Good Ideas--and How to Get Them
Organizations that limit their idea-creation activities to a few
new-product developers or executive brainstorming sessions are missing out on a
potentially rich source of innovation--their employees and customers. One of the best ways
to come up with new ideas is to increase the number of minds contributing to idea
creation.
In this issue, innovation consultant Robert Tucker offers
"ideation strategies" for helping organizations develop creativity, focusing
especially on ways to involve customers in the process and asking such questions as what
needs aren't being met. In this way, organizations may transform themselves into
innovation factories that churn out not just new "widgets," but also new
management and production processes, new problem-solving methods, and new ways to be
innovative. (See "Seven Strategies for Generating Ideas," page 20 in the print
edition.)
Taking Tucker's advice of inclusiveness to heart, we invited several
other futurists working as ideation consultants to offer their unique insights on how
organizations generate new ideas. Contributing to the "Idea Experts Roundtable"
are: Andy Hines, ideation leader at Dow Chemical; Christopher Miller,
founder of Innovation Focus; Alexander Hiam, author of Motivational Management;
and Winston J. Brill, an award-winning microbiologist-turned-innovation consultant
and futurist. (See page 26.)
A significant element of innovative thinking involves gathering and
analyzing trends and other vital information. Therefore, this issue brings you the second
part of "Trends Shaping the Future" by Marvin J. Cetron and Owen
Davies, which covers trends in technology, the workplace, management, and
institutions. See page 30 in the print edition. (Part I, covering economic, social,
demographic, resource, and environmental trends, was published in the January-February
issue. The full report is also available from the Futurist Bookstore. Click here for details.)
