TO THRIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY YOU CAN
HIRE A DESIGN THINKER...
Do you suffer from the 'Fat Cat' syndrome? Is your business successful and so you hesitate to fix what's 'not broken'? Is it a groove you are in or a rut?... or has your status quo success blinded you from looking towards the future?
Generalist Designers utilize design thinking to synthesize research findings, uncover and articulate insights that will inform and inspire innovation to address a need, recognized or not yet identified. They are disruptors who look at 'anything & everything' through critical & creative process. From helping a restaurant get out of the ICU to consulting when you are considering land or home purchase or when you are lost in the weeds of blue prints of floor plans, Generalist Designers hired as consultants can be the person you didn't know you needed. As human factors specialists using critical and creative empathic insights ...or human-centered design, we get to the root of a service, system, method, organization or product to determine what is failing in the design or what could be improved.
The best time to shake things up is not necessarily when the chips are down but rather when you are doing well and you have the resources to innovate. It may be metaphorically time to 'kill your company', which gives you the freedom to run with new ideas and preemptively tackle potential problems which often come out of nowhere. Even when you think "It's all good!", a Generalist Designer will help deliver better.
... OR DEVELOP A DESIGN THINKING MIND
GROW 'GENIUS'
Grow 'Genius' is a Critical & Creative Thinking program that synthesizes and enhances
the creative process models of the last four decades,
We can never have enough good Generalist Designers… In fact, our future depends on them!
“Once confined to product development, design thinking has become central to strategy, innovation, and organizational culture.”
-Harvard Business Review
GROW 'GENIUS'
If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn’t call it genius. Michelangelo
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together go to the making of a genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. Mozart
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish, by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Einstein
No one can arrive form being talented alone work transforms talent into genius. Anna Pavlova
STEP 1: SEED.
THE FIRST STEP OF 'gROW Genius' IS TO RE-seed THE BRAIN TO ACCEPT A WHOLE NEW MIND.
“We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.” - Daniel Pink
It's time to learn about the supercomputer in your head.
Neuroscience is just one dynamic field offering new information that is crucial for understanding how the complex computer in our head works. Cognitive psychology explores how we learn, remember and make judgements and most importantly points out the strengths and weaknesses in our thinking during these tasks. Becoming a strong critical & creative thinker begins with acknowledging that we face face critical blocks as well as creative blocks. The key is to learn to recognize blocks and understand how to overcome them.
Critical & Creative Thinking Skills have been largely sidelined by the traditional educational system. The emphasis has been placed on the regurgitation of information and acceptance of the premise. This narrow, reductive approach often rewards status-quo thinking. Even if or when we are encouraged to think both critically and creativity, it is often only within the confines of an institution's agenda.
PLANT
WE ARE BORN CREATIVE BEINGS WITH LITTLE CARE OR AWARENESS TO HOW BEING DIFFERENT CAN CREATE HAVOC IN OUR LIVES. UNDERSTANDING OUR BASIC AND PRIMARY NEED TO BELONG COMES BEFORE EXPLORING HOW TO BE AN INDEPENDENT THINKER.
CULTIVATE
'FAST & SLOW' THINKING & COGNITIVE BIASES MUST BE UNDERSTOOD. HOW TO QUESTION THE PREMISE AND FRAME THE PROBLEM IS THE FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. BUILDING ON INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATORS TO TAKE ON CHALLENGES WHILE LEARNING TO LOVE THE PROCESS IS THE GOAL.
GRAFT
THE HIVE MIND... SYNTHESIZING TRUTHS: YOURS, MINE & OURS. UNDERSTANDING THE NEED FOR THE 'TRIED & TRUE' CAREFULLY GRAFTED TO 'NEW & IMPROVED' FOR CREATIVE INNOVATION. UNDERSTANDING MOTIVATORS: FOCUS, DRIVE, OPTIMISM AND EMOTION.
BLOOM
ANALYSIS OF WORLD-SHIFTING MOMENTS OF PERSONAL INSIGHT TO CREATE A HABIT OF ‘AHA!’ BUILDING ON YOUR BRAIN’S TOP STRENGTH... INTEGRATED THINKING. RATHER THAN ONLY THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, YOU ARE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AT THE BOX AND UNDERSTAND THE AGENDA AND SEE A MORE COMPLETE PICTURE FROM ABOVE.
HARVEST
BRAIN HEALTH AND FITNESS IS THE TOP GOAL FOR PRESERVATION OF COGNITIVE FUNCTION, WHILE REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF HOW SETTING CLEAR GOALS ALLOWS YOUR BRAIN TO ACHIEVE SHORT AND LONG-TERM POSITIVE OUTCOMES.
NOTE: Although it is not necessary to go through the 'Seed' program, it greatly enhances the understanding and outcomes of the 'Sprout' program.
STEP 2: SPROUT!
The creative process has been analyzed for hundreds of years by many eminent thinkers for very good reason. Creativity is the foundation of innovative design. Sprout! is designed to take a group or individual through a concrete, clear, creative process that is easy to remember and easy to apply. Each phase is supported by activities and tools for the specific task.
SPROUT!
The birth and growth of an idea.
Begin...
THE DREAM ROOM ~ Time to imagine the wild, wonderful, wacky or forehead slapping ideas.
“Listen to anyone with an original idea, no matter how absurd it may sound at first. If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.” — William McKnight, 3M President
THE REALITY ROOM ~ Why this is a good idea and why is it a good time to plant this idea? All the 'pros' for how it will work, who it will benefit and how it will benefit the many are laid out.
“Creativity is… seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.” — Michele Shea
THE CRITIC ROOM ~ What are the challenges? The cons and challenges to overcome are thoughtfully and throughly analyzed before the idea is put to death.
“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.” – Charles Brower
THE LABOR ROOM ~ Roll up your sleeves, it's time to make the vision real if determined to be a viable seed. This is the time for the prototype to be developed or the social experiment executed on a small scale.
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm…in the real world all rests on perseverance. – Johann von Goethe
THE EXAMINATION ROOM - How'd things go in the early development of the idea? It's test and tweak time! This may require a step back into the Dream Room.
“I would say, as an entrepreneur, everything you do, every action you take in (product) development, in marketing, every conversation you have, everything you do…is an experiment. ” – Eric Ries
Key to remember... it will get messy.
"For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, arguments, and debate." – Margaret Heffernan
THE DELIVERY ROOM ~ The Birth of the Idea...launched into the world!
“If you are not going to divorce the status quo, you will give birth to mediocrity.”― Israelmore Ayivor
Each step logically provides a 'space' and the activities that support the process in a way that eliminates confusion of the process, is engaging and gets results.
Group Workshops and Individual Coaching Available for Seed and/or Sprout!
A Designing Mind is a 21st century mind.
Genius is golf's hole-in-one.
The game is not about having an expectation to land the almost unattainable perfect shot... the goal is just to continue to aim for it .
Cynthia Clayton Parent
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