Breakthrough Thinking

The Anatomy of Successful Problem Solving How do great leaders solve problems differently from the rest of us? In "Breakthrough Thinking you will learn the seven steps consistently used by those who solve problems most creatively. By taking an analytical approach, Nadler and Hibino discovered that there is a specific method used to successfully make decisions that is both teachable and duplicable. This program is now presented to you in this volume. "Finally, we have a beautifully lucid book which tells you how to get from here to there--how to get to 'excellence.'" --Warren Bennis, co-author of "Leaders "I've used "Breakthrough Thinking now for a few years and have found it transformative. It really is a different paradigm of thinking that leads to powerful changes in the way I look at problems and how I practice organizational change." --William Chandon, Organizational Competency Building, Corporate Knowledge Program, Computer Sciences Corporation "I have had a 'breakthrough experience' after reading "Breakthrough Thinking. I want to thank both Professor Nadler and Professor Hibino for the thought-provoking ideas presented in the book." --Dick Keller, president, Kellerco

This groundbreaking book will help nonprofit managers think in newand creative ways about how they define and meet the challengesthey face--and how to rise above standard practices to lift theirorganizations to greater performance levels. Using examples of bestpractices from innovative organizations in both the corporate andnonprofit worlds, Breakthrough Thinking for NonprofitOrganizations offers a mix of "how-to" advice and case studiesthat will guide readers on a new road to creativity. This book willfundamentally change the way nonprofit professionals think abouthow they do their work--and usher in a new era fornonprofits. 2003 Terry McAdam Book Award Winner http://www.allianceonline.org/publications/mcadam_past_winners_1.page

Harness your creative potential! Make no mistake; creative thinking is a skill. As with any skill, it can be strengthened, honed and mastered. And just like any endeavor, mastery of creativity requires thoughtful study and practice. This book gives you the tools you need to make creative thinking a part of your approach to every aspect of your life. Breakthrough Thinking is a holistic approach to creativity complete with industry examples from successful creative professionals and some of the top creative organizations in business today. Within the pages of this timely and comprehensive guide to idea generation and problem solving you'll find techniques and exercises to help you: Develop critical understanding of concepts, theories and trends in creativity Learn how to develop and apply creative concepts and strategies within today's competitive business environment Brainstorm, analyze and evaluate innovative ideas and solutions Empower your team's creative process And much more Let Breakthrough Thinking be your guide and tap into your creative potential today! "This book represents an important contribution to our growing understanding of creativity in professional practice. Vogel's take on it from a variety of perspectives and contexts is rich and rewarding." --W. Glenn Griffin, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Advertising, The University of Alabama and co-author of The Creative Process Illustrated "A resource not only for industry innovators, but also for academic mentors who aim to provide rich learning environments for creative leaders of the future." --Joann M. Montepare, Professor of Psychology, Lasell College

There are all kinds of laws that govern this Earth, the law of gravity, the law of physics, and the law of lift. But there is also another law that I want to share with you in this book. There are laws that govern your thinking. Breakthrough thinking is about you coming into a world of impossibilities. There are many people that feel stuck, and they can't go any further in life. Or the life they desire to have may never come because of some limits that have been placed in their lives, either by the environment that they were born into or obstacles that they have become unaware of in their life. But I have good news for you. You already have in your possession the greatest asset you need, that is your thinking. When you learn the power of your thinking and discover how to maximize your thinking by the input that goes into it, you will discover that there is no limit. Proverbs 23:7 says, "As he thinketh in his heart so is he" or as he thinketh he will have or he will become. A change in your thinking will cause a change in your life.

Do games hold the secret to better productivity? If you’ve ever found yourself engrossed in Angry Birds, Call of Duty, or a plain old crossword puzzle when you should have been doing something more productive, you know how easily games hold our attention. Hardcore gamers have spent the equivalent of 5.93 million years playing World of Warcraft while the world collectively devotes about 5 million hours per day to Angry Birds. A colossal waste of time? Perhaps. But what if we could tap into all the energy, engagement, and brainpower that people are already expending and use it for more creative and valuable pursuits? Harnessing the power of games sounds like a New-Age fantasy, or at least a fad that’s only for hip start-ups run by millennials in Silicon Valley. But according to Adam L. Penenberg, the use of smart game design in the workplace and beyond is taking hold in every sector of the economy, and the companies that apply it are witnessing unprecedented results. “Gamification” isn’t just for consumers chasing reward points anymore. It’s transforming, well, just about everything. Penenberg explores how, by understanding the way successful games are designed, we can apply them to become more efficient, come up with new ideas, and achieve even the most daunting goals. He shows how game mechanics are being applied to make employees happier and more motivated, improve worker safety, create better products, and improve customer service. For example, Microsoft has transformed an essential but mind-numbing task—debugging software—into a game by having employees compete and collaborate to find more glitches in less time. Meanwhile, Local Motors, an independent automaker based in Arizona, crowdsources designs from car enthusiasts all over the world by having them compete for money and recognition within the community. As a result, the company was able to bring a cutting-edge vehicle to market in less time and at far less cost than the Big Three automakers. These are just two examples of companies that have tapped the characteristics that make games so addictive and satisfying. Penenberg also takes us inside organizations that have introduced play at work to train surgeons, aid in physical therapy, translate the Internet, solve vexing scientific riddles, and digitize books from the nineteenth century. Drawing on the latest brain science as well as his firsthand reporting from these cutting-edge companies, Penenberg offers a powerful solution for businesses and organizations of all stripes and sizes.

In The Charisma Myth, Olivia Fox Cabane offered a groundbreaking approach to becoming more charismatic. Now she teams up with Judah Pollack to reveal how anyone can train their brain to have more eureka insights. The creative mode in your brain is like a butterfly. It's beautiful and erratic, hard to catch and highly valued as a result. If you want to capture it, you need a net. Enter the executive mode, the task-oriented network in your brain that help you tie your shoes, run a meeting, or pitch a client. To succeed, you need both modes to work together--your inner butterfly to be active and free, but your inner net to be ready to spring at the right time and create that "aha!" moment. But is there any way to trigger these insights, beyond dumb luck? Thanks to recent neuroscience discoveries, we can now explain these breakthrough moments--and also induce them through a series of specific practices. It turns out there's a hidden pattern to all these seemingly random breakthrough ideas. From Achimedes' iconic moment in the bathtub to designer Adam Cheyer's idea for Siri, accidental breakthroughs throughout history share a common origin story. In this book, you will learn to master the skills that will transform your brain into a consistent generator of insights. Drawing on their extensive coaching and training practice with top Silicon Valley firms, Cabane and Pollack provide a step-by-step process for accessing the part of the brain that produces breakthroughs and systematically removing internal blocks. Their tactics range from simple to zany, such as: · Imagine an alternate universe where gravity doesn’t exist, and the social and legal rules that govern it. · Map Disney’s Pocahontas story onto James Cameron’s Avatar. · Rid yourself of imposter syndrome through mental exercises. · Literally change your perspective by climbing a tree. · Stimulate your butterfly mode by watching a foreign film without subtitles. By trying the exercises in this book, readers will emerge with a powerful new capacity for breakthrough thinking.

How do people come up with truly original ideas? The answer is to think outside the box—way outside. For the past decade, Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux, and Michael Wade, professors of innovation and strategy at IMD Business School, have studied inventors, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and artists. These people, or “aliens,” as the authors call them, are able to make leaps of creativity, and use five patterns of thinking that distinguish them from the rest of us. These five patterns—Attention, Levitation, Imagination, Experimentation, and Navigation—lead to a fresh and flexible approach to problem-solving. Alien thinkers know how to free the imagination so it can detect hard-to-observe patterns. They practice deliberate ways to retreat from the world in order to see the big picture underlying a problem. And they approach ideas in systematic ways that reflect the constraints of reality. Through surprising and compelling stories, the authors show how readers can use this method to develop out-of-this-world ideas. ALIEN Thinking can help any of us find innovative solutions to the most difficult problems.