The Psychology Behind All That Clutter You Can't Get Rid Of
We've all got those filing cabinets or drawers filled with stuff we can't bear to throw away or look at—items that seem simultaneously useless and important. If I dug around my files, I'd find defunct credit card statements and notes from stories written nearly a decade ago. And then there are the personal items: the crusty bouquet of dried roses I've kept for more than 16 years (a relic from my first boyfriend), the giant stack of anatomy books from my yoga teaching days now gathering dust in the corner, the endless piles of birthday cards. June Saruwatari knows all about this kind of clutter. She used to hang onto old contracts and paystubs from long-gone jobs—relics of the success and money she'd once made. Saruwatari started throwing stuff away. She's since turned other people on to her ruthless purging skills. Decluttering, believes Saruwatari, isn't just about getting your desk and closet in order. What's Behind All That Clutter? There are myriad reasons we keep stuff.
Innovate on Purpose
The World According to TRIZ
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5 Ways Small Businesses can Innovate Like the Big Guys
In traditional thinking, being competitive in the global marketplace requires a significant investment in time and resources. But the reality is that any organization today can take advantage of open innovation to innovate faster and cheaper than ever before, positioning them as true competition in the industry. This article will explore the top five ways SMEs can leverage open innovation. The pace of business today requires creativity, new ideas and new product innovations on an almost on-demand basis. To solve this problem, a growing number of small and medium sized companies are turning to open innovation and crowdsourcing as a way of leveling the playing field with large, global corporations boasting extensive in-house marketing, R&D and business development departments, without increasing fixed costs. Recognizing the opportunities that open innovation presents, below are some tips to help you take advantage of open innovation in 2012: By Dwayne Spradlin About the author
What is TRIZ and how can it be used in problem solving or brains
What is TRIZ and how can it be used in problem solving or brainstorming? Innovation Tools 10/20/2003 Jack Hipple In the past ten years, a radical new innovation toolkit has entered the West from the former Soviet Union. Why is this? The development of TRIZ The genius of Altshuller and his successors was to recognize that the place to look for the basics of invention and new ideas was not in the brains of inventors, but where the inventions were collected and recognized -- the patent office. Altshuller categorized these inventive principles in several retrievable forms, including a contradiction table, 40 Inventive Principles, and 76 Standard Solutions. TRIZ Inventive Principles In reviewing the thousands of patents, Altshuller distinguished between incremental/routine inventions vs. truly breakthrough inventions. TRIZ Separation Principles In addition to the general problem of design or operational contradictions, there can also be contradictions within a parameter itself. Conclusion
How Do You Create A Culture Of Innovation?
This is the third part in a series by Scott Anthony, author of The Little Black Book Of Innovation. It sounds so seductive: a “culture of innovation.” The three words immediately conjure up images of innovation savants like 3M, Pixar, Apple, and Google--the sorts of places where innovation isn’t an unnatural act, but part of the very fabric of a company. While culture is a complicated cocktail, four ingredients propel an organization forward: the right people, appropriate rewards and incentives, a common language, and leadership role-modeling. The Innovator’s DNA Has Four Components If you ask most people what makes a great innovator, the most common response is innate gifts from parents or a higher power. At the core is what the professors call “associational thinking.” Questioning: Asking probing questions that impose or remove constraints. Most organizations have people who follow these behaviors--even if they aren’t immediately obvious to senior leadership. Then it dawned on me.
