Benjamin Franklin is one of history’s most prolific innovators — with breakthroughs ranging from science to civic life. A simple but profound weekly ritual sparked consistent fresh thinking.

In his delightful memoir, "A Curious Mind," famed Hollywood producer Brian Grazer describes his commitment to what he calls "curiosity conversations…”

Legendary designer Charles Eames shares a foundational insight on the purpose of design. It goes much deeper than we might expect.

There’s solid research that suggests that Thomas Edison and Salvador Dalí were onto something when they determined to “nap into their subconscious…”

Here's a riddle to illustrate the power of cognitive biases: "When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?" Give it a minute…Keep thinking... try harder...

I still remember the day I read my friend Charles O'Reilly's fantastic (and now award-winning) paper on the stages of disruptive innovation. He had asked me and Perry for comments on an early draft, and almost instantly, I felt like Neo…

I still remember the day I read my friend Charles O'Reilly's fantastic (and now award-winning) paper on the stages of disruptive innovation. He had asked me and Perry for comments on an early draft, and almost instantly, I felt like Neo…

It is broadly established that creativity is a function of unexpected connections. As legendary researcher Arthur Koestler once said, "Creativity is the collision of two apparently unrelated frames of reference." It's a…

It is broadly established that creativity is a function of unexpected connections. As legendary researcher Arthur Koestler once said, "Creativity is the collision of two apparently unrelated frames of reference." It's a well-documented phenomenon that many scientific breakthroughs and inventions have come from outside the field, as both Dave Epstein mentions in "Range" and Steven Johnson mentions in "Where Good Ideas Come From" (both highly recommended, and both will be on my reading list, whenever I get around to publishing that...

I've been thinking more about the tendency I've observed, of folks prematurely declaring victory when it comes to divergent thinking. One simple but effective tactic is to hold oneself to an idea quota. A somewhat-arbitrary quantity target that forces you to keep going, even after you think you've gotten the right answer…

I've observed that a divergent mindset is something that many folks like to get out of as quickly as possible. As soon as a reasonably good idea comes up, there's almost a collective sigh of relief which says, "Whew! We did it! Mission accomplished!" …

I've been thinking more about the challenge of "escaping the tyranny of reason," and was delighted to come across an example of a noteworthy innovator. Thomas Edison was credited with over 1,000 patents and is widely viewed as one of the most influential inventors of the last century. Twyla Tharp recounts an amazing anecdote about his idea generation process in "The Creative Habit"…

When seeking to generate ideas, the implicit desire to settle upon the right answer, or the best answer, as quickly as possible is incredibly powerful. In design, we often encourage folks to deliberately separate the task of idea generation from the process of idea evaluation, to protect themselves from critical thinking or from presumptuously settling on a sub-optimal idea too quickly…

Someone tipped me off to David Lynch's "Catching the Big Fish," which deconstructs his creative process in a series of somewhat-chronologically-ordered vignettes and reflections. I'm glad they did - if …”

Someone tipped me off to David Lynch's "Catching the Big Fish," which deconstructs his creative process in a series of somewhat-chronologically-ordered vignettes and reflections. I'm glad they did - if only because it's an easy book to "get under your belt," so to speak. Lots of interesting tidbits for fans of his films, too, I'm sure (admission: I've never seen one)…

I have noticed that when the design-driven approach to innovation that we espouse at Stanford fails to unleash a flood of new ideas and fresh energy, the culprit is often a failure to stimulate curiosity on the part of those doing the work…