I think my friend Steve made a mistake.
Steve was a high school friend of mine. Unlike me, he chose to breed just a few years after high school. I remember visiting him when his first-born was maybe two or three years old. And because this was in the olden days, when iPads were not a toy option, his toddler was playing with blocks. Quite happily, in fact. He would try to stack the blocks and, because he was a toddler, ...
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Quickly now—what do these things all have in common:
Give up?
They are all outcomes of creative thinking.
[You: “Wait a minute. The Golden Retriever is a dog, not the result of a creative idea!” Me: “Not so fast there, Sporty. The Golden Retriever was the result of a creative thinker saying, ‘If I breed a yellow Labrador Retriever with a Tweed Water Spaniel, I might get an ...
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You’ve felt the pressure, haven’t you?
There’s the clock. Just hanging up there on the wall, silently mocking you with its impending deadline.
There’s your team, watching you, judging you, wondering if you’re going to save the day…or blow it in spectacular fashion.
There’s your boss, ever critical, with her unrealistic expectations and her long list of other highly qualified people who want your job.
These are some of the external pressures that you’ve faced in the past, may be facing right now, and ...
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Your business is dying.
Okay, that may not technically be true. It was meant to be a “grabber.” That said, it might be true.
You see, any business that isn’t continually coming up with creative solutions to business challenges is slowly dying. If it’s lucky. If it’s not lucky, it’s quickly dying.
There are three questions I like to use that will help you and your team unlock your creative brilliance and apply it directly to the challenge at hand. The three questions, ...
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“Is it safe?”
If you’ve ever seen the movie Marathon Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, you know just how scary this question can be.
It can be a scary question for your team as well (although without the unpleasant dental work—watch the movie if you’re confused).
When you’re leading your team through a high-pressure situation, they’re looking to you (I’ve written about this before). They’re looking to you…
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“Your engine just quit. Where are you going to land?”
The voice came from the right-hand seat—the co-pilot’s seat.
Sounds dramatic, right? Actually, it was quite routine. The person in the right-hand seat was my flight instructor, and it was, like, the thousandth time he’d asked that question over the past few months. If you’ve ever had any flight instruction, you’ve probably heard this question as well. And probably more than once.
See, in flight training, you’re always preparing for the worst. (And, ...
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