Author: Dan Zadra

Coming up with great ideas may be easier than you think.

No wonder most companies are starving for bright new ideas. The typical American submits fewer than two ideas per year to his/her company. And most of these are practical suggestions to mundane problems, such as: “Let’s move our file cabinets from the second floor to the first floor where people can access them easier.”

There’s nothing wrong with coming up with safe ideas or improvements. But, c’mon—where are all the risky, half-crazy “breakthrough ideas” that will help you and your company surge ahead of your competitors?”  Typically, our built-in fear of ridicule deters us from even voicing our most exciting ideas. (“No way am I going to submit this—they’ll laugh me right out of the room.”)

Actually, if your initial idea seems too expensive, too wild, too impractical, or too complicated, you might be on the scent of something wonderful. History shows that foolish, unreasonable, outrageous flights of fancy are typically the creative forerunners of what works.

Leonardo da Vinci once dreamed up a 60-foot crossbow that shot trees for arrows. It required two soldiers cranking a powerful winch just to cock the ridiculous behemoth. Foolish and impractical?  Sure, but that outrageous crossbow eventually led Leonardo to envision some of Europe’s most innovative and practical defense systems.  Continue reading →

Brilliant formula for romancing your readers

“Words trigger pictures, which trigger emotions and feelings.”

One of my first mentors taught me this. I don’t know where he learned it, or if he simply worked it out for himself. But I have used this simple, beautiful insight as a faithful guide to write or edit more than 300 books, and I have taught it to every writer I’ve worked with. It has colored or influenced all my writing and communications, so I want to share it with you in this blog. Here’s how and why it works:

WORDS > PICTURES > FEELINGS

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 350 teachers unleash inspiring “what if’s” at GE Conference

On July 17, I gave the final keynote speech at the Annual GE Education Conference in Orlando, Florida. The conference theme was “Re-imagining Education.” What an honor—and what an exciting and heart-warming outcome.

To set the tone for the speech, everyone in the audience received a copy of Kobi Yamada’s award-winning and best-selling children’s book, “What Do You Do With an Idea?” http://www.live-inspired.com/What-Do-You-Do-With-an-Idea-P1366

The answer to that question, by the way, is revealed at the end of the book: What do you do with an idea? “You change the world with it.” It was the perfect message and spirit to cap off one of the most inspiring educational conferences I’ve ever attended.

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Or, do you need an idea to start the money?

It’s official. We are now living and working in the new “Innovation Economy.” Innovation economists believe that the new drivers of economic growth are knowledge, technology and ideas rather than capital accumulation or previous experience.

These are exciting times for innovative young companies. In the new knowledge-based economy, a bright young company with great ideas but no money may actually have a distinct advantage over a big established competitor with lots of money but no fresh ideas.

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Here’s a much better new product design strategy.

If you’re going to create a new product or service, don’t just create what the market needs or wants—create what it would love. Beautiful designs make money. Why? Because they speak to our heart as well as our head.

It’s been said that a design is a thought you can see. That’s one reason why the best designers, artists and inventors take their work so personally. That “thing” out there in the market place is not just a commodity to them, it’s the visual and public embodiment of their very best thoughts.

I don’t have many luxuries, but years ago my friend and partner Kobi Yamada, gave me a genuine Herman Miller Aeron office chair. I’ve been doing my writing in that chair ever since, and I swear it still brings me joy and makes me want to do better work. Continue reading →

The answer is everyone.

In his book, Teaching the Elephant to Dance, author Jim Belasco tells the story of Dr. Denton Cooley, the famous heart surgeon.

One day Belasco followed Dr. Cooley on his rounds and, en route to the operating room, saw the surgeon stop and talk to a janitor mopping the hallway. The two men conversed for nearly ten minutes before Dr. Cooley dashed into the ER. Curious, Belasco walked over to the man with the mop and said, “That was a long conversation.” Continue reading →

Vote for the Creative Party!

I have been watching the Democrats and Republicans squabble over chicken bones for the past few years, and it has left me wondering, “What happened to the fabled American spirit? What happened to our nation’s legendary ability to get things done? What happened to our notorious disdain for the status quo, and our unquenchable thirst for the big idea?”

It was Ben Franklin who chose the motto on our dollar bill—Annuit Coeptis—which basically means, “Be favorable to bold enterprises.”  Franklin saw a nation of impossible dreamers and collaborators whose innovative spirit and ideas would help all humanity…if we only set it free. Continue reading →