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Casual Articles - Are Your Financial Decisions Becoming Stale? Here are 3 Fresh Tools to Help!
You know you need a brand. But do you know that one of the most effective ways to grow your business is to build on that brand?In a world of short attention spans and rapidly changing technology, building your brand is crucial to your survival. The most successful companies understand its importance. Here’s one brand building success story:Music to Our EarsDo you have an iPod? It seems everywhere you look today, someone is plugged into Apple’s portable digital music player. The company knows its audience and shrewdly builds i
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative think
Who wants a free pen with your company’s name on it? I don’t and I doubt many others do. I recently advised a small business that was charging customers $10.00 if they wanted to purchase a t-shirt with the business’s name on it to stop. Sure they sold shirts to about 10% of their members but the profit margin was only $4.00 per shirt.Instead, I advised them that during the initial sign up for each new member the business owner provide a free t-shirt with the business’s name on it in exchange for filling out a short survey designed to categorize w
Are you ready? Let's do it.
Fresh Tool #1. Random Input
This is the simplest of all creative thinking techniques. It is widely used by advertising agencies, new product teams, rock groups, playwrights, IT developers and many others. This tool was developed by Dr. Edward De Bono in 1968 but has been plagiarized and borrowed since then, often by folks who don't really know how to use it.
One way to use this technique is to compile a list of 60 words (e.g. tiger, nose, hamburger, plane, molecule, rubbish, dog, shoes etc). When you need a random word glance at your watch and note the seconds reading. Use that number to get a word from your list. We then use one of these words that has no connection with the situation and hold them both together. The mind is very powerful at linking these seemingly unconnected ideas together.
In Dr. De Bono's book "Serious Creativity" he offers the following illustration:
"Cigarette" linked with "Traffic Light". "Within a few seconds this led to the idea of printing a red band around a cigarette some distance from the butt end. This band would serve as a 'danger zone'. If you stopped smoking before you reached the band, your smoking would be safer (because the last part of the cigarette is more harmful)."
This also led to the idea of putting seeds in the butt of the cigarette so that when it was thrown away in a garden or park, flowers would grow out of the butt end.
Do you feel that you have completely run out of ideas and your usual ways no longer work well? Does it seem impossible to get new ideas? Put in a random word and it will open up new lines of thought immediately.
Fresh Tool #2. Six Thinking Hats
This is another of Dr. De Bono's tried and tested methods. Again, it is extremely simple, but powerful. This method has been used by IBM, Prudential, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph and many other businesses world-wide.
The theory is as follows:
The Six Thinking Hats allows one to get away from the Western tradition of argument that says 'A' has a point of view but 'B' disagrees. There are six hats, each designed to represent a way of thinking about a problem.
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative thinki
Every smart manager or boss knows good company morale is priceless. They know rewarding clients, customers or employees for their continued patronage or hard work makes good business sense.The holiday season is the perfect occasion where goodwill can help build company spirit and continued patronage. You should spare no expense in presenting a nice token of your appreciation for all the hard work and loyalty displayed throughout the year.However, playing Santa in the corporate world does come with a few problems. Especiall
One way to use this technique is to compile a list of 60 words (e.g. tiger, nose, hamburger, plane, molecule, rubbish, dog, shoes etc). When you need a random word glance at your watch and note the seconds reading. Use that number to get a word from your list. We then use one of these words that has no connection with the situation and hold them both together. The mind is very powerful at linking these seemingly unconnected ideas together.
In Dr. De Bono's book "Serious Creativity" he offers the following illustration:
"Cigarette" linked with "Traffic Light". "Within a few seconds this led to the idea of printing a red band around a cigarette some distance from the butt end. This band would serve as a 'danger zone'. If you stopped smoking before you reached the band, your smoking would be safer (because the last part of the cigarette is more harmful)."
This also led to the idea of putting seeds in the butt of the cigarette so that when it was thrown away in a garden or park, flowers would grow out of the butt end.
Do you feel that you have completely run out of ideas and your usual ways no longer work well? Does it seem impossible to get new ideas? Put in a random word and it will open up new lines of thought immediately.
Fresh Tool #2. Six Thinking Hats
This is another of Dr. De Bono's tried and tested methods. Again, it is extremely simple, but powerful. This method has been used by IBM, Prudential, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph and many other businesses world-wide.
The theory is as follows:
The Six Thinking Hats allows one to get away from the Western tradition of argument that says 'A' has a point of view but 'B' disagrees. There are six hats, each designed to represent a way of thinking about a problem.
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative think
Leisure time is more important than ever before. It is increasingly likely that both partners in a household are working full time; commuting adds to the burden of the daily routine, whether to school or to work. There is also the increasing danger of sedentary occupations, producing the demand for active leisure or ‘recreation’. More working time is spent every year sitting in front of a computer terminal or on the telephone, followed by driving home or sitting in a train. At home, the temptation is greater than ever before to sit in front of the wides
In Dr. De Bono's book "Serious Creativity" he offers the following illustration:
"Cigarette" linked with "Traffic Light". "Within a few seconds this led to the idea of printing a red band around a cigarette some distance from the butt end. This band would serve as a 'danger zone'. If you stopped smoking before you reached the band, your smoking would be safer (because the last part of the cigarette is more harmful)."
This also led to the idea of putting seeds in the butt of the cigarette so that when it was thrown away in a garden or park, flowers would grow out of the butt end.
Do you feel that you have completely run out of ideas and your usual ways no longer work well? Does it seem impossible to get new ideas? Put in a random word and it will open up new lines of thought immediately.
Fresh Tool #2. Six Thinking Hats
This is another of Dr. De Bono's tried and tested methods. Again, it is extremely simple, but powerful. This method has been used by IBM, Prudential, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph and many other businesses world-wide.
The theory is as follows:
The Six Thinking Hats allows one to get away from the Western tradition of argument that says 'A' has a point of view but 'B' disagrees. There are six hats, each designed to represent a way of thinking about a problem.
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative think
Forms of Internet marketing and publicity are very different from conventional advertising since the agency involved in active online business promotion needs to understand things beyond basic creative concepts, market research and translation of consumer interest topics into web content. It also needs to be aware of the various languages used in creating a website that is easy to access and browse through for the average web-user and have sufficient knowledge of web standards compliance.Knowing about factors like web standards compliance, web la
Do you feel that you have completely run out of ideas and your usual ways no longer work well? Does it seem impossible to get new ideas? Put in a random word and it will open up new lines of thought immediately.
Fresh Tool #2. Six Thinking Hats
This is another of Dr. De Bono's tried and tested methods. Again, it is extremely simple, but powerful. This method has been used by IBM, Prudential, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph and many other businesses world-wide.
The theory is as follows:
The Six Thinking Hats allows one to get away from the Western tradition of argument that says 'A' has a point of view but 'B' disagrees. There are six hats, each designed to represent a way of thinking about a problem.
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative think
Who are your customers? What do customers value? Customers, we now know, are anyone for whom we provide a service. This means that a person working within our company, perhaps even working next to us, can be our customers if we provide them with reports or information, just as much as a person who pays to have us gather the reports. Customers are the reason we are in business. External customers keep businesses alive by paying for services.When you go to make a purchase at a retail store, what do you value? When you select a bank, what do you val
White Hat - think of white paper - neutral - carries information, data and information
Red Hat - think of fire and warmth - feelings, emotions, hunches and intuition
Black Hat - think of stern judge - black robes, black hat is for critical judgment
Yellow Hat - think of sunshine - optimism, feasibility and how things can be done
Green Hat - think of vegetation and rich growth, creative thinking, new ideas, additional alternatives
Blue Hat - think of blue sky - overview, process control, sets agenda for thinking, summaries, conclusions
Both 'A' and 'B' can wear the black hat at the same time to find the dangers in an idea. They can both wear a Yellow Hat to to explore the benefits. That way all members of the discussion can be thinking in the same way for a period of time without the need to argue and take sides. The organizer can decide when to change the hats and all agree to abide by his/her rulings.
Fresh Tool #3. S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
Apply SCAMPER to the problem you wish to solve or your specific situation.
You can use each of the letters of this word SCAMPER as follows:
S – Substitute (can you apply something else)
C – Combine (can you mix in something, add)
A – Adapt (can anything be changed, modified)
M – Modify, Magnify, Minimize
P – Put (to other uses)
E – Eliminate (one or more of the elements)
R - Rearrange, Reverse, Redefine
These 3 tools are only the tip of the iceberg. One reference on the Internet counted over 250 creative thinking methods from just 13 books! These 3 may just spark your interest in studying more deeply into this fascinating subject.
This study is not just for fun, it can also really assist in helping you make better financial decisions by being able to marshal more ideas, options and ways of doing things and then applying them to the financial decisions at hand.
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