Your competitor just announced a new feature. A customer crisis is brewing on social media. Your supply chain hit a snag. Oh, and your boss wants that decision by end of day. Welcome to 2026, where the speed of business feels [...]
Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Creative problem solving (CPS) is the strategic process to find answers to problems and ways to take advantage of opportunities. Key steps in the process include: identifying a problem, generating alternative solutions, and [...]
We make decisions all the time, big ones and small ones, easy and challenging. Making the right choice can be obvious, but sometimes, it requires time invested in thought. Luckily, we have simple tools to help. (1) Pro & Con List [...]
A fair amount of writing about brainstorming emphasizes not judging ideas too soon. A plethora of criticism about brainstorming argues it isn't critical enough. No matter how you think-up ideas, eventually they must prove themselves worthy of helping you meet your [...]
You’re in your neighborhood bookstore looking for a title about "social media." Do you immediately buy the first book you see, on the first shelf of the business section? Probably not. You visit a new restaurant for a tasty dinner, do [...]
Compromise gets a bad rap in the United States. Departing with anything less than the biggest, the best, and the most reflects weakness. Yet, since most of us work in an environment where different people come from different backgrounds with differing [...]
When operating a company, to stay innovative requires constant observation of your industry, competition, and your own company. When you're a fighter pilot, to stay alive requires constant observation of what is happening around you as well as with your own [...]
How many brainstorming sessions, filled with potentially brilliant ideas, have ended up as rolled up flip charts under someone's desk? Taking ideas to the next step post-brainstorming can be a challenge. When I get near the end of the brainstorming process, [...]
While it may be a nice way to choose who gets the last cupcake or which side of the field your team starts on, the coin flip can seem like a pretty flimsy way to make important decisions. But, what do [...]
"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 [...]