Thomas Edison is one of history’s most prolific inventors. He made regular professional use of an under-rated if not derided personal past-time. New research suggests his radical strategy works!

This guest post comes from Ozan Varol, one of my favorite rocket scientists. It’s excerpted from his new book, “Awaken Your Genius,” which is sure to be on my year-end best books list!

A common thread of breakthroughs is that they occur in “accidental” or unexpected ways. What if, instead of dismissing the accidental elements as irrelevant, we started deliberately deploying them?

David Ogilvy attributed difficulties with original thinking to what he dubbed “the tyranny of reason.” Here are a few superrational escape techniques...

Very few teams see diversity as a lever they can pull to drive outcomes. “Team” is more of a fixed concept than a fluid one. The biggest opportunity is actually to deliberately dial up diversity on demand.

Our instinct is to retreat inwardly when tasked with the challenge of coming up with ideas. Instead, we should get out. Here’s my favorite way to find ideas.

Most folks want to stop diverging as quickly as possible. As soon as a reasonably good idea comes up, there's a collective sigh of relief which says, "Whew! We did it! Mission accomplished!" …

Edison is one of history’s most prolific inventors. He made regular professional use of a common personal past-time: napping.

What makes an idea a good idea? Research suggests that the best idea — irrespective of commercial merits — is actually the one that provokes thinking the most.

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson says that framing a meeting — like the d.schools, “Flaring or focusing?” meeting-opener — helps teams do the work they need to do, in the way they need to do it.

The definition of “genius” changes as teams shift between convergent and divergent modes — and what gets rewarded should, too.

Brainstorming is a well-known (and popularly-derided) practice of generating ideas together. What’s the best way to maximize creative output of a group ideation session?

We all want to steward organizational resources responsibly. But sometimes, the problems we face aren’t clear, and neither are the solutions. In such cases, good stewardship requires divergent thinking, which often feels irresponsible.

Lorraine Sarayeldin, Founder and CEO of PomPom Paddock, shares three favorite tricks to accelerate her ideation process by seeking inspiration from the world outside of the office.

As valuable as napping is as a tactic for courting breakthroughs, the nap itself is actually unnecessary: it’s the honest attempt at falling asleep that opens the floodgates.

Very few teams see diversity as a lever they can pull to drive outcomes. “Team” is more of a fixed concept than a fluid one. The biggest opportunity is actually to deliberately dial up cognitive diversity.