The idea that collaborative thinking, or ‘Groupthink’, as the right way to solve problems creatively is misguided. According to author Susan Cain in the New York Times, it is often solitary thinking that leads to the biggest creative breakthroughs. She mentions Steve Wozniak who invented the first Apple computer and said in his memoir: “Most [...]

Hunch is an interesting new business idea It helps people make decisions by asking you 10 questions and using the collective knowledge of the community to give advice. this is how they describe it on the website….. Look. Decision-making is difficult, and decisions have to be made constantly. What should I be for Halloween? Do [...]

This an online video for driving direction device Tom Tom’s new selection of voices, including the Dark Lord himself.

Reap what you sow. Or, in this case, is it sow what you reap…? Whatever, it’s a good idea to have business cards that do more than clog up your wallet.

…It’s the way that you do it. That’s what gets results. 7 years before the iPad, HP launched a tablet with arguably better specs that was nether as elegant or as user friendly to use as Apple’s iPad, and so it never took off.

A young designer has invented a revolutionary folding bicycle that will stop thieves in their tracks. Kevin Scott, 21, designed the space-age bike that wraps around a lamp post so it can be locked-up safely – without the need for a lock or chain. The De Montfort University graduate used a ratchet system built into [...]

This weekend saw the release of the latest film in the Lady Dior series starring the French Oscar winning actress, Marion Cotillard, and her Dior handbag.  The latest film is directed by David Lynch and has a distinctly Twin Peaks feel to it. The previous film directed by Jonas Akerlund has the gorgeous Ms Cotillard [...]

A great way to advertise Copenhagen zoo.

I have two decades of experience creating and crafting brand positionings and strategies that have benefited numerous companies, both small and large, from established multinationals to startups. I use a straightforward approach (see my section on brand strategies) that starts with an understanding of the market, the company and the consumers and ends with a [...]

You will have seen the announcement earlier this year that pop sensation Lady Gaga has become the creative director for instant camera company Polaroid. The cynical amongst us might view this as a publicity stunt that won’t translate into anything more than a few column inches. After all, now that all pictures are pretty much [...]

Linden Tibbets has created ifttt.com (“if this then that”) to let regular web users connect sites and apps like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Vimeo into rudimentary–but highly useful–personal mini-tools. Think of it as duct tape for webapps.

IDEO’s Tim Brown at a recent TED talk. Interviews with Tim appear in Business Playground, the book.

Businesses that give two hoots about innovation are finding novel ways to collaborate with artists who have ideas coming out of their ears. Artists for instance, like Dave Stewart, my co-author on The Business Playground. I recently asked him about his advisory role to Nokia. Dave was stranded in London on the other side of [...]