Explorations

Human behavior, storytelling, and more.

Lateral Thinking

3 min read

Working Smarter Sometimes Means NOT Adopting New Technology

In my book Smartcuts, I shared many examples of how to use technology to give a business or individual a “platform advantage” to make their hard work...

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3 min read

The Trouble With Best Practices

This article originally appeared in Fast Company. IN THE LATE ’70s, Palo Alto-based entrepreneur Debbi Fields tried to get a loan to start a cookie...

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innovation

5 min read

Why Bad Ideas Are Good For Innovation

Mark Tigan, civil servant of the village of Winooski, Vermont, was thirty-two years old when the president of the United States called to shut him...

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how to think differently

1 min read

How To Think Differently: The Smartcuts Framework

By definition, it's easy to think of obvious ideas.

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strategic decision-making

Using The Scientific Method To Spark Lateral Thinking

This twist on the classic scientific method will spark your lateral thinking skills As we discussed in Part 1 of my Smartcuts explainer series on how...

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first principles approach

How To Think From First Principles

Taking a first principles approach Classic entrepreneurs and inventors tend to talk a lot about "thinking from first principles." But what does that...

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lateral thinking

How To Ask Strategic Questions To Promote Lateral Thinking

Spark innovative ideas with this lateral thinking skill Part 4 of the Lateral Thinking / Smartcuts explainer series dives into one of my favorite...

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Lateral Thinking

How To Use Lateral Thinking To Form Innovative Hypotheses

Part 5 of my Lateral Thinking explainer series This is about doing what most people jump straight to in Step 1 of a typical problem-solving process:...

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lateral thinking

Using Lateral Thinking To Test & Bulletproof Innovative Ideas

Lateral thinking for strategic decision making Part 6 of my Thinking Different explainer series digs into how to run your ideas through the gauntlet,...

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