Women in Leadership and Business Conference

I send out a warm thank you to all the fantastic people I met at the Women in Leadership and Business Conference where I was asked to speak by organizer and visionary Ildi Wiley. With a talk and a book both titled ”Creative Conversations – a way for leaders and teams to create breakthrough ideas,” I showed leaders how to use brief, spontaneous conversations to focus and inspire the creative process happening in their teams. The goal is to turn ideas into action, creating value for the company and rewards for everyone who contributes. The delegates who attended my session seemed to dig what I was saying and walked away with tools they could apply immediately,

I offer a similar two-hour workshop to clients; I can customize it for specific issues and formats. The two-hour format allows time for participants to adapt the tool to their needs. Please contact me for more information!

Below is a list of past blog posts that expand on the topics I raised in my talk – they include the creative thinking tools named in the book. If the link is not activated, it means I’m still working on it so please check back! All tools will be up in a week or so.

CONCEPTS

Distinguish creativity from innovation
Focus before you brainstorm
Put success measures against ideas
Make ideas specific and actionable
Ignite ideas using a trigger library
Find inspiration in “star” innovations
Sell your ideas with “SUCCES”

TOOLS

Note: I’ve matched up the tool to the 5-step framework introduced in the book and the talk. For a summary of it, see Cheatsheet: B.I.5 – Breakthrough Ideas in 5 Steps (B.I.5).

Step 1: Challenge Statement Exercise

Step1: Example of a Challenge Statement (Pepsi)

Step 2: Trigger Library Tips

Step3: Creative Thinking Tools

Facilitation Checklists: If you running a brainstorming session, get started on the right foot!

Twin Trigger: Find something in a different paradigm that is a “conceptual twin” (metaphor or analogy) for a key concept in your challenge and use it to trigger ideas.

Example: Find metaphors in dogs and potato chips

Cross Breed: Cross breed a series of random concepts with elements of your challenge to create hybrid concepts.

Star Gazer: Identify successful things in other paradigms and use their star qualities to trigger ideas for your challenge.

Virtual Tour: Visualize an important experience associated with your challenge in rich sensory detail. Then use those details to trigger ideas.

Guest Speaker: Act out the roles of famous people or imaginary characters who have crashed your brainstorming session; use their unique viewpoints to trigger ideas.

W5: Break down your challenge into Who, What, When, Where and How and then systematically alter the pieces by tossing aside assumptions and making wild leaps. Notice the ripple effect.

Wish List: Find the ideas buried in your most fanciful and (seemingly) unrealistic wishes.

Step 5: The Sell Template: Propose your idea to decision-makers with a lean, focused proposal. See a example I developed for the Driving Innovation module of the Fairmont Leadership Fundamentals (the leadership program for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts). I created the entire module using the same framework as B.I.5.

Step 5: “Make to Stick” book review and online resources.

Stay tuned for more blogs on the topic of “turning ideas into action”!

One Responseto “Women in Leadership and Business Conference”

1. Tsufit says:

   April 8, 2011 at 5:34 pm

   Flipped through your book Inge. Looks seriously cool! Congrats!
   Tsufit
   Author, Step Into The Spotlight

   P.S. Love the photo with Billy Shakespeare and Sid Viscious