Lateral thinking is a phrase coined by Edward de Bono as a counterpoint to conventional or vertical thinking. In conventional thinking we go forward in a predictable, direct fashion. Lateral thinking involves coming at the problem from new directions – literally from the side. De Bono defines the four main aspects of lateral thinking as…

The brainstorm is the most popular group creativity exercise. It is quick, easy and it works. But many organizations have become frustrated with brainstorms and have stopped using them. They say brainstorms are old-fashioned and no longer effective. But the real reason for the frustrations is that the brainstorms are not facilitated properly. A well-run…

Fans of GTD will already be familiar with the weekly review. Weekly reviews are designed to give you uninterrupted thinking time each week. Instead of tackling the big questions of your life between coffee breaks and morning commutes, you can set aside time to do a review. Weekly reviews are a great concept…

Finding the right way to get ideas together, particularly amongst a group, can really impact results. Usually something large, easily viewed, and graphically versatile is best. Like a wall? Turns out that brainstorming is an epigraphic activity — something best done on walls. Reading and writing on walls is a different function than reading a book…

Now days I see the important of dropping things down. I have flow of ideas suddenly, and I need to ready myself so if it happens, I can drop down the ideas. And I like to be in that situation where I get ideas. LifeDev has the similar experience and provides 7 tips on when…

True, brainstorming session seems not effective at all. Group think and silence-of-death etc are lethal for the discussion. There are ways to improve the effectiveness of brainstorming from a group. A web site called Post-gazette suggests having individual to brainstorm alone may decrease group think and improve discussions: …David Perkins, a professor at the Harvard Graduate…

The doorway to real change isn’t open often, so the times when it is (those “teachable moments”) are too precious to waste. Here’s how to use them to the full.

To think outside of the box, you need some kind of randomness. This is why we developed the “Hackers’ Deck” for our marketing event sponsored by Yahoo! JAPAN. This nifty deck of cards can magically generate ideas for Internet businesses. On each card, it has “service” and “feature”. For example, on “service” are “instant messenger”…

Chuck Frey over at Creativity For Life has some tips to increase your effectiveness on personal problem-solving skills. Think about there is a time you are solving a problem, and the challenge is too big that you want to give up. How should you tackle it? Chuck suggested two steps: State your problem clearly, and…