May 31, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs & creativity
Can everyone be creative all the time? No. First, before a person can focus their energy on being creative, they need to satisfy their more basic needs. In 1943, Abraham Maslow came up with his groundbreaking Hierarchy of Needs, published as A theory of human motivation. In it, he outlined the theory that people need […]
May 30, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Why You Should Ignore the Past
I love the “success literature” space – it’s actually pretty humorous. I think of all of the books I’ve read; there are maybe three that I can say actually “tell it like it is” when describing the reality of su…
May 28, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Sunk Cost Fallacy
If you or your company has invested in an innovation or project, and it just is not working, when is the right time to stop it? Or if everything is going fine in your company but the market is changing, how do you know when to change the business model? Research shows that the more […]
May 26, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Why decision makers react to creative ideas like vomit: The Anti-Creativity Bias
Why is it that while so many companies say they want to encourage creativity, they actually end up rejecting it? Are they lying, or is there something unconscious which is happening? This is what researchers Jennier Mueller, Jack Goncalo and Shimul Melwani set out to study, and published their results in The Bias Against Creativity: […]
May 25, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Art Bias
When I speak with everyday people, almost always a proportion of them will tell me that they are not creative. When I ask them why they think that, the most common answer I get is they list things that they cannot do or that they don’t think they are good at: “I can’t draw” “I […]
May 24, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
eyeing the life patterns of successful innovators
If there is one thing that I have noticed after interviewing hundreds of humans for my podcast is that most people who are in the innovation space end up there due to an amazingly diverse background. Some come from the product space, others from the te…
May 24, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Breaking the Innovation Stereotypes: The Case of Curry Express
We often hear about the concept of innovation and its importance in enhancing the competitiveness of an organization—however, the excessive use of this term has distorted its true meaning and content.
The post Breaking the Innovation Stereotypes: The…
May 24, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What is Creativity? The Definition, history and science of creativity
What is creativity? What makes some ideas and things creative, while others are not? What is the definition of creativity? What is the history of creativity? And why is creativity important? In this updated article, you will learn the fundamentals of understanding creativity, where it came from, and the science of creativity which is now […]
May 21, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Innovation Valley of Death
Why is it that some promising technologies seem to progress quickly but then disappear entirely? They may be suffering by being stuck in the Valley of Death. Every new innovation requires a certain amount of funding to survive. This could be funding in the sense of time investment, but almost always it is also monetary […]
May 19, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
76 Provocative Quotes on Uncertainty and Letting Go
“I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences tha…
May 19, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Julia Cameron on the Artist’s Way, and the real science of why it might work
On this blog, it is important that I address one of the biggest hurdles of an evidence-based creativity approach, like the one I teach. And that is that a lot of famous, professional artists don’t feel like they can explain where their creativity comes from. For many of them, the moments of inspiration seem to […]
May 18, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Not in my Back Yard (NIMBY)
I currently have an excavator tearing up the street outside my flat. It is making a huge amount of noise. In fact, as it breaks through the asphalt, sometimes I can see my monitor shaking on my desk. I hate it. But ironically, the company I am currently working with is one of the fastest […]
May 18, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
How to Ensure Crowdsourcing Works for Product Innovation
Many enterprise organizations use crowdsourcing to find ideas in their blind spots – but how do you launch your first crowdsourcing challenge, and what sorts of questions do you ask? IdeaScale Crowd is hosting a webinar for first-time crowdsourcing inn…
May 17, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
25 Simple Ways to Free Up Your Innate Creativity
Most people agree that creativity is a good thing. Accordingly, they want to know how they can become more creative. Makes sense, right? The question, however, is a tricky one, not unlike asking “How can I have a good marriage?” or “How can I become a…
May 17, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
discovering that your customers always lie to your face
One of my favorite writers is Dan Ariely, who wrote Predictably Irrational and The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. The major theme of both of these books is that humans, in general, cannot really be trusted to be honest about anything really. He provi…
May 17, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
3 best ways to build psychological safety in the workplace
I believe that Psychological Safety is one of the most important capabilities a team can have to achieve high innovation performance. Check out the amazing podcast episode with the originator of the concept, Prof Amy Edmondson. To describe it simply: Psychological Safety is a climate where people believe it is possible, expected and valued, that […]
May 14, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
50 Awesome Quotes on Possibility
1. “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – St. Francis of Assisi
2. “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll
3. “I’m grateful for a…
May 14, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The amazing science of programmable bacteria
You might think that bacteria are mostly harmful. That they are the foundations of disease, or make things dirty. On the other hand, you might think of some useful things they do for us, like turn wheat into bread and beer (in case you think that, those are both actually the result of a fungus, […]
May 12, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Who is more creative: Oldest, middle or youngest siblings?
Do you have brothers, sisters, or are you an only child? Which of you do you think is the most creative? Well, a new meta analysis of divergent thinking research just set out to find out what the science says. Just published in the Creativity Research Journal, Birth Order and Divergent Thinking: A Meta-Analysis looked […]
May 11, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The Three Horizons of Innovation Training
What if everyone in your organization came to work believing they could shape the destiny of your company? Learn more in this new post, and find out how it’s possible with a 30-minute consult.
The post The Three Horizons of Innovation Training appeared…
May 11, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
101 Reasons Why You Definitely Won’t Read This Blog Post
I know you have no time. YOU know you have no time. I know you’re not gonna do anything you don’t wanna do. YOU know you’re not gonna do anything you don’t wanna do. We both know you’re not going to read this blog post. It’s too long and you have …
May 11, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
What are you trying to improve?
Sometimes, innovation can have unintended, negative consequences. Even if what you aimed to improve was a total success by the criteria you measured. This is the danger of judging success only by a narrow set of specific criteria, and ignoring other changes which you did not anticipate. Let me give you an example. A few […]
May 10, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
run from disruption: pivot quickly or face the music
Do you remember the time BC (Before COVID)? Everything was awesome, right? The market was going great – you are selling well – your revenues were rocking and your profits were high. You are thinking that you might be able to afford that new…
May 10, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Optimizing Your Work-From-Home Space for Creativity and Productivity
Remote working is nothing new. It was already on the rise and has seen significant growth over the last several years. But, the COVID-19 pandemic sped up that process significantly. According to a FlexJobs survey, 65% of employees want to continue working from home even after the pandemic is over. There are plenty of reasons […]
May 7, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
APPLIED CREATIVITY: A New Book by Mitch Ditkoff
You know what I just realized? I wrote a book without realizing it. Really. For the past 11 years, I’ve been writing a series of articles on creativity for my Heart of Innovation blog, one-off inspirations a wide variety of topics of service to aspi…
May 7, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
On Getting the Help You Want
“You can do anything, but not everything.” — David Allen
For the past two months, I’ve been facilitating an online course whose purpose it is to help people transform their inspired ideas, dreams, and ventures into reality. It has been a ton of fun…
May 7, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The lowest common denominator
A camel is a horse designed by a committee This is one of my favourite expressions about the danger of innovation in large organisations. It speaks to the sad truth that often, members of innovation teams in large organisations don’t want to shoulder the responsibility of an innovation or new idea not working out. So […]
May 5, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
The story of the Vasa, the innovative ship that sunk immediately
What happens when the scope of a project is constantly changed? Well, usually complete and utter failure. In 1626, the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus was at war with Poland-Lithuania. In order to show Sweden’s strength and naval dominance, he ordered the construction of one of the most powerful naval ships ever built. The Vasa. […]
May 5, 2021 | by Chris Kalaboukis
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and the Creative Process
“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell
During the past 50 years, quite a few researchers, social scientists, and psychologists have written about the creative process, positing a number of models to help clarify its st…