When Bob Sutton told our class, “There is no such thing as a new idea…” I thought he was wrong. Turns out, I was.

We are all busy. The most effective innovators wield their calendar to enhance their practice, rather than be a victim of their schedule. Here’s how to structure your time differently.

The stars of Second City recite a profoundly moving mantra before heading onstage together. It illuminates the nature of collaborative creativity.

Very few modern leaders have given ideas — or the creative process that conceives them — the kind of respect that Steve Jobs did. Sir Jony Ive vividly describes that care.

Who doesn’t feel a little guilty taking a nap? But they’re a powerful means of tapping into the subconscious! Salvador Dalí’s “Slumber With A Key” relieves guilt, and the fear of wasted time.

When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, it was nothing more than an absent-minded, off-handed comment during an after-hours diversion. Turns out, that’s how many insights are discovered.

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?

“Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind… In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them…” —Steve Jobs

“‘You can't understand Google unless you know that both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids,’ said Marissa Mayer. Valuing personal freedom to pursue interests explains a lot about Google.

Imagination is particularly provoked by unexpected inputs. One tell-tale sign of a valuable surprise is, it makes you chuckle…

How does a scrappy start-up attract world-class talent? Steven Levy’s “In the Plex” shares how Google managed to attract the brightest computer scientists before it had 10 employees.

In the pursuit of creative excellence, it’s easy to forget that one of the simplest ways we can build our creative legacy is by encouraging others in their craft. A simple compliment has an amplifying effect.

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.

Innovation leader: next time an organizational obstacle rears its ugly head, as yourself, “What’s the real problem I need to address?”

Assumptions make us blind to many innovative possibilities, and yet the problem is, it’s almost impossible to identify our own blinders! I say “almost” because of this tool…

When we ask alumni about the most transformative tools they learned under our tutelage, they regularly mention this. Here’s a brief description of one of the most powerful tools we teach.

A product manager at Google told me about a bold move the organization made to create the space folks needed to learn. It inspired me to take a similar step in my own practice.

Innovators from Edison to Einstein to Frank Lloyd Wright to Salvador Dalí have historically leveraged a strategic tool I’ve been long reluctant to wield… until now!

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.

There’s a reason most brainstorms fail to deliver: it’s legitimately painful to admit we don’t know the answer. The good news is, there are simple ways to hack this deep-seated faulty psychological bias.