Tag Archives: videos

My Top 5 Ways to Innovate

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Categories: How To

Based on my own experiences, here are some of the methods I find most effective when I’m in search of the new. Enjoy!

1. Intersect

Combining different ideas, perspectives, cultures, and basically anything and everything else is one of the best ways to come up with unique ideas – read Medici Effect.

2. Observe don’t ASK

We can ask people all day what they want and what their opinions are, but the fact is, what they say and what they do often don’t coincide. As they say, actions speak louder than words, so next time pay attention to what people are doing not what they’re saying.

3. Collaborate

Working on your own can really help you solidify your own thoughts and ideas, but having other people to interact with gives you a fresh perspective and can bring in that missing piece of the puzzle that was staring you right in the face.

4. Take Notes

We have ideas all the time, in the least likely of situations, and there’s no way to remember all of them! Having the ability to takes notes whenever an “Aha!” moment strikes should not be underestimated. Try carrying a Moleskine, my notebook of choice.

5. Change Perspectives

Look at things from a different angle. We usually get stuck viewing things from one perspective, but think about the customer, the user, the client, different industries, stakeholders, etc… role playing from various perspectives gives you insight into hidden value that wasn’t so obvious before.

Those are my favorite methods, what are yours?

Monday’s Top Links (6.12.2011)

In this week’s links learn more about common barriers of effective teamwork, the advent of DIY education, how preferences lead to choices, exploring the creative overlap, and the differences between how we can do work. Enjoy!

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
do-it-yourself

Sorry for the delay, was travelling and had some technical difficulties, but here’s this week’s top links!

1. Six Common Misperceptions About Teamwork

This HBR articles acknowledges the importance of collaboration for success, but there are a number of misconceptions that can seriously derail productive teamwork. These include harmony, fluidity, size, communication methods, leadership, and talent.

2. DIY U: The Future Of Education

Education has been a hot topic this year and one trend that is apparent is the movement of learning into a digital format, accessible to all. In this video, we are introduced to DIY U and the future of education, based on the new book from Anya Kamenetz.

3. Preferences Leading To Choices

This article from behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores the interesting situation in which we make many of our choices. More importantly he shows how we often alter our choices to match our underlying preferences, despite external pressures.

4. Exploring The Creative Overlap

In this Q&A with Janet Echelman from the TED Blog, we learn more about the creative overlap. She talks about the need for time to stumble upon the creative, the importance of collaboration across fields, and pushing the limits.

5. The Taskmaster Premium

Seth Godin does it again, as he compares and contrasts the work we do in two very different contexts. Either we can work for someone or we can work for ourselves, which do you think is more fulfilling?

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Sunday’s Top Links (6.5.2011)

In this week’s links meet Peter Thiel’s Whiz Kids, observe your connection timeline, get advice from entrepreneurs, enjoy a new kind of graphic novel, and understand the value of the internet on the economy. Enjoy!

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Categories: Musings Sunday's Links
Tron Legacy

Welcome to this week’s links!

1. Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K

… to quit college and start businesses. Peter Thiel’s program “20 under 20″ is designed to give students funds to startup new businesses instead of stay in college. A bit extreme, but its definitely making a statement about issues with the education system.

2. LinkedIn Connection Timeline

The latest tool from LinkedIn Labs comes in the form of a connection timeline. Now you can watch how you built up your network over the years, which is pretty cool to see if you have an established network already.

3. Ten Videos Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

These ten YouTube videos cover some of the great thought leaders of our time and useful advice for all entrepreneurs. Learn from Steve Jobs, Seth Godin, Muhammad Yunus, Warren Buffet, and more.

4. Tron: Legacy HTML5 Graphic Novel

Disney decided to spend some cash and come out with the first graphic novel via HTML5 for the movie Tron: Legacy. The novel is very well put together and using HTML5 really brings the story to life.

5. The Internet is 20% of Economic Growth

In a recent McKinsey report released for the eG8 forum, we get more insight into just how big of an economic driver the internet has become. There’s also a number of charts and graphics that convey the most important information from their report, which is also available.

And if you missed last week’s links check them out here.

Expertise vs. Innovation

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Categories: Master

Why do we need to be experts? Apparently we need to focus on one thing and become great at it because if we spend too much time on everything then we’ll never reach this level of specialty in anything. And being an expert in your field means everything nowadays… Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers tells us that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to achieve this level of expertise that is so often sought after.

Ok, so we focus in one area, we become experts and we know our field inside out, right? Well yes we know everything, but only to the extent to which we learned about it. We have adopted a mindset of all experts in that field of how things should work, of what is possible and what is not. Essentially we have formed boundaries around our field that make it very difficult to think outside the box.

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Now, think about why we often see breakthrough innovation from non-experts in a field. Those that know little about the intricacies of how things work. Why are these breakthroughs not from one of the many experts who should know the full exten of what can be done?

I think it is clear that the boundaries that come with this level of expertise make it very difficult to establish these creative, unexpected connections that often result in innovation. If it takes 10,000 hours to become and expert, how much time would you need to spend in a field to be able to innovate? 1,000 hours? 2,000?

It’s definitely something to look into because truly this is the extent to which I would want to learn about various fields, which don’t create barriers to innovation. Now I’m not saying that experts can’t innovate in their fields, but it takes a conscious effor tto break these boundaries that we’ve created.

Which would you prefer? To be an expert that would create boundaries, or just getting familiar enough with a field to be able to make connections and combinations that lead to innovation? Obviously there are benefits to being an expert as well, but are they worth it?

TED and TEDxDar

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Categories: Musings

One of my absolute favorite resources for inspiration and ideas are TED talks. If you don’t know already, TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design and was founded 25 years ago. Essentially TED is a conference that is invite only, and serves as a platform for the top minds in the world to gather in a single place and share their ideas. Now you find thousands of TED talks online for everyone’s viewing pleasure at TED.com and some of my favorites here!

At the end of 2009, we here in Dar es Salaam decided to put together our own TED event named TEDxDar. TEDx is a program promoted by TED that allows for the independent hosting of events based on their model. This allows us to bring together the local talent and give them a voice to share their stories, which will hopefully spark further ideation and collaboration! Check our our website here and if you’re interested, you should definitely look into launching you’re very own TEDx!

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Our conference will be held on May 22nd, 2010, so be on the look out for updates!

Idea Paint!

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Categories: Musings

I’m always on the look out for ways to spruce up the office and creating an environment more attune to creativity, and this fits that role exactly. Introducing… Idea Paint!

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Idea Paint is essentially paint that can be applied to any surface, which turns that surface into a makeshift white board! This could easily allow you to turn the most unassuming part of  your home or office into a place of creativity…

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I love this idea for two reasons: 1). You could get very creative in decorating your home, just think of the possibilities and 2). I believe that one of the essential practices towards innovation is taking notes, and I can’t think of a better way to make sure you have somewhere to write when those light bulbs turn on in our minds! For more information about Idea Paint visit their website.