Research has shown that creativity and innovation come from combining seemingly unrelated or irrelevant knowledge. You can create the context for combining unrelated knowledge by bringing together people with diverse backgrounds and knowledge. Thus, diversity (which might be based on race or gender but also on profession or function) is often sought in brainstorming teams. […]
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Creativity occurs when pieces of information are put together in novel and useful ways. ‘Information’ here is used broadly, and includes objects, symbols and facts. This broad concept of information is known as ‘declarative information.’ For example, a chair consists of three pieces of declarative information: a seat, legs, and a back. Information can be […]
Read More… from Why Flat Information Structures Enable Creative Thinking
Based on extensive research, the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory was developed in the late 1990s as an assessment tool for learning power. Specifically, the ELLI model identified seven qualities or dimensions necessary for learning: the five ‘active’ learning power dimensions of strategic awareness, creativity, curiosity, meaning making and changing and learning; the learning relationships dimension; […]
When research-based companies hire new scientists to join their research teams, they are looking for two benefits. The first benefit involves output: what the new scientist can produce. This direct, individual benefit is accompanied by more indirect, organizational benefits — for example, the new scientist might boost the productivity of other colleagues through new knowledge, […]
Read More… from Learning by Hiring: The Challenge of Teaching Entrenched Incumbents
Companies have both short-term and long-term responsibilities: they must be successful in the present while preparing for the future. While many companies believe they are managing these two priorities effectively, in truth, the urgency of the exploiting the present — launching marketing campaigns, resolving customer service issues or managing the supply chain, for example — […]
Read More… from Build Ambidextrous Teams to Combine Present and Future Objectives
Enthusiasm for your job is usually an asset. However, new research reveals that on Wall Street, such enthusiasm may backfire as the rush of winning triggers physiological changes that undermine rational thinking and decision-making. Specifically, the research studies the impact of increased testosterone levels on the buy-and-sell decisions of 140 traders taking part in a […]
Read More… from How Testosterone Leads to Overpricing on Wall Street
For three Scandinavian researchers, the traditional approach to leadership almost renders the term a misnomer: the study of ‘leadership’ is actually the study of ‘leaders’ — the study of the personality traits, behaviours, and performance of (often) heroic individuals who align and inspire their ‘followers.’ Leadership, in this traditional approach, is not only embedded in […]
Read More… from Forget the Hero: Leadership as Day-to-Day Processes, Practices and Interactions
Transforming academic research from pure knowledge into real-world business or organizational practices is challenging for a wide variety of reasons. Time is an issue. Business unit or organizational leaders have little time to leaf through academic journals or article databases looking for research they can apply to their companies. Even if they did, the parameters […]
The word ‘scenarios’ has many different meanings in a variety of fields and disciplines. In strategic planning, scenarios refer to a small set of carefully structured and tailored narratives about the future context a company or an industry might inhabit. These narratives are developed through interviews and workshops with a broad range of stakeholders related to the focal […]
Read More… from The Power of Scenarios to Open New Perspectives
Is sarcasm in the workplace as destructive as usually assumed? While sarcasm — in which people express one thing by saying the exact opposite — is rampant in organizations, most leadership and communication books urge people to avoid sarcastic remarks, which are considered a negative form of communication. However, a team of researchers argue that […]
