Jumpstart innovation, part 2

KPMG Enterprise asked me to write another article – reprinted below – to help their clients jumpstart innovation within their organizations. I will speak to their clients May 24th; like the average company overwhelmed by the “how-to” of innovation, many of them don’t know where to...

Lessons from the improv stage

I have been a student of improv for 4 years and often use it in my facilitation and consulting work with corporate clients. It is a source of great team building exercises and lessons about effective collaboration via the “Yes, and” rule of improv. Recently I performed with my improv class in a show and...

Install three key habits to help with focus

How many habits could you change at one time? Two months ago, a naturopath suggested I renovate my diet radically. “You’re asking me to change every habit around buying, preparing and eating food,” I said wearily. He shrugged. There is a rule of thumb – it takes 21-30 consecutive repetitions, at...

Use characters to convey concepts

Conveying a complex concept to an audience in a simple and compelling way can be tough. One creative trick is to associate it with a specific character – it opens up very distinct, creative ways to communicate. Geico, for example, uses a gecko with a British accent in its ads (example below) to convey the...

Deliver a 5-minute pitch!

In December the folks at the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) asked me to teach participants in their Climate Spark event how to deliver a 5-minute pitch. Ten finalists in this social venture challenge – social/green entrepreneurs with a great business idea – gathered for two days to prepare for a...