creative problem solving

Decision Making

Decision Making is the process of reviewing all of the ideas generated and measuring them against the objectives (what you're trying to solve). It is also smart to filter potential solutions by (for example) expense, ease of implementation, how it affects [...]

Decision Making

Better Brainstorming Mad Lib

Leonard Stern, the inventor of the "World's Greatest Word Game" Mad Libs, passed away in June of 2011 at the age of 88. In his honor, I've created a "Better Brainstorming" Mad Lib. Mad Libs - as a creativity tool - [...]

Better Brainstorming Mad Lib

The Person With The Best Imagination Wins

Einstein once said, "imagination is better than knowledge." It is more important to see possibilities than to know the facts. Dan Roam, in his book Unfolding the Napkin, wrote: "Problems don't get solved by the smartest or the fastest or the [...]

The Person With The Best Imagination Wins

Nothing Worse Than The Wrong Problem Solved Properly

"There's nothing worse than bad coffee brewed properly." That's a quote by Tim Kern. He was a coffee guru at Starbucks Coffee. A long-time employee who was caught a the lay-off sweep a couple of years ago. The artwork is from [...]

Nothing Worse Than The Wrong Problem Solved Properly

How To Manage Problems You Can’t Fix

Problems. Challenges. Opportunities. Whatever you call them at your company, we want them fixed. Our gut reaction is - come hell or high water - to find a solution. However, there are times when there is no fix... You're stuck with [...]

How To Manage Problems You Can’t Fix

Hop Aboard The Brainstorming Roller Coaster

Thought you'd like to see this sketch I found in my picture folder. It's a simple (if not silly) way to plot how, during the brainstorming process, there is shift up and down between gathering many ideas to narrowing to fewer [...]

Hop Aboard The Brainstorming Roller Coaster

Driving Trial To Drive Sales

Mocha Valencia Frappuccino, was the one of the new beverages in the summer of 2002 at Starbucks Coffee. I was the marketing manager in charge of the summer promotion. The beverage team described the taste profile like eating pieces of "chocolate [...]

Driving Trial To Drive Sales

Off-Site Meetings: Last Century Technology

The most up to date list of locations can be found on the Places page within Brainstorming Tools section. Did use an abacus or slide rule to build your FY'10 budgets? To prepare and distribute information about next year's Marketing Plan [...]

Off-Site Meetings: Last Century Technology

Better Power Strip Design – Powerbridge

Look under your desk at the clutter of power cords... from your CPU, monitor, speakers, perhaps a printer... I'll bet, just like under my desk, it is a mess. A tangle of cords. But that's just how it is, right? Well, [...]

Better Power Strip Design – Powerbridge

Marketing Lessons from School Lunch

"If you can successfully promote sloppy joe sandwiches, you can perform marketing for anything!" That was my motto, early in my career, as marketing director for a food service company. We were hired to manage the school district's food program. The [...]

Marketing Lessons from School Lunch
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