Frustration with Innovation Rises

Uncategorized 1 Comment »

Boston Consulting Group surveyed 3,000 executives worldwide and found out that a growing number of executives were frustrated with the return on their innovation investments.  Top factors contributing to diminished ROI in innovation were:

Difficulty picking right ideas for commercial development.

Long development time.

Lack of internal coordination.

Clearly, somebody needs to talk about idea mapping with these executives!

As promised, two more portraits from the IM workshop in Ft. Lauderdale.  Dreamy Merlin Monro is by Miroslava Litwak; the older gentleman is by Carol Rinaldi.

 

 

 

Awaken an Artist Hidden Inside You

Uncategorized  Tagged , 1 Comment »

During an Idea Mapping workshop in Ft. Lauderdale, research librarians learned various techniques to improve memory, enhance thought organization and bring team collaboration  to the next level.  All participants unanimously agreed that a non-traditional workshop format and innovative teaching method of engaging both sides of the brain helped them unlock creativity and innovative thinking.  One of the workshop’s brain-boosting activities required participants to draw a portrait in 50 minutes.  Except for Carol Rinaldi, who had drawn portraits in the past, majority was rather skeptical.  Picking up Andy Garcia, Donald Trump, Merlin Monro and other faces from the pile of portrait samples, people seemed to just go with the flow. Nevertheless, aplying a learing model introduced in the first part of the workshop, they lost themselves in the creative process, and the results were spectacular!  They were all amazed with realistic portraits they though they’d never be able to draw.  It was incredible to see how far our creative minds can take us if only we allow ourselves to be more creative.  See yourself: here is Donald Trump drawn in less than 50 minutes by Martin Wood.  I’ll share more portraits in the future posts.

.

Librarians Learn Idea Mapping

Uncategorized  Tagged , , No Comments »

Franklin Templeton librarians in Ft. Lauderdale attended a two-day Idea Mapping workshop to learn the benefits of the whole-brain approach to thinking, learning and planning. That was my very first workshop as a Certified Idea Mapping Instructor, and it was a lot of fun!

   

Idea Mapping, also known as Mind Mapping, is a whole-brain visual tool used by business people around the world to improve productivity, innovation and performance. Idea Mapping is based on discoveries made in neuroscience. It is effective because it mirrors how our brains naturally process and associate information making meaningful connections between pieces of data.  It creates synergy between right and left cortex skills integrating logic, lines, words, lists, numbers, and sequence with color and images. Using an idea map, thoughts and ideas can be effectively captured on a single sheet of paper making it easy to see and understand a big picture while still providing a way to include important details. 

  Using Idea Maps to Learn Faster

Idea maps can be used to accelerate learning and get new employees up to speed faster. Miroslava Litwak, who joined the library a few months ago as Digital Services Analyst, is using idea maps to learn about investment concepts behind charts and graphs she creates for the library clients.  Her map of the David Dreman’s book “Contrarian Investment Strategies” demonstrates key principles behind idea mapping such as using key words, images and color.

  

As you can see, creation of a map begins in the center with a main topic as a key word or an image.  Branches that represent key information related to the topic radiate from the main topic and spread clockwise throughout the page so that key ideas can be seen instantly.  Color, images and symbols activate creative areas of the right brain adding more fun to the thinking process and improving information recall.

 


WordPress Theme & Icons by N.Design Studio. WPMU Theme pack by WPMU-DEV.
Entries RSS Comments RSS Log in