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The Obama Administration & Innovation

"The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation. None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people."  –President Barack Obama, January 25, 2011

There are two very practical reasons that I am so passionate about cultivating environments that support creative problem-solving and innovation.  One of these is that, as an American, I care deeply about the resurgence of a healthy U.S. economy with full employment.  The second is that, as Albert Einstein pointed out, we cannot use the same kind of thinking that created our problems to solve them, problems which now include great social-political and global environmental threats. 

I was already concerned about the direction business and management-as-usual were taking us, when two different influences inspired me to launch Kowabunga! at the end of January 2011. 

• One was the 2010 IBM global CEO study I had read that previous fall, and which has been frequently cited in this blog.  It reports that top managers from around the world said that creative thinking is the #1 most important leadership ability needed to tackle the rapid changes in global markets, technology, social-political issues, and environmental challenges.  Disturbingly, 51% of them admitted their organizations were not prepared to meet the challenges. 

• The second was President Obama’s State of the Union address before Congress on January 25th, in which he referred to “innovation” 17 times.  Following this speech, the Obama Administration released its ambitious Strategy for American Innovation in February 2011.  The  introduction reiterates that, "[In order to] create the jobs and industries of the future… the U.S. must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world."  Executive Summary or Full report.

Most would agree the Republican-led House of Representatives, further pressured by minimalist government Tea Party forces, has made it extremely difficult for many of the president’s initiatives to pass. 

So, what progress has been made on his plans to foster more innovation on a wider scale in the U.S.?  In a Forbes Magazine article, Todd Park, the U.S. government's first Chief Technology Officer offers his perspective in answer to this question.  

Frankly, I was somewhat surprised to read all that has been accomplished, given the numerous challenges that Congress has placed before the Obama Administration.  Of course, you will be your own judge regarding the extent of the achievements cited below.  I noted with particular interest important improvements at the U.S. Patent Office that haven't received much airtime.  These include considerable shoring-up of staffing, streamlining, and prioritization in order to expedite the vital patent application process. 

Kowabunga's next post will summarize a recently released report conducted by Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)  that compares the two presidential candidates' recommended approaches to fueling increased innovation in the U.S..

Todd Park, United States Chief Technology Officer

President Obama’s efforts to fuel innovation and entrepreneurship are wide-ranging and unprecedented. As Chief Technology Officer of the United States (a position created for the first time by President Obama), I see these efforts first-hand throughout the Administration— and as an entrepreneur who cofounded a company at age 24 and took it public ten years later, I have a special appreciation for how startups and innovation create jobs and prosperity across the country.

Let’s focus on three areas where the President’s leadership is making a huge impact: promoting high-growth entrepreneurship, helping accelerate technology breakthroughs, and investing in the “building blocks” of innovation.  This is by no means a comprehensive list of every Administration effort to foster innovation across the United States, but every example below is specific, impactful, and well underway.

PROMOTING HIGH-GROWTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Unlocking capital: This spring President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (http://wh.gov/QBy), a bipartisan bill that allows startups to raise capital from investors more efficiently, among other initiatives, by allowing small-dollar crowdfunding investments (http://wh.gov/3Buf), expanding mini-public offerings, and creating an “IPO on-ramp” consistent with investor protections. This is on top of an Administration commitment of $2 billion to match private investment in high-growth companies over the next five years through vehicles such as Impact Investment Funds (http://1.usa.gov/rfYCI8) and Early Stage Innovation Funds (http://1.usa.gov/JFf36a). The Small Business Investment Company program just had a record year in 2011 of helping over 1,000 businesses get $2.6 billion in capital.

Nurturing entrepreneurial talent: President Obama has taken executive action to make it much easier for graduates to manage student loan debt (http://wh.gov/uc1) and pursue an entrepreneurial path (http://wh.gov/TX5). The Administration has launched new mentorship and training opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs starting new high-growth companies—including military veterans (http://1.usa.gov/NHNTE8), undergraduate engineers (http://1.usa.gov/qJOiWK), and clean energy entrepreneurs (http://1.usa.gov/fm47Pr) and students (http://1.usa.gov/o0kdfS) — and is engaged in sustained efforts to attract and retain immigrant entrepreneurs who create jobs here in the US (http://1.usa.gov/NglcgG).

Speeding up “lab to market” research: The President has directed all federal research agencies to help accelerate innovation (http://wh.gov/Tuh) by speeding up grants to startups. The National Science Foundation launched an Innovation Corps (http://1.usa.gov/pQSt45) to get teams of scientists out of the lab and starting new companies. Over twenty federal agencies have cooperated to fund regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (http://1.usa.gov/qV9X0e), and are dramatically streamlining patent licenses for entrepreneurs in clean energy (http://techportal.eere.energy.go…) and biotech (http://www.ott.nih.gov/startup).

Liberating data to fuel innovation: The Administration has launched a series of Open Data Initiatives — in health (http://wh.gov/5bg), public safety (http://wh.gov/v9W), education (http://wh.gov/uDZ), and energy (http://wh.gov/OGKY) — to stimulate entrepreneurial innovation using newly unleashed data from government and other sources. As a model, decades ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (http://noaa.gov) began making weather data available for free electronic download by anyone. Entrepreneurs utilized these data (http://data.gov) to create weather newscasts, websites, mobile applications, insurance, and much more. Today, entrepreneurs are using freely available government data and building apps and services that help Americans in an expanding number of ways – e.g., apps and services that help people find the right health care provider for their family, identify the college that provides the best value for their money, save money on electricity bills through smarter shopping (http://wh.gov/REo), keep their families safe by knowing which products have been recalled, and much, much more.

The Startup America Partnership: In response to the President’s call to action to support American entrepreneurs, the nonprofit Startup America Partnership (http://s.co) has mobilized well over $1 billion in private-sector commitments to help support startups and has launched entrepreneur-led coalitions in Startup Regions (http://www.s.co/regions/map) across the country.

HELPING ACCELERATE TECHNOLOGY BREAKTHROUGHS:

Biotechnology: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) (http://www.ncats.nih.gov/) to speed up the development of new diagnostics, treatments, and cures by building new bridges between the lab and clinic.

Nanotechnology: The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) (http://nano.gov) is investing in areas such as nano-electronics, to foster a revolution in computing comparable to the transition from the vacuum tube to the transistor.

Advanced manufacturing: President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) (http://1.usa.gov/Q8uopK), a national effort that brings together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance our global competitiveness (read the AMP Steering Committee report: http://wh.gov/xTFw). As a first step in building a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (http://1.usa.gov/N0izNg), the Administration is funding a pilot institute for additive manufacturing (3-D printing) (http://1.usa.gov/HhHgBC). The President has also launched a National Robotics Initiative (http://wh.gov/rEt) and a Materials Genome Initiative (http://wh.gov/yF4) to help accelerate manufacturing innovation.

Space exploration: Guided by the President’s National Space Policy (http://wh.gov/3HB), NASA, the Department of Defense, and other agencies are advancing U.S. capabilities and expanding American industry’s role in developing next-generation applications — including the historic docking of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft (http://1.usa.gov/Nk2qQD) with the International Space Station.

Health care technology: Building on the Recovery Act (http://wh.gov/recovery) and the Affordable Care Act (http://wh.gov/healthreform), the Administration is continuously engaged in major efforts to promote health information technology adoption, reform payment incentives to reward value instead of volume, and liberate health information for the benefit of patients while protecting privacy.

Educational technologies: To advance technologies that will transform teaching and learning, the President launched the Digital Promise partnership (http://1.usa.gov/Ole1n1) and championed a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Education (ARPA-ED) (http://1.usa.gov/h9kob4).

Clean energy: The Administration is working to accelerate game-changing energy breakthroughs by funding the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) (http://arpa-e.energy.gov/) and Energy Innovation Hubs (http://1.usa.gov/NHPOII), while pursuing 21st century grand challenges like SunShot (http://1.usa.gov/jignu6) (making solar energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels) and EV Everywhere (http://wh.gov/XFe) (making electric vehicles as affordable and convenient to own and drive as today’s gasoline-powered vehicles).

INVESTING IN “BUILDING BLOCKS” OF INNOVATION:

Research and development: The market innovations that drive economic progress so often depend on breakthroughs in fundamental science. President Obama has implemented the largest increase in federally funded research and development (R&D) in history (http://1.usa.gov/h1cg9G), and is making continuous investments to fuel “Big Data” (http://1.usa.gov/OlfERF) research and double funding for key basic research agencies.

Education:  The President has led the charge to provide every K-12 student in America with a world-class education, including the historic Race to the Top (http://1.usa.gov/2rYyB0) investments to drive comprehensive reform at the state and district levels.  The Investing in Innovation (I3) fund (http://1.usa.gov/Nk4R5x) supports school districts and nonprofit partners to develop, validate, and implement innovative evidence-based practices that accelerate student learning and achievement.  And the President has doubled down on education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by launching a STEM Master Teacher Corps (http://1.usa.gov/Olgpdu) along with public/private investments to scale up high-quality STEM programs (http://changetheequation.org), prepare 100,000 STEM teachers over the next decade (http://wh.gov/tZl), and graduate 10,000 more engineers every year (http://1.usa.gov/ppgPfX).

Internet:  The President signed legislation to invest $7 billion in broadband infrastructure, computers, and training (http://www.broadbandusa.gov/) for consumers and businesses nationwide, and has moved to dramatically expand high-speed wireless service for consumers and first responders through both direct executive action (http://1.usa.gov/Olh0M9) and legislation (http://wh.gov/l17z). Through the US Ignite partnership (http://1.usa.gov/OlhmCt), the Administration has also laid the groundwork for next-generation ultra-fast broadband networks.  And during the national debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and related legislation, the Administration made clear that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet (http://1.usa.gov/Nk5P1S).

Smart grid:  To build a 21st century electric system, the President led the charge to make over $4.5 billion in smart grid (http://smartgrid.gov) investments for electricity delivery and energy reliability modernization, along with new smart grid initiatives to empower consumers (http://wh.gov/DpJ), improve the reliability of the electric grid, and spur innovation.

Patent system:  President Obama signed the bipartisan America Invents Act (http://wh.gov/gOT) after nearly a decade of efforts to reform the nation’s outdated patent laws. The new law is helping entrepreneurs and inventors avoid costly delays and unnecessary litigation so they can focus instead on innovation and growth.

Again, this list is not comprehensive — for more details, check out the White House Startup America Initiative (http://1.usa.gov/xmHjcs) and the President’s Strategy for American Innovation (http://1.usa.gov/9bT9XU). And I have barely touched on all the ways that President Obama has fostered massive innovation within government, from unprecedented use of prizes and challenges (http://wh.gov/ho3) to the new Presidential Innovation Fellows program (http://wh.gov/innovationfellows) that pairs top innovators from outside and inside government to implement cutting-edge solutions for the American people.

 

To stay up to date on President Obama’s innovation agenda, you can follow me on Twitter @todd_park and @whitehouseostp.

Dear Readers,

I promised that our next post was to be on ideas on how to foster the creative collaboration that is foundational to innovation in organizations.  I also had some other posts lined up for some logical progression.

However, my time will be very limited for the next several weeks because a U.S. government training project for our returning military personnel is calling upon my creative skills.  Imagine that!  😉 — Did I mention that I design and deliver training programs?

In the meantime, I will share a couple of articles that I find of interest that tie directly into what we're exploring together in this forum, which, in simple mathematical formulation can be summarized as:

   Curiosity + Creativity
x Good Management (Respect + Support)
= GENIUS!  

(Yes, I actually made that up on the spot, and math isn't even my strong suit.  😉 )

Look for themes below that tie back to previous posts.  Again, it can all tie back to our earlier posts on the 2010 IBM CEO report on best practices for organizations that want to thrive and key points we reviewed from How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci:

• Einstein never squelched the innate curiosity that we all were born with.  He just loved to learn and explore; that was his primary drive.
• He didn't grow up in a family who's main preoccupation in life was looking good and fitting in.  Modus operandi such as that does not generally foster original thinking.  Integrity does.
• He wasn't afraid to experiment and (gasp!) fail as a means of learning what didn't work, so he could ultimately uncover what did.
• He used "whole brain thinking" with the music; let his mind wander with daydreaming and unrelated things while his subconscious continued to problem solve; he was suspicious of the convergent "single answer" thinking encouraged in many of our schools and organizations; and, I like this one, he believed we could learn about the spiritual realities (or, for those who prefer, God) by paying attention to the world around us.  — A very worthwhile pursuit.

Namaste!  EnJOY!

 

How Einstein Got So Smart – 10 Learning Hacks

How would you feel if many people thought you were the smartest person in history? How might your life be different if you actually were that intelligent? Although we often think of Albert Einstein as one of the smartest people ever, we don’t investigate what it was that made him so. People who speak highly of him often attribute his genius to some mysterious gift. They don’t believe his smarts came from a certain attitude about learning. I believe you can recreate some of his habits to get smarter and find more rewarding work.             Einstein…the Failure? Before you get the list of Einstein’s learning habits, consider some interesting facts about his early life. These things set the stage for appreciating his educational philosophy a little more. Although he worked in engineering, Einstein’s father failed at several business ventures and had to depend on relatives for support. When Einstein’s father asked his son’s headmaster what profession the boy should adopt, he said, “It doesn’t matter; he’ll never make a success of anything.” He failed his first admissions examination to the Swiss scientific school he wanted to attend. Some family friends told Einstein’s parents, “That young man will never amount to anything because he can’t remember anything.” After graduating from the university, Einstein was denied a low-level teaching position there. (Other friends in his graduating class did get teaching positions.) Many scientists and professors stonewalled his requests to work for them. Einstein struggled for a few years to even find decent employment and finally got work as a third-class government patent examiner. These things represent just a taste of the irony about his early life. Looking back – in light of his eventually recognized genius – these facts even seem humorous. 10 Things Einstein Did to Get So Smart From what I can find, no one has compiled details about how Einstein actually studied. I doubt that his true genius was even observable to the eye anyhow. The real accomplishments went on inside his mind. I suspect his brain looked no different than ours; and genetically, nothing seemed remarkable. So, to benefit from his example, we need to look as much at his character and philosophy about learning. 1) He daydreamed and contemplated Who has the right to say what is absentmindedness and what is pure genius? What others labeled as forgetful or even spacey, Einstein knew to be some of his most insightful, creative brainstorming sessions. 2) He Rubbed Shoulders with the Best and Brightest Especially after his reputation became known, Einstein sought out the instruction and mentorship of the smartest people in his field, like Max Planck. If he didn’t get to know these people personally, he studied their writing and research. 3) Einstein Cross-Trained He learned to play the violin well and loved the mathematical structure of music. He used music as a “psychological safety valve” throughout his life. 4) He Trusted His Own Curiosity One legendary story says that his father gave him a compass when he was five years old. After lengthy observation, Einstein figured out that some outside force was acting on the needle to keep it pointed in the same direction. 5) He Maintained a Deep Suspicion of Educational Authority Too many teachers, even in our day, feel you should believe what they say because, “I said so.” While they claim that “thinking for yourself” is part of the curriculum, their own biases and the school system’s structure discourage independent thought. 6) Einstein Nourished a “Radical Inquiring Attitude” A Chinese proverb reads, “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” True learning requires exploring assumptions and other facts that many take for granted. 7) Einstein Designed His Own Curriculum He had friends at the university take notes in class for him while he was away reading his preferred “extracurricular” books or journals on physics and mathematics. 8) He Relied on Faith to Learn Einstein’s faith was that by inquiry and discipline you could learn things about invisible objects or phenomena. His “God” was not arbitrary and conformed to natural, discoverable laws. 9) He Avoided Preoccupation with Trivial Things in Life How much time would Einstein spend on YouTube or Facebook if he were around today? His mind reverted consistently to “exploring and understanding the physical world.” What do you think about when you have nothing else to think about? Einstein’s discoveries didn’t come easily; they came from discipline! 10) Einstein Was an Autodicact.  As one biographer (Ronald W. Clark) wrote, he “found his real education elsewhere, in his own time.” Schooling provided the basic building blocks of language and concepts, but Einstein’s initiative took his learning far beyond the limits of academics. Get this high resolution graphic (pdf) on Einstein’s Learning Hacks – for free!

 

  While doing research for a training program I delivered last week on structures and processes needed for organizations to shift their cultures so they become conducive to creative thinking and innovation, I came across a sobering 2010 report compiled by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).  Although 51% of the global leaders polled in the IBM CEO study said they didn't believe their organizations were prepared to succeed in the increasingly complex global environment (second blog post), this BCG report summarized below makes the IBM study look like a Hollywood romance by comparison.

As I wrote in the launch of this blog, my interest in and commitment to this topic comes from a deeply-held conviction that our imminent economic future as a nation depends on U.S. organizations getting on board the innovation train, quickly. Certainly for me, the BCG study strongly reinforces that perspective. In addition to the business case, when it comes to our myriad environmental and social problems, as Albert Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." 
(The report is cited by permission of The Boston Consulting Group.  Click on the link below to see the full report.)

"Innovation 2010: A Return to Prominence–And the Emergence of a New World Order":       

Working in partnership with BusinessWeek and its Market Advisory Board, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) conducted a survey for the seventh year in a row, gathering input data from 1,590 executives from around the world representing a range of markets and industries. 

This most recent 2010 report postulates that as a result of the U.S. and other mature economies' general lack of commitment to and investment in innovation, "a new world order in innovation is taking hold, one in which rapidly developing economies (RDEs), led by China, India, and Brazil, will increasingly assume more prominent positions, while the United States and other mature economies continue to play major roles but gradually become less dominant."  (p4)

Apple and Google were ranked by international executive respondents as the two most innovative companies, with Apple once again as the hands-down winner (a rank it has held in this survey since 2005). Yet, more than half of those who participated in this survey expect that U.S. will lose its standing as the leader in innovation within the next five years.  

These predictions are similar to the warning flags waved by Thomas L. Friedman in his book, The World is Flat. Among the precipitous trends, Friedman points to:

• America having recently slipped from 1^st to 4^th place in the number of patent applications.
• The increasing dearth of math and science students training in U.S. universities just as our nation’s top scientists prepare to retire.
• Tightened U.S. immigration policies that have caused a significant drop in foreign math and students attending American universities and who now have considerable job opportunities in others countries that are investing more heavily in innovation.
  • And funding cuts to the National Institutes of Science.  

If these trends remain, then it only goes to follow that American business will lose even more of their global market shares with our nation losing considerable economic strength. 

Implications for Leaders: 
BGC attributes the low level of U.S. investment in innovation to companies “hedging their bets about the economy” with incremental improvements versus “moving aggressively to discover, invent, and capitalize on new growth areas.” The report ends by offering the following recommendations to business managers in the established economies who have yet to “fully come to grips with” the consequences of not making innovation strategic priorities.

1.    Becoming better at innovation is probably the single most important thing that you can do this year.   (p20)

Why?  Although you survived the Great Recession – so did your competitors.  Like you, they too largely "mastered the cost, productivity, and operational excellence playbook." However, many of them, upon realizing they had survived, saw innovation as a top strategic priority and started investing heavily in it around the middle of 2009. If you are not one of those companies – you are about a year behind (when this report came out, mid 2010).  

 2.    If you don’t get better at innovation, your boss (or board) will eventually either stop spending money on it – or find someone who can improve things. 

“Part of the issue may be that most companies can’t even define what they really mean by innovation, let alone measure it. And while there is no right or wrong definition, you do need a definition that everyone agrees on and that aligns with your company’s strategy.” – Get a clear, shared definition.  (p21)

 3.    Top management is really going to have to get its head in the game this year. 

“In every highly innovative company we know, the CEO truly has innovation near the very center of his or her radar screen. Indeed, the difference between a company whose CEO and leadership team have an “all in” mentality regarding innovation and one whose leadership supports innovation merely at an abstract level is unmistakable – and so is it’s impact on culture and results. 

 If you think your company can win at innovation without your being truly committed, you are wrong and will be increasingly exposed.  Too many companies are being led by fully committed and engaged leadership teams that have linked innovation to the company’s business strategy, put in place the needed measurement systems, and are investing to see the results.”   (p21)

4.    Your company cannot afford to cut back on its innovation investments in the BIC countries and other RDEs. 

If you thought competition was tough in the past, just wait. …As can be seen from our list of the most innovative companies, the “BIC*-plus” world has arrived on the innovation front and is quickly moving into the mainstream.  *(BIC stands for Brazil, India, and China.)

‘To deal with this new reality, you need to increase your investments in these countries, not decrease them. …Lower your investments in these countries at your own risk.”  (p21)

 The report concludes:
“Keeping pace, let alone flourishing in this environment will demand a two-pronged attack.  Your company needs to be actively innovating both in and for the slower-growth, mature economies, which remain very large and profitable.  Simultaneously, you need to be ever more focused – no matter how focused you think you already are – on the much faster-growing developing economies, especially China, India, and Brazil, with their promise of large markets and newly innovative competitors.  Striking the right balance here will obviously be highly challenging. But the potential competitive rewards of hitting the mark are vast – as is the downside of coming up short. Indeed, skillful leadership in innovation has never been at such a premium.”   (p21)

• Adapting to Change & overcoming Fear
• Ambiguity and embracing the Unknown
• Apple and/or Steve Jobs
• Business Reports: 2010 IBM CEO & 2010 BCG
• Changing Cultures to become Innovative
• Collaboration vs. Silos
• Continuous Improvement or Process Improvement
• Creative Arts & Innovation
• Creative Genius among Staff
• Creative Problem Solving
• Creative Thinking Practices & Exercises
• Creativity/Innovation
• Critical Thinking
• Curiosity & Asking Questions
• Divergent vs. Convergent thinking
• Employee Engagement
• Fun and innovation
• Hierarchy vs. Innovation
• How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
• Innovation & the Economy
• Innovation in Government
• Innovation in History
• Integrity; Following own drummer
• Langdon Morris
• Leadership & Management Best Practices
• Learning from Mistakes
• Lifelong Learning and innovation
• Mentoring and innovation
• Model Innovative Organizations
• Podcasts on innovation
• Processes and Structures for Innovation
• Redefining Innovation
• Scenario Planning
• Six Sigma and LEAN vs. innovation
• Social Change and Innovation
• Spirituality in Workplace and innovation
• Trust and Respect in Engagement and Innovation
• Types of Innovation
• Weirdness and Creativity
• What-iffing
• Whole Brain Thinking
• YouTube Videos

Select Here to See More (Since Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast anyway) — Let Them Eat Cake! What do Innovative Work Cultures and Inclusive Work Cultures Have in Common? –R-E-S-P-E-C-T The Contenders for “Innovator-in-Chief”: Obama v Romney The Obama Administration & Innovation Innovation is a Banquet! –So Why Are So Many Leaders Starving to Death?! Breaking Creative & Innovative Thinking Out of Their Boxes Through Creative Problem-Solving Giving Thanks to the Original Innovators of The Americas Steve Jobs: Thank you, Dreamer Extraordinaire Kowabunga! Moving Notice & Repost: Got Ideas? Collaborators & YOUR creative brilliance sought for Kowabunga! A Creative Look at Employee Engagement by Explania Get Smart — Like Einstein! “Namaste” – Truly seeing and honoring our colleagues What Does “Innovation” Mean? Many Things. What Role Does Leadership Play in Innovation? — Every Great Show Needs Great Directors & Producers! More YouTube Brilliance & Inspiration! Leader as Conductor: Orchestrating the Creative Genius Throughout the Organization Yankee Democracy at Work… The “Ingenuity” Lies Within the Ranks Why Do Creative Thinking and Innovation Matter? — Seen Any Good Disaster Movies Lately? Fear of the Unknown? Looking More Closely at How and Why We Believe as We Do Trial & Error or Tried & “True”? …Or, a Matter of Balance? Our Wonderful Imaginations… So Close At Hand A Key to Creativity? “Entertain Thyself!” Part 2 of Podcast Interview with Jennifer Blaine Actress Jennifer Blaine & “Dr. Amir” Share Tips for Stimulating Creative Thinking, Podcast Part I CORRECTION: Curiosity Did NOT Kill the Cat! Fear Not Ideas Some Great Short YouTube Videos on Creativity & Innovation! Leonardo da Vinci’s CV: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day Dance, Sing, and Shout for Joy Like an Egyptian! Creativity and a Shared Failure to Communicate Asking the Right Questions Critical Thinking “versus” Creative Thinking?! “Surf’s Up!” for Organizational Creativity — It’s Sink or Swim! “In a Nutshell” Notes on IBM’s 2010 Global CEO Survey: