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martinsmith@alterativus.com www.martinphilipsmith.com www.alterativus.com |
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Creativity
and Innovation Newsletter April 2004 |
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Leonardo’s birthday and
Creativity Week special Dear Yakub, Welcome to my monthly newsletter. Each month it will bring you great hints,
tips and techniques for enhancing creativity – both for your organisation and
yourself. Please let me have your feedback and tell
me what you would like to see covered and what issues concern you. I would
like this to become a valued resource for you the reader. If your email system will not allow you
to view this HTML email, then you can read it on the Internet through this
link: www.alterativus.com/news.htm#Newsletter_ I hate unsolicited ‘spam’ clogging up my
Inbox as much as anyone. I don’t want
to be guilty of adding to that load.
If, once you have read the newsletter, you didn’t enjoy it and don’t
want to see another, then follow the link to unsubscribe at the foot of this
document. I will absolutely respect your wishes. |
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Happy Birthday
Leonardo – 552 Years Young! The Way of the AlterativUs – 10 rules for achieving
‘monster’ creativity Why
Creativity Counts – Key reasons why organisations must nurture creativity Creative technique
of the month Feedback
: What would you like to see? |
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For more information on
Martin, details of speaking engagements etc. visit: |
For more information on coaching and
consulting services visit my ‘alter ego’ the Alterativus |
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Happy Birthday
Leonardo – 552 years young! Leonardo
da Vinci’s birthday, 15th April, marks the beginning of a global festival
celebrating creativity and innovation. It culminates in world Creativity
& Innovation Day on 21st, April. Leonardo
is widely acknowledged as one of the great creative and innovative minds.
Now, five hundred years on, the demands of modern society mean we can all
benefit from being able to think more creatively. Do
something fun and creative yourself to celebrate the great man. For
example:
Go
ahead and unleash your inner Leonardo.
Experience how beneficial creativity can be. For
more ideas on creativity and information on Creativity Day visit: www.alterativus.com |
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The Way of the AlterativUs This ten point framework identifies key attributes
for the ideal creative manager. It serves as the basis for our coaching to
enable managers to unleash creativity in themselves and others. For more details, follow this link. |
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Martin argues that the capability
to think and act creatively is critical for organisations and will become
increasingly so. “It has
become axiomatic that organisations now live in turbulent times. The business
wisdom that evolved in more stable times no longer has the value it once did.
By
enhancing their capacity for creativity, organisations can achieve the following
key benefits:
To
read more go to: www.alterativus.com/news.htm#Articles_ |
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An appeal by Sue, Martin’s partner… “Please help me. Martin is driving me mad with his constant
enthusiasm, energy and creative drive.
It seems every 5 minutes he has a great new creative technique he
wants to try out. I’ve managed to convince him that
he should mark Leonardo’s birthday and Creativity Week by getting out on a
roadshow and talking to organisations at their premises. So, this month Martin is available Generally, he talks for 20 minutes
or so. He uses his unique brand of charisma, infectious enthusiasm and humour
to get everyone excited about creativity.
He then leaves you with a novel and valuable creative technique or
two. He still has limited space in his
diary, so please take advantage of this offer. It will be time well spent.
You will love him and I will get a well-earned rest.” For more details please call : 020
8647 0513 or email: enquiries@alterativus.com |
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Creative technique of the month This month: Be a superhero! This is one I’m personally very
fond of. I like it because it’s a
little ‘off-the-wall’, it’s fun and energising and it’s great at generating
interesting solution ideas. This is really just a variation on
the theme of brainstorming in roles.
The ‘spin’ is that each participant in the brainstorm adopts the role
of a superhero. For maximum impact and
effectiveness, this is best done with a little upfront preparation. Prepare role descriptions of each
superhero, giving some background, listing their powers (and weaknesses),
perhaps have a picture. Costumes and props can also add to the atmosphere of
the session. Try and get participants as imersed in their roles as possible –
it adds to the enjoyment and also improves the quality of the output. What superheros you choose to have
for the session is entirely up to you.
Superman, Batman, Cat Woman, Wolverine or Storm of the X-men, Neo or
Trinity from the Matrix, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Lara Croft – whatever
you like. Once participants have chosen their
superhero role and had some time to “get into role” (say 5-10 minutes), they
are ready to brainstorm. They then
generate ideas for solutions based on the capabilities of their role. The power of the technique is that it
provides interesting perspectives on issues through distortion. It also
creates a very positive mindset – no problem is insoluble. Once participants have dried-up,
they can then step back out of role and review the output. Obviously, a lot
of crazy and impractical ideas are generated. However, within these are
usually the seeds of some very good ideas indeed. This kind of session usually will
not work well if you try and go into it ‘cold’. It works best when participants have
already warmed-up through some other activities. However, it is surprising
how well quite reserved and conservative individuals will respond if
facilitated properly. For more creative techniques, keep
visiting www.alterativus.com |
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Thanks to Steffen Konrath at
“IM-Boot” for sending me this. |
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Feedback : What would you like to see? I don’t want this newsletter to become a one-way rant
about why creativity is so good for you and what a great, clever guy I
am! No, I would really like to see
this become a resource you value and look forward to appearing in your
Inbox. So please help me to fit it to
your needs. Please let me know what concerns
you around creativity and innovation. Let me know if you need help with
particular aspects of fostering creativity in your organisation. I will then
do my best to try and cover your concerns in future issues. Just drop me an email : martinsmith@alterativus.com Or leave feedback at the website: www.alterativus.com/feedback.htm |
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I hate SPAM too! I know how annoying unsolicited email can be. If you didn’t enjoy this newsletter and
don’t want to see another one, then please click here
and follow the instructions to unsubscribe. If, on the other hand you loved it…
then please forward this to friends and colleagues and they can click
here to sign up to the mailing list. Rest assured, I will only be using your
contact details to send out this newsletter unless you specifically ask me
for other information. |
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For more information on
Martin, details of speaking engagements etc. visit: |
For more information on coaching and
consulting services visit my ‘alter ego’ the Alterativus |