The AGSM Executive Programs in collaboration with The Creative Leadership Forum

The Creative Leadership Forum and The AGSM Executive Programs are collaborating together to develop a two and half day program for executives on Leadership, Creativity and Innovation.

Following on from the AGSM Executive Roundtable on Leadership, Creativity and Innovation on 20th February 2009, this program caters for the needs of executives that emerged.

Rosemary Howard and Ralph Kerle have produced a podcast below that provides a fantastic insight into the background and importance of this program in our current challenging times...

Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Chip Heath and Dan Heath have introduced a new "sticky guide" on making your ideas stick, and eliminating the ones that ought to die. How do you make your ideas stick or prevail (without being a dictator)? Just today, I was trying to make my thirteen year old son do some backyard work (cleaning the table, chair, moving the garbage bins, and picking up our dog's poop). As a dad, I asked him twice to do this chore (and forgot that this was a weekend when he wanted to relax a bit). He told me he already did the work (he had only partially done the work). Finally, I had to raise my voice and even yell at him to get up and go out, and finish the work. Which he did, albeit grudgingly.

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Back to school

Video artist Viola, winner of McDermott award, samples new technologies during weeklong residency at MIT Stephanie Schorow, MIT News Office March 19, 2009 More than 35 years ago, Bill Viola jolted the contemporary art world with a new kind of artistic expression: electronic images and sounds that explored themes of love, death and rebirth. Today, the title "video artist" could be claimed by any kid with a camera, but the label rightfully belongs to Viola, who harnessed the potential of high-definition technology to produce evocative and startling snippets of video for museums and installations. Like many artistic revolutionaries, Viola is now old school. He has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. In 1997, theWhitney Museum of American Art staged: "Bill Viola: A 25-Year Survey." His latest honor is the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts, given by MIT's Council for the Arts, which brings a $75,000

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Creative Skills Training Council - on Creating Peak Performance - Flow in Music and Sport

Recently the Creative Skills Training Council conducted a program in Melbourne on Creating Peak Performance - Flow in Music and Sport. Georges McKail provided an excellent graphical report of the event - as shown in the pdf at this link: Graphical Report by Georges McKail on CSTC Melbourne Meeting

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Design Thinking: A Strategy for Innovation

Here are some interesting insights from Linda Naiman - Creativity at Work, she has some fantastic networks...

Innovation Practices for Leaders

The revolution taking place in design — as it emerges from its traditional role of serving commerce — to a role of leading, shaping and directing the way we live and work, presents tremendous opportunities for leaders in business and government. CEOs of major corporations are now applying design principles to strategy and innovation. The success rate for innovation dramatically improves when it is designed.

P&G is using design-thinking to change its culture. Leadership is listening, learning, and deploying; cross-functional teams are cracking vexing problems across its business landscape; and visualization, prototyping, and iteration are facilitating communication internally and with customers like never before. (BusinessWeek July 28, 2008)

A design mind-set is not problem-focused, it’s solution focused, and action oriented. The purpose of design, ultimately, is to improve quality of life. Empathy is key to design success.

From a design point of view, truly innovative products speak to their users' emotions, according to Yves Behar (Fast Company 2004), who designs radical innovations to well established consumer products for companies such as Nike and Toshiba. It's the emotional connection you make with employees and customers that wins their loyalty.

The design way of thinking can be applied to systems, situations, procedures, protocols, and innovation. We can design the way we lead, manage, create and innovate.

Contact Linda Naiman for design training and consulting