Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Where good ideas come from #2

This visual representation of Steven Johnson's work is great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Where good ideas come from

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.
This from TED.
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-09-21&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Monday, September 20, 2010

Leonardo's Basement

Leonardo's Basement is an innovative educational organization for children and their families. They create imaginative learning environments where girls and boys ages 6 to 16 design and build their creative ideas, mixing art, science and technology. They provide exciting building experiences for over 600 children a year and introduce their programs to thousands more at neighborhood and community events.

Move over kids - this looks like fun!

http://www.leonardosbasement.org/1history.php

Check out the video links as well.

Brainwashed

A book from the Change This series by Seth Goodin
http://sethgodin.com/sg/docs/brainwash.pdf

Friday, September 17, 2010

Making is Connecting

A great web site and video links.
David Gauntlett argues that making things, on-line or off-line, we make connections with others and increase our engagement with the world.
Web:
http://www.makingisconnecting.org/
Really worth spending some time looking round.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Business of Creativity

This from David Parrish:

I thought you'd be interested in this new short video about a business support project to help creative enterprises to grow and create jobs.

The Liverpool Creative Growth Initiative is a Merseyside ACME/Liverpool Vision project to help growing creative businesses.
Over 100 creative, cultural and digital enterprises have been assisted by this project to date.

The video features several creative businesses in the city and the Director of Merseyside ACME, Kevin McManus.

The video is online here:
http://blog.davidparrish.com/tshirts_and_suits/2010/09/creative-regeneration.html

Monday, September 13, 2010

Childhood's End

Schools train children to remain children all their lives, John Taylor Gatto argues in his new book. There’s another way: Teach them to become leaders and adventurers. This from ODE Magazine - the online community for intelligent optimists!
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/57/childhoods-end/

Pecha Kucha Journalling

This from my friend Ken Wall from a friend of his - Jim Ridge.
"Check out my Pecha-Kucha from Mindcamp this year! The big difference this year is that I did even use PowerPoint slides....you’ll see what I mean. The first few seconds didn’t get recorded, but the tile was “Indiana Jones and the Journal”, all about how I was inspired by “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arch” to start keeping a journal. Please pass around!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3RWLBxLbpk

Friday, September 10, 2010

How to run an un-conference

This from Jennifer Goddard http://www.fuzz2buzz.com/en/node/4409
and check out Alan Black's fabulous resource page on Open Space Learning Techniques and World Cafe http://www.cre8ng.com/professional-materials/open-space-workshops-learning

New CEO To-Do List

This from Fortune Magazine for new leaders:
Spend the first weeks and months listening
Focus on the culture
Don't get locked in

More here:
http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2010/06/14/f_cs_nalco_management.fortune/

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Using your whole brain

This from my friend and whole brain colleague Ken Wall:

I had a conversation last week with one of our NBI practitioners and one of the things we talked about at some length was the question of habits. She told me that in her organisation the NBI was regarded as 'the leadership tool'. She added that for some years now, the NBI has been an invaluable aid to identifying leadership potential using a combination of the Adult, Skills and Leadership profiles.


In another organisation the NBI is used as, "one of the best aids to staff selection and retention we have ever used," according to a senior HR manager. The first company doesn't use the NBI for selection, and the second one doesn't use it for leadership! So maybe the NBI is habit forming? Have you discovered a particular area where the NBI works really well?


With 22 versions of the NBI currently available and more on the drawing board, the range of applications could well be endless. So it would be a shame if your experiences of success in one area of application barred the way to exploring others.


There are many great examples:


The South African netball team achieved a much higher placing than ever before at the last World Cup based on an analysis of thinking preferences required in each position at different stages of the game. In addition the cry of "Play L2" seemed to mystify the opposition!
A major out-going call centre reduced staff turnover, improved retention of top performers and doubled their strike rate by selecting staff based on the NBI profile of the exemplary performer, rather than the profile determined by traditional job analysis methods.
An International wholesale bank showed major improvements in revenue achieved by their Relationship Managers (RMs) dealing with high net worth clients throughout Asia. One RM reported a four fold improvement in revenue, and was delighted to have signed up a key client she had been working on for over a year! The secret? A series of NBI based 'Whole Brain Selling' programs conducted by Rob Devine, Director of the Thinking Network in Singapore.


If you would like to know more about these and the many other success stories involving the NBI, just let us know. And if you are wondering if there might be a potential NBI solution for an issue you are facing, we would be happy to discuss this with you.


Yours from the bottom of my brain...


Ken Wall

Whole Brain Thinking Pty Ltd

Principal distributors of the Neethling Brain Instrument throughout Australia, New Zealand and the whole of Asia

Changing the World - ONE THOUGHT AT A TIME!

PO Box 672
Templestowe
VIC 3106 Australia

Phone: 61 3 9850 9165
Fax: 61 3 9852 1190

www.wholebrainthinking.com.au

or talk with me as the New Zealand Agent wayne@future-edge.co.nz

When outside the box isn't enough.

"I mean, we seem so hellbent on getting outside the box all the time that no one knows the "properties of the box" itself."
More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-j-fleming-phd/when-outside-the-box-isnt_b_706869.html

Age no barrier to innovation

A double-headed broom invented by a three-year-old Derbyshire boy has been hailed as one of the most ingenious inventions in recent years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-11205395

Tried and true tactics for kick-starting innovation

“To get good ideas, you need lots of ideas.”

This quote by Linus Pauling is a popular one among companies who hope to gain or maintain competitive advantage by continuously innovating. It’s also a concept at the very heart of open source development.

If you’re reading this, I would venture to guess that you could use a few new ideas … especially good ones.

More here: http://opensource.com/business/10/8/tried-and-true-tactics-kick-starting-innovation

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Saturday, September 4, 2010

FREE Creative Industries Guide

Free online 'Creative, Cultural and Digital Industries Guide' for creative and digital businesses: http://www.creativeindustriesguide.com/

This creative business guide was written by David Parrish, author of the book 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity' and published by Business Link West Midlands in the UK. David writes about this stuff better than anyone I know. It is well worth a look - and its a free download.

The 48 page creative industries guide provides information, ideas and guidance on a range of business issues relevant to enterprises in the creative, cultural and digital sectors.

Sections include:
- Strategic Planning
- Understanding your Customers
- Profiting from your Ideas
- Organisational Structures
- People and Skills
- Promoting your Products / Services
- Financial Management
- Legal and other issues
- Links to useful organisations and resources for creative enterprises

and more.

24/7 Creative

24/7 Creative is an on-line community for artists, designers, musicians and anyone who supports a more creative world. It is well worth a look - especially some of the stuff accessed through YouTube Play and the collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum.
http://www.facebook.com/247creative?v=app_7146470109