| Greetings!
Do you have any CAVE men in your office? They are Colleagues who are Against Virtually Everything! It is a phrase I heard when I ran an Innovation workshop for a consumer products company in Yorkshire.
How do you overcome the dinosaurs who oppose any innovation? First recognise they exist, identify them and plan for how to handle them. Sometimes you can win them over and sometimes you can bypass them. If all else fails you could send them on one of my workshops like the Inspiration Afternoon! |
| Diehards die hard |
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 Some people are so set in their ways that they resist innovative ideas even when the benefits are demonstrable. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City Dick Fosbury amazed the audience when he did something revolutionary in the high jump - he went over backwards. The traditional way of jumping was to use the straddle. Fosbury won the gold medal but in the next few years most of the top athletes did not copy him. They had too much time, effort, practise and muscle memory invested in the technique that they had been using for years. Full Article on the BQF Innovation Blog. |
| Inspiration Afternoon |
 'Practical and fun tips that will be easy to implement in the office' was one of the many positive comments we received after our last Inspiration Afternoon seminar. It is a mix of inspirational talk, workshop activities and discussion. There are still some places left on the next event on October 26 in central London. This is your final chance this year to enjoy a dose of creative thinking and idea stimulation with highly effective methods that you can take back to your workplace.
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| What kind of Leader are you? |
| In this article on Innovation Tools I review two contrasting leadership styles - the command and control leader and the innovative leader. The command and control leader is goal-oriented, authoritative and decisive. He or she is well suited to a structured regime with clear tasks. The innovative leader, on the other hand, is better suited to an ambiguous or fluid situation. He or she is much more focused on creativity, innovation and helping the team to find new ways forward. Which characteristics do you display? |
| Face Adversity with a Smile |
I told my friend Graham that I often cycle the two miles from my house to the town centre but unfortunately there is a big hill on the route. He replied, 'You mean fortunately.' He explained that I should be glad of the extra exercise that the hill provided.
My attitude to the hill has now changed. I used to grumble as I approached it but now I tell myself the following. This hill will exercise my heart and lungs. It will help me to lose weight and get fit. It will mean that I live longer. This hill is my friend. Finally as I wend my way up the incline I console myself with the thought of all those silly people who pay money to go to a gym and sit on stationery exercise bicycles when I can get the same value for free. I have a smug smile of satisfaction as I reach the top of the hill.
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| Parkour Stunts |
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Parkour is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along an urban route, attempting to negotiate obstacles using skills such as jumping and climbing.
Here is a video clip featuring the amazing Tony Jaa. |
