Innovation in Practice Blog

May 4, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at May 4, 2021
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How to Use Teamwork to Become More Innovative

Creativity is a team sport. It is not a solo event.  When you try to generate creative ideas all by yourself, you’re sitting in a vacuum. […]
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April 27, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at April 27, 2021
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How to Take Advantage of Distractions for Greater Creativity

We face hundreds of distractions every day. There is no way to escape them completely. We can’t just get up every morning and spend hours thinking […]
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April 20, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at April 20, 2021
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How to Generate Creative Ideas At Home, Work, and Everywhere In Between

Creativity is nothing more than combining two things in an unexpected way. However, it is critical that it really is unexpected. For example, if you mash […]
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April 13, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at April 13, 2021
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Creativity for Charities: How to Apply the SIT Techniques to Be More Creative and Resourceful

Charities and nonprofit organizations need to be just as innovative – and in some ways, they have to be even more innovative than for-profit organizations. Think […]
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April 6, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at April 6, 2021
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Gender Role in Creative Thinking – Not What You Think!

Guess who’s more creative – men or women?  Well, neither is more creative than the other because both are equally creative. They just have different roles […]
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March 30, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at March 30, 2021
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Why People Resist Our Innovative Ideas and How To Overcome It

Try to recall and go back to those moments when your ideas got rejected. How did you handle those rejections? Did you just instantly give up? […]
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March 23, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at March 23, 2021
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Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Secret Key to Unlocking Your Creative Potential

No matter who you are, it doesn’t matter if you’re born creative or gifted in some way, everyone has the potential to become more creative, regardless […]
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March 16, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at March 16, 2021
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Creativity? Make It Someone Else’s Problem

Are you in a creative rut? Then make it someone else’s problem.  Now, it doesn’t mean you should just stop being creative and outsource your creative […]
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March 9, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at March 9, 2021
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Avoid Cliches Like the Plague – How to Speak and Write More Creatively

Cliches oftentimes do a good job of communicating what your point is. Other people understand them readily, but using the same old cliches can get boring.  […]
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March 2, 2021
Published by Danny Ozment at March 2, 2021
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Two New Apps to Help You Learn Creativity

Can you learn to be more creative?  100%! There are lots of ways for you to learn about systematic creativity. In fact, here are two amazing […]
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February 11, 2013
Published by boydadmin at February 11, 2013
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Marketing Innovation: The Metaphor Tool Using the Division Pattern

The Metaphor is the most commonly used tool in marketing communications because it is a great way to attach meaning to a newly-launched product or brand. The Metaphor Tool takes a well-recognized and accepted cultural symbol and manipulates it to connect to the product, brand, or message. The tool is one of eight patterns embedded in most innovative commercials. Jacob Goldenberg and his colleagues describe these simple, well-defined design structures in their book, "Cracking the Ad Code," and provide a step-by-step approach to using them. The tools are:
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March 3, 2014
Published by boydadmin at March 3, 2014
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The Multiplication Technique: Multiplying Your Problems Away

One very effective—but nonintuitive—way to use Multiplication is to multiply the most offending component in a problem and then change it so that it solves the problem. Yes, you actually make more of the very thing you are trying to discard. The key is to duplicate the nastiest component and imagine a scenario in which that copy could offer useful characteristics. Two researchers used this very technique and revolutionized the way we cope with dangerous insect species today.
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April 14, 2014
Published by boydadmin at April 14, 2014
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The Division Technique: Cutting Innovation Down to Size

You can frequently make groundbreaking innovations simply by dividing a product into “chunks” to create many smaller versions of it. These smaller versions still function like the original product, but their reduced size delivers benefits that users wouldn’t get with the larger, “parent” product. This is one of three approaches of the Division Technique called “Preserving Division.”
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September 15, 2014
Published by boydadmin at September 15, 2014
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Innovation Sighting: The Division Technique in Vision Correcting Displays

Innovation is anything that is new, useful, and surprising. "Surprising" means that the idea makes you slap your forehead and say, "Gee, why didn't I think of that?" Here's a great example. Researchers at the MIT Media Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have developed a new display technology that automatically corrects for vision defects — no glasses (or contact lenses) required. It is a classic and clever example of the Divison Technique, one of the five techniques in Systematic Inventive Thinking.
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March 9, 2015
Published by boydadmin at March 9, 2015
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Daylight Savings Time: Innovation Past Its Prime

Daylight savings time is a great example of the Division Technique, one of five in the innovation method called SIT, short for Systematic Inventive Thinking. Division works by taking a component of a product or the product itself, then dividing it physically or functionally and rearranging back into the system. Daylight savings time is the result of taking the standard day, dividing it and shifting it to "appear" an hour off from standard time. It's a great idea except for one problem - the benefit of this innovation is no longer realized. Daylight savings served a purpose early in its history, but is obsolete today.
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October 19, 2015
Published by boydadmin at October 19, 2015
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Structural Fixedness: A Barrier to Creativity

Imagine you’re driving down the highway, and you notice a flag waving in the distance. But something’s not right. The flag is upside down. You’d notice it right away because it’s not in its usual position that you have seen hundreds of times before.
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April 11, 2016
Published by boydadmin at April 11, 2016
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The Division Technique: Cut Your Challenges Down to Size

The division technique works by dividing a product or its components functionally or physically and then rearranging them back into the product. Division is a powerful technique because it forces you to break fixedness, especially structural fixedness. Division forces you to create configurations by rearranging components in ways you were not likely to have done on with on your own.
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August 18, 2020
Published by Danny Ozment at August 18, 2020
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Divide and Conquer – How to Use the Division Technique

A common misconception is that creativity is a gift you are born with. People believe that if they don’t have it right from birth, they have […]
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