All too often, the stated “problem” keeps a team from innovation: the problem is the problem. Being willing to question the premise, rather than accept it blindly, is a critical practice for creative health.

Amos Tversky said, "The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours." Here are some tactics for productively wasting hours…

It’s a well-known fact that Albert Einstein shattered the paradigm of physics as an “unqualified” outsider. Some might suggest his lack of status was actually a benefit.

We've all been there: struggling against some challenge, banging our head against the wall. Even Albert Einstein. How he broke through teaches us something fundamental about creativity.

It is profoundly uncomfortable to choose to work differently. But sometimes, the best way forward is to allow yourself to retreat. Work different.

“Smarter is better.” It’s hard to imagine a more sound premise. And yet, that’s not what the data suggest, nor what the history of innovation teaches. What we really need is permission to deviate from the smart approach.

If you’re seeking innovation, then you’re going to fail a lot. These misses can’t weight too heavily on you. Seinfeld, Elon Musk, and others fail often. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

A message for young folks: amidst the frenzied pace of life, it’s tempting to veg out whenever you can. “Doomscrolling” is real! Instead of whittling away the hours, creative geniuses make good use of found time.

What if one reason we aren’t all a little more like Einstein is a simple cognitive bias? What if we could short circuit that bias with practice?

Good news: we can!

What do Elon Musk and Albert Einstein have in common? Both of them were willing to examine things that other people dismissed as too trivial to warrant their attention.

Plato, Newton, and Einstein all demonstrate that, when you’re on the brink of ushering in a new era, you’ve got to be willing to resist well-intentioned opposition.

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!

Sometimes, the best way forward in solving a problem is to allow yourself to retreat. Operative word here being, “allow.” It is profoundly uncomfortable to choose to work differently, when it doesn’t really look like work.

With graduation looming, lots of fresh perspectives are pouring into the job market. I’d like to implore graduates to preserve their “outsider’s perspective,” as they begin their careers.

“Smarter is better.” It’s hard to imagine arguing with this premise. And yet, that’s not what the data suggest, and it’s not what the history of innovation teaches us, either. What we really need is permission to do the dumb stuff geniuses do.

Amidst the frenzied pace of life, it’s tempting to veg out whenever there’s a down moment. “Doomscrolling” is real! Instead of whittling away the hours, creative geniuses make good use of found time.

Why aren’t we more like Einstein? Here’s a powerful daily habit to short-circuit the Einstellung Effect, a cognitive bias that threatens the creativity of both experienced and novice innovators.

What do Elon Musk and Albert Einstein have in common? Both of them were willing to examine things that other people dismissed as too trivial to warrant their attention.

In honor of launching the eleventh batch of d.leaders into their diverse and varied partner organizations in our flagship course, "Leading Disruptive Innovation," I wanted to make a short case for the value of an outsiders' perspective. If you have the time for "the long case," pick yourself a copy of Dave Epstein's exceptional, "Range," which does the job very nicely…

I was struck by a revealing criticism in Henri Poincaré’s otherwise glowing recommendation of Albert Einstein for an academic position in Zurich. It spoke to me of how subtly a conventional paradigm can sneak into our thinking about exploration…