Is there anything worse than a job which makes you unhappy? Beyond terminal illness probably not. We spend a great deal of our time and energy at work and it’s where we would hope to have some opportunity for applied creativity and innovation. Today’s secret wish is from Emily who has, frankly, been mentally whipped into submission. She feels her work is hopeless, and  uncreative. She wishes for better. But she’s married to the paycheck and can’t see a way out. Everyday she comes home with her spirits lower than the day before. If you feel your job is sucking the life out of you, there are things you can do: 1.) Look into your heart and ask yourself if

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Words of wisdom can echo through time. Words of positive creativity creates virtuous circles that can spiral for many years. I’m writing today of the words others have given me, and also, my own words. I occasionally hear from somebody who has read my business novel, Jack’s Notebook. The notes are generally positive. Some have been — inspirational. It’s a profoundly fulfilling thing to hear about the positive impact your words have on others. I’m grateful for the audience, and grateful for the words of empowerment others have given me. Yesterday a reader of Jack’s Notebook, Aaron Eden, posted an interesting blog piece about his journey into the world of creativity and innovation. In Butterflies to Hurricanes – How Innovation and Creative

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It’s time to innovate how start-ups raise capital. Everything is in place to do so — crowdfunding is a revolutionary change that levels the playing field. But currently, the technique is hamstrung by government regulations. This is a USA focused post, but there are similar challenges in the EU. Dave Knox (@daveknox) tweeted a link taking me to a page to sign to support the Jobs Act (aka Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act H.R. 3606).  Americans reading my post here — I urge you to click through and Sign The Letter. Did you know that start-up companies in the USA are forbidden to: Publicly discuss that they are raising money Raise money through crowdfunding Receive services like standard docs from incubators

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Apologize in advance for the mis-leading title of this post, but I have a motive, and a point (and an ego). On a lark I decided to Google “the most creative man in the world”. Here is the somewhat surprising result. Juan Carlos Solon may not be the most creative man in the world (he’s a damn good illustrator) but he deserves credit for a good blog post title. I’d give the real title to Sir Jony Ive. — but that’s just me. Then, to be fair, went over to the fair sex and Googled “the most creative woman in the world.” Here is the rather silly top entry. The second listing was a bit better, if dated to 2010, a

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Ran across a facsinating article this morning in Mail Online India. It features three inventors who each have responded directly to some market need with a new device or product. The actual products are interesting, but what strikes me about this at a different level is that India might be a hotbed for new innovation. This is an emerging trend. Why? India has a goodly number of educated people with deep interests in engineering and math. It’s a free country, so people can pursue their interests. They have a grass roots innovation program that helps find and fund inventors and entrepreneurs. Think micro loans and such. And most importantly there is desire, a deep motivation to create something new. The

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This mornings Independent brings the story that Britanica is publishing its last set of encyclopaedias — after 244 years of continuous editions. The story strikes a chord. My family invested in those glorious leatherette tomes when I was a boy and I spent many hours delving into those books. This was of course before the Internet — which, by the way, is going to be big. It’s a story of a lack of innovative courage. A hesitancy to ask themselves big, bold, brave, questions (see KILN for how). Britanica is going the way of Kodak. They are being bypassed by a world that is simply doing things differently. A world that is no longer using film to make memories, and

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Yes, I’ve updated my website and blog. It’s been a surprisingly fun project due to having a great technology and brand innovation partner in the firm Reuben-Hunter. Not only does it look better, it will be easier to change — and I can do it myself! I’m confident it’s more engaging, and will achieve higher rankings, sell more books and speeches and lead to more business. As an innovation expert (God love me) doing my own house cleaning and updating my brand brings me back to some basics. In other words I should listen to my own advice. Anyway, allow me to share two simple thoughts: 1.) If it ain’t broke, break it — my old website worked in the sense

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Innovators need to keep an eagle eye on new technology trends. Things are developing so quickly now and in so many areas that keeping tabs on what’s happening is daunting. These new developments offer a constant stream of opportunities (if you think and take action on them), but it’s a bit like that famous clip of Lucille Ball on the chocolate line — all that tasty stuff can quickly overwhelm you. You need a radar screen — a wide view of what’s inbound. Today’s post is to provide you with a great tech watching tool — Gizmag — and a few other tech watching resources. But first, a word or two on why and how. In the most obvious way,

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It’s March 5th 2012. Nearly 20 Percent of 2012 is already behind us. How are your 2012 Innovation efforts going? Are you “hanging-ten” or barely hanging on? The only purpose of this post is to have you look at your operation and simply admit to yourself whether you’ve wasted two months or you’ve got a good start. Of course, if you’ve wasted two months I would urge action, now! I’ve been reminded as of late just how much companies get in their own way. They spend so much time fussing over the Four Pessimist P’s* of Non-Innovation: Process — “We’d love to start an innovation project but we haven’t made up our mind how to move forward yet, we must

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I don’t plug a lot of videos on this blog — how many video’s are all that relevant to creativity and innovation? This is the exception, I have one I’d really like you to watch, after you read this Jay Leno style “set up”. Growing up in anti-communist America the world was black and white. You were either pro-democracy capitalist, or a commmie pinko. There was no middle ground (gee, not so different than now). The “Domino Theory” had the USA fighting a communist insurgency in a tiny country in south east Asia that had no strategic value. The Vietnam war tore the country apart. I’d also rather forget the McCarthy era and blacklists. Which is what makes this new

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