Innovative Intelligence - A road map for harnessing creativity - The Globe and Mail, Harvey Schachter

If you don't feel particularly innovative, or your organization seems flat-footed and uncreative, blame it on your teachers over the years. That's the message from Canadian consultants David Weiss and Claude Legrand, in their new book Innovative Intelligence, who have been tracking innovation in companies and finding it wanting.Your teachers prepared you for a world where analytical intelligence would be dominant. You were taught literacy and numeracy skills, and to apply logic or your memory of past solutions to new problems at work. But that is not sufficient any more

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A Changing Culture of Creativity - Howard Gardner

A new culture of risk-aversion and crowd-sourcing is changing the traditional paradigm of the creative individual according to Howard Gardner, Professor of Education Harvard. Gardner conceived the notion of multiple intelligences and opposed the singularity of the IQ test in assessing intelligence.

Why some leaders inspire action while others are mostly forgettable: the vital role of business storytelling

Leaders can tell stories to paint a vision or strategic direction, share a lesson, convey values or

illustrate desired behaviours. Stories also have an ability to forge deeper connections between

people, so inspiring them to focus their attention and take action. As Terrence Gargiulo said,

“The shortest distance between two people is a story.”

Stories work for leaders as a successful communication and engagement technique for several

reasons.

Firstly, stories convey emotion effectively, and emotion united with a strong idea is persuasive.

We remember what we feel. And our emotions inspire us to take action.

Secondly, stories are concrete and have the ability to transport us imaginatively to a place

where we can visualise the events being recounted.

Thirdly, stories are memorable: we are up to 22 times more likely to remember a story than a

set of disconnected facts (such as presentation dot-points).iii

Lastly, stories represent a pull strategy, unlike the push strategy used when we argue in a more

traditional way. Stories engage the listener, pulling them into the story to participate in the

conversation, rather than telling them what to think.

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Take The Emotional Intelligence Test

Every day, emotions shape the path of our lives and influence our decision-making. Our emotional actions and reactions affect every aspect of who we are and how we live. Having control over our emotions enables us to pursue and achieve our goals. What is 'Emotional Intelligence'? First made popular in Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence, this concept has heavily influenced how many psychologists understand emotional development and its effects on personal success. 'Emotional Intelligence' refers to our ability to manage our emotional mind with intelligence in every facet of life. In a very real way, our human intelligence affords us the ability to regulate our emotions. Every decision we make is directly influenced by our emotions—a specific part of the brain, the amygdala, handles all basic emotional reactions, such as fear and anger. The neocortex, or "thinking" part of the brain, allows us to fully comprehend situations—our reactions are the result of our unique and individual combination of "thinking" and "feeling". Our specific manner of comprehending situations dictates our subsequent reactions.

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Brainwriting - Getting More from Your Idea Sessions

Many of us have taken part in brainstorming sessions. These are commonly used to generate ideas, and to come up with a creative solution to a problem. What can often happen during a brainstorming session, however, is that key players on the team speak up and express their ideas. Everyone else then enters the discussion about those few ideas, and they reach a consensus on the solution – without considering many other ideas that could have been generated.

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