant with only a piece of string? And how does this relate to people feeling like there is no point in doing anything with their idea, or thinking that they aren't even creative? It all has to do with a psychological condition [...
Podcast S5E101: Eric Quint – Scaling creativity and design in large businesses
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February 04, 2021
In today's episode of the Idea to Value podcast, we speak with Design expert Eric Quint. As a former Chief Brand and Design Officer at 3M and Head of Design Management and Consulting at Royal Philips, Eric has extensive experience in understanding what it takes to get design embedded within large bu
Cui bono?
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February 03, 2021
It is a Latin phrase which means "to whom is there a benefit?"Always ask this question honestly and without bias when you are listening to advice about a new idea, innovation proposal or service offering.Because in most cases, people proposing something to you will almost always suggest something wh
Survivorship bias
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February 02, 2021
Survivorship bias is one of the most common selection biases, and can be extremely detrimental when assessing whether a new idea or innovation will work. Survivorship bias is the tendency for humans to be aware of an focus on thins (be it people or products) which made it past some selection process
Nick Skillicorn awarded as Creativity & Innovation Development Coach of the Year (Europe)
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February 01, 2021
I'm proud to find out that I have recently been honoured as the Creativity & Innovation Development Coach of the Year (Europe) 2020 by Corporate Vision in their Corporate Coaching and Recruitment awards. This was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise. Thank you to everyone at Corporate Vision.
Podcast S4E99 – Why creativity and innovation will be the most important skills of 2021
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January 29, 2021
In this livestream of the Idea to Value podcast, I talk about the main reasons why creativity and innovation are going to be the most important skills of the next 5 years. Based on the World Economic Forum report The Future of Jobs 2020, 4 out of the top 5 most important skills will be [...]
Fireside Chat with Nick Skillicorn: Interview by Jasmin Hindi – Podcast S4E98
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January 28, 2021
I was delighted to be interviewed by renowned creative leader Jasmin Hindi for a recent "Fireside Chat" on the topic of developing our creativity. We discussed a wide variety of topics, including: Who the heck I am and my background What people can do to stay creative during the pandemic Why so many
Your competition is not who you think it is
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January 27, 2021
Most companies don't know who their biggest competitor is. When asked, they might list another company providing the same goods or services. Often, ones which are a similar size to how large they are now. Or in some cases, they may list smaller, younger startups who provide a new innovative product
What is the ambition matrix and how does it work as part of an innovation portfolio?
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January 26, 2021
Most companies are not really aware of all of the innovation projects they are working on. Let alone which project mix they should be working on. This is where a tool called the Ambition Matrix is extremely useful, and it is a tool I use with clients all the time to gain clarity on what [...]
Building bridges vs Finished Bridges
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January 25, 2021
Bridges work to get people from one side of something to another. But they only work if they are 100% finished. A bridge which is 99% finished doesn't help you get anywhere. There is still a gap which needs to be overcome before it provides any value. In fact, one single bridge which is 100% [...]
Tall Poppy syndrome vs Tall Weed syndrome
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January 22, 2021
Have you ever heard of Tall Poppy Syndrome? It essentially says that the flower which stands out above all the rest will be the first to be cut down. Basically, it says that people should be humble and not try to make themselves appear better than others. While this particular saying dates from anci
Podcast S4E96: Jeff DeGraff – Mastering the 6 skills of the creative mindset
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January 21, 2021
In this episode of the Idea to Value Podcast, we welcome back the Dean of Innovation, Dr Jeff DeGraff, who has worked with more than half of the Fortune 500 companies to improve their innovation programs. We speak about how to cultivate a creative mindset. Topics covered in this episode: 00:01:30 -
Solar power prices have dropped by over 89% in the last 10 years
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January 20, 2021
By now it is common knowledge that solar energy has been becoming more and more affordable as the technology develops and economies of scale blossom. But a recent report shows just how astronomical the drop in cost has been. A new report by Our World in Data shows that over the past ten years, the [
Research shows that having a phone on your desk makes you more stupid
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January 19, 2021
A lot of people joke about how having a smartphone is making us all less intelligent. And new research provides evidence that this is true. In a recent study of over 520 students, an experiment by Ward et al was conducted to see what impact having our smartphones near us would have on our ability [.
The law of diffusion of innovation
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January 18, 2021
Any company planning on bringing a new innovative solution to market must accept the fact that not every customer will be willing to buy it immediately. There will always be certain target customers who are more resistant to trying out new ideas than others. One of the best and most important concep
How to Remove Roadblocks to Creativity
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January 16, 2021
When people think about what barriers a marketer may have to success, they usually think of technical challenges. They think of things like defining a target audience or anticipating consumer response. While these are all important, there is another more important attribute of the job that causes co
You don’t need that thing
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January 15, 2021
You don't need the same professional camera as Steven Spielberg before you can record your first film. You have one in your pocket. Just start filming. You'll get better if you stick with it. You don't need the same running shoes as Usain Bolt to become more healthy. Just start exercising however yo
Podcast S4E95: Adi Mazor Kario – Learning from Israeli startups and Innovating during chaos
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January 14, 2021
On this episode of the Idea to Value podcast, we speak with Adi Mazor Kario, innovation strategy and design expert and author of Innovating through Chaos. We talk about how innovation drives the Israeli economy, where this culture of innovation comes from, and how companies can continue innovating d
Having more information will not make your decisions more accurate
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January 13, 2021
It is human nature to want to be able to make the best decisions. And usually this leads to advice about making sure you have enough information for a thorough analysis, weighing up all the factors before then being able to be confident in a decision you make. The problem is that research shows that
Leading from Anywhere (Podcast with David Burkus and Todd Henry)
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January 12, 2021
You might remember David Burkus and Todd Henry as two recent guests on the Idea to Value podcast. Well David has a new book out, and was on Todd's Accidental Creative podcast to talk about some of the main themes. That book is Leading from Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams, and
The latest digital innovations in Construction
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February 13, 2020
I'm currently on the train, coming back from the DigitalBAU expo in Cologne, where I had the pleasure of representing Z-LAB to new clients. It was fascinating to see all of the most recent developments and innovations which are coming to the construction industry in Germany in the coming months and
Podcast S3E50: Jeff Goins – Artists don’t have to starve
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February 07, 2020
In today's episode of the Idea to value podcast, we speak with bestselling author Jeff Goins.Jeff is the author of "Real Artists don't Starve", and we speak about why so many creative people find out hard to make a living from their craft, and how a change in the stories they tell can change [...
The “average customer” does not exist, so stop designing products for fake personas
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January 29, 2020
What can Startups and Corporates learn from an obscure 1950 research study on the bodies of 4,063 Air Force personnel? A lot of companies say they put their customers at the heart of everything they do. These are the people who they design their products and services for. The customer is always righ
Innovation isn’t supposed to be fun
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January 21, 2020
Gary Pisano, a Harvard Business School Professor, wrote an excellent article in HBR last year on the hard realities of what innovative company cultures actually look like, which I highly recommend every aspiring innovator to read. The bottom line? The inspiring and comfortable attributes, such a
Podcast S3E29: Roger Firestien – Learning from the man who taught the creative process to the most people in the world
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December 18, 2019
In today's episode of the Idea to Value podcast, we speak with Prof. Roger L Firestien, who is a senior faculty member for the Centre for Applied Imagination, University of SUNY, Buffalo. He is also distinguished as being the person who has trained more people to lead the creative problem solving pr
Podcast S3E48: Adam Malofsky – Innovating with your customers’ customer
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December 09, 2019
In today's episode of the Idea to Value Podcast, we speak with Adam Malofsky, the MD of Elemence. We speak about the need to understand your customers' customer, and the theory of Adaptive Innovation. Topics covered in today's episode: 00:01:00 - How Adam's father's innovation journey helped Loctite
S3E47: Prof. Keith Sawyer – The Creative Classroom and improving learning outcomes
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December 03, 2019
In today's episode of the Idea to Value Podcast, we speak with Prof Keith Sawyer from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prof Sawyer is an expert researcher on creativity, and we talk about what it takes for children to learn most effectively, how teachers and schools need to adapt to ne
3 Dimensions of Innovation: the 23 Capabilities your company needs to succeed
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November 27, 2019
The image here is the list of exactly which capabilities your company needs to succeed at innovation. Read on to understand how it works and how to implement it yourself. Almost every business leader will tell you that they value innovation and that it is a positive & important factor for their
What Do Top Corporate Innovators Get Right?
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November 26, 2019
In our line of work, we get to talk with hundreds of leaders around the globe, and from virtually every industry. Most of them seem to intuitively understand the importance of innovation, but there’s still a lot of fluff, ambiguity and uncertainty regarding innovation as a topic. As a result, mo
How University Collaborations Can Drive Private Sector Innovation
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November 25, 2019
Innovation comes to businesses in many ways, yet one thing is for certain: It relies on a diversity of thought. After all, differing viewpoints have been known to encourage greater innovation. If diversity of thought is lacking, you’re left looking outside the company for varying perspectives
Please vote for me here as one of the best Innovation Writers of 2019
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November 19, 2019
I have just been informed that three of my articles have just been nominated as the Best Innovation Articles of the year by The 2019 Business Innovation Brief MVP Awards And now I need your help (and votes) to help me win one of them. Please click this link to vote for me if you [...]
S3E46: Max McKeown – The Innovator’s Gap
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November 19, 2019
In today's episode of the Idea to Value Podcast, I speak with Dr. Max McKeown about his new book, The Innovator's Book. We spoke about the need to write this book in a different way to the method-heavy textbooks which often are left on shelves and never read. It is a beautifully written, concise boo
Podcast S3E45: Ron Carucci – The four pillars of successful leaders
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November 07, 2019
In today's episode of the podcast, we speak with Ron Carucci, Founder of Navalent and an expert on assessing and building leadership capabilities in teams. Ron's company has researched over 2,700 leaders across more than 10 years to determine what the capabilities of successful leaders are, and what
This blew my mind: Mercury is the closest planet to Jupiter
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October 31, 2019
I love learning facts that challenge long-held assumptions and teach me to see things in a new way. Today, I learned something which seems completely counterintuitive, which is which planets in our solar system are actually the shortest distance from another. For example, we all learned the sequence
Ich bin ein Berliner (finally)
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October 29, 2019
Big news. As of October 2019, I am finally a proud resident of Europe's coolest and most creative city: Berlin. While I have loved living and working in Sydney, Australia for the past few years, it has just been too far away from family. So a few months ago, my fiancee and I decided that [...]
Podcast S3E44: Jesse Nieminen – Innovation software needs to work alongside culture
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October 29, 2019
In today's episode, we speak with Jesse Nieminen, Co-Founder of Innovation Software company Viima. We talk about how companies can improve their innovation cultures, and how software is only part of the solution. Topics covered in today's episode: 00:01:00 - The story of the Viima innovation manage
The Age of Innovation is Here to Stay, Are You Prepared for It?
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October 23, 2019
The Personal Computer and the Internet have, without a doubt, revolutionized business in the last 25 years. For most of us, it’s now impossible to think of the business world without all of the technology and the services built on top of these two innovations. Yet, what if these innovations are ju
Podcast S3E43: Joshua Seth – The importance of letting go of expectations
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October 16, 2019
In the premier podcast episode of Season 3, we speak with world-famous voice actor and keynote speaker Joshua Seth. Joshua has been the voice of characters in over 100 animated TV shows and movies and has a diverse background across creative disciplines like music, theatre, and stage illusions.
Podcast S2E41: Rodd Chant – What it takes to be a Creative Director
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September 26, 2019
In today's episode, we speak with Rodd Chant, who describes himself as a Creative Something. Rodd started out in music, before leading Advertising companies in Australia, Singapore, New York, Tokyo and now back in Australia. We talk about what it takes to succeed in the creative industries, and how
Podcast S2E40: Ray Fleming – How Microsoft reignited their innovation mindset
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September 25, 2019
In today's episode, we speak with Ray Fleming, the Higher Education Director for Microsoft Australia. We speak about how Microsoft went from losing its status as a worldwide innovator to rediscovering what it takes for innovation to succeed at a large, well-established company. Topics discussed in t
This engineer replaced a $1,000.00+ medical device with one costing $0.20
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January 18, 2017
Sometimes, you need to set yourself really strict constraints in order to come up with the most creative innovations. This is exactly what Manu Prakash did with his team at Stanford when trying to make a better, cheaper way to test blood samples in poorer countries. Check out his video above. He w
GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt on why they are scrapping performance reviews to be more like a Startup
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January 17, 2017
General Electric is a great case study for how a large corporation can change their company culture and strategy to become more innovative. In this exclusive interview with Linkedin (video above), CEO Jeff Immelt talks through some of the changes the company is in the process of implementing to adj
Official Top 20 most influential innovation blogs & bloggers: 2016
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January 13, 2017
Here is the only impartial list of the best Innovation blogs by the world’s most influential innovation bloggers. Ladies and Gentlemen, I know you care about innovation. But with all of the hundreds of writers out there, it can be tough to know who’s insights and advice are worth your attention
2016’s best innovation blog articles, from the top influential innovation bloggers
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January 06, 2017
Sometimes, it is important to take a step back from your own work, and highlight some of the best work from other people around the world. This is especially true in the field of innovation management, which are so broad that it would be impossible to highlight every diverse opinion on how to approa
10 most popular creativity and innovation articles of 2016
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January 06, 2017
Here you will find a list of the Top 10 most popular articles on Idea to Value published in 2016. As Editor, I’m amazingly proud of the rapid growth seen on the site in our first year. We had over 300,000 visitors, with some of our articles going viral and getting thousands of shares as […]
Orig
How Steve Jobs predicted what would cause Apple to lose its innovative edge
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December 30, 2016
One of the most misunderstood concepts in innovation management is why some companies can bring their ideas to life and continue innovating, while in other companies good ideas get no traction and die. Apple has long been seen as one of the world’s most innovative companies, but since the passing
Give the gift of creativity to your family in 2017, and merry Christmas
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December 23, 2016
Our Christmas gift to you: Get 25% off your first month of Deep Creativity Training (now only $9) by using the coupon code “THANKSNICK” at checkout. Seasons Greetings from me and everyone else at Idea to Value. It’s been a fantastic first year for us, with so much to celebrate: Starting the w
What Top Gear vs. The Grand Tour teaches us about creativity vs ownership
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December 22, 2016
You may be asking yourself what comparing two shows about fast cars has to do with creativity. The answer is … quite a lot actually. Let me explain. It all comes down to a complicated juggling act which everyone and every company struggles with at one point or another: The legacy of previous ideas
Uber’s latest innovation: using a friend’s location as a destination
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December 22, 2016
Uber, the ride-sharing app already making taxi-services obsolete, has just announced their latest feature, and in my view it is a perfect example of innovation. It allows you to ask a contact whether they will allow you to use their location as a destination for their Uber ride. Genius. Check out th
Introducing the new Idea to Value Podcast
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November 30, 2016
Hi everyone and welcome to the brand new Idea to Value podcast. A lot of people have been asking me for months whether I would consider putting my knowledge and insights of creativity and innovation into a Podcast, which people could listen to whenever and wherever they liked. Some people also tell
Innovation pioneer Dieter Rams’ “Ten principles for good design”
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November 17, 2016
If you work in design or innovation, you might not necessarily have heard of Dieter Rams. But you will have definitely felt his impact in the design principles which underlay much of his work. Rams is renowned for his “less, but better” design philosophy, which helped him design a number of icon
Adobe just demonstrated “Photoshop for voice” and I now can’t trust anymore
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November 15, 2016
For decades, people have been able to improve the quality of pictures using image editing software like Adobe Photoshop. Now, Adobe has just demonstrated a new tool they are working on, which could have an even bigger impact. It’s called VoCo, and it analyses people’s speech soundwaves to make i
FREE Webinar: Becoming even more creative (detailed training with Q&A)
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November 11, 2016
Hi everyone, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has signed up so far for the How to become even more creative training. It’s been such a delight to see how much people love it and the messages I’m getting about how it has cleared up a lot of confusing topics around […]
Originally p
New insights on how your creativity decreases as you get older
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November 04, 2016
I couldn’t wait to teach you some amazing insights I recently found out on how creativity evolves over time, so I just grabbed by phone and shot this quick video for you. I also put together a much more detailed video on the research if you want the real juicy insights, and how it says […]
Origi
Microsoft retakes the innovation crown with its new focus on creativity
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October 28, 2016
Up until a few years ago, experts in the innovation space were using Microsoft as a case study for failing to innovate. They showed how Microsoft had “missed the boat” on several important technological trends, including losing search to Google, smartphones to Apple, operating systems and Office
A tribute to Robert Brands, one of our authors who sadly passed away
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October 27, 2016
This week, I received the sad news that the innovation community has lost a dear colleague. I recently found out that Robert Brands passed away on an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) weekend, doing what he loved: being adventurous. Robert was a frequent writer for Idea to Value, and a much-loved member of
This heartbreaking short film by two guys from PIXAR shows animation isn’t just for kids
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October 20, 2016
When people think of Pixar, they usually think of family-friendly cartoons like Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Toy Story. Well, two animators from the world’s most successful digital animation studio want to change your opinion on just what stories digital animations can tell. “Borrowed Time”
First look at Nintendo’s new games console: The Nintendo Switch
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October 20, 2016
Nintendo just released a trailer for its next generation console, which now finally has a name: The Nintendo Switch. After the phenomenal success of the Wii, Nintendo still has around $10 billion of cash reserves in the bank. However, their failure to convince customers of the capabilities and value
How China’s Shenzhen became the world capital of hardware innovation
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October 14, 2016
When people talk about innovative cities, most people think of Silicon Valley near San Francisco, Berlin, London or Singapore. But hardly anyone usually thinks of anywhere in China. Most people still think of China as a technology copycat, stealing intellectual property and designs from western comp
Did you know: Some people are born with an imagination?
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October 06, 2016
One of the most important skills for any creative person is that of visualisation. Whether it is remembering a specific image, like a sunset, your lover’s face or the goal scored by Didier Drogba against Everton, there is something special about being able to picture something in your mind’s ey
30 days of Creativity Training: 150 exercises to enhance your Creativity in one month
Amazon
September 04, 2013
Have you ever wanted to improve your ability to generate ideas? To be more creative, and find it easier to come up with novel solutions to difficult challenges? This book gives you one month worth of daily creativity training exercises, to help stimulate the parts of the brain used to form new ideas. It contains over 150 unique exercises from the Improvides creativity training system and will challenge you in ways that push your creativity to the limit. Through regular training, these exercises will help you improve: - The speed at which you can come up with ideas - Visualising new concepts - The diversity of ideas you can generate - The originality of ideas you can generate Get the book now, and you'll be on your way to generating more valuable ideas in only a month.
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Learned Helplessness in creativity
Cui bono?
Survivorship bias
Nick Skillicorn awarded as Creativity & Innovation Development Coach of the Year (Europe)
Your competition is not who you think it is
What is the ambition matrix and how does it work as part of an innovation portfolio?
Building bridges vs Finished Bridges
Tall Poppy syndrome vs Tall Weed syndrome
Solar power prices have dropped by over 89% in the last 10 years
Research shows that having a phone on your desk makes you more stupid
The latest digital innovations in Construction
The “average customer” does not exist, so stop designing products for fake personas
Innovation isn’t supposed to be fun
