| Greetings!
I would like to invite you to some forthcoming meetings. I head the Innovation Unit at the British Quality Foundation (BQF) and we have an Innovation Summit meeting with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in Victoria in London on the morning of Wednesday 22 April. The Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, will speak and this is your chance to hear about and to influence government policy on innovation. On May 19th in London I will lead an Innovation Masterclass for the BQF. This is a full day workshop for leaders who want to significantly improve the innovation performance of their organisations. On June 10th at the Latimer Conference Centre in Buckinghamshire we have the BQF Annual Leadership Conference with a great line up of speakers including Vernon Barker, Managing Director of First Transpennine Express, Trevor Lincoln, Director of Eaga, Nikki Hood, Head of HR, Learning and Development, Yell and John Housego, Passionate Champion, W.L. Gore and Associates. |
| How to Think what Nobody Else Thinks |
 How can you think of things that no one else thinks of? The answer is by deliberately taking a different approach to the issue from everyone else. There are dominant ideas in every field. The brilliant thinker purposefully challenges those dominant ideas in order to think innovatively. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who discovered Vitamin C, said, 'Genius is seeing what everyone else sees and thinking what no-one else has thought.' If you can identify the standard viewpoint then survey the situation from a different viewpoint you have an excellent chance of gaining a new insight. When Jonas Salk was asked how he invented the vaccine for polio he replied, 'I imagined myself as a virus or cancer cell and tried to sense what it would be like.'
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| The Inspiration Afternoon |
I am holding an Inspiration Afternoon on Monday 8th June at  Glazier's Hall in London. It is a mixture of talks, workshop modules and question and answer sessions designed to help you boost your personal creativity and accelerate the innovation in your team. It will be 'Rocket Fuel for the Business Brain'. It is packed with examples, tips and practical tools that you can put into immediate use. There is even a money-back guarantee! |
| Service Innovation from SouthWest Airlines |
How can you innovate in a service industry? One way is to take a risk by unleashing the creative talents of your front-line people. Take a look at this remarkable video of a SouthWest Airlines steward at work. |
| Pie Charts Explained |
Sometimes a pie chart is the best way to explain a concept. Like here for example. |
