This post originally appeared in a recent Spark newsletter. The intent is to make innovation less scary and more productive. Reducing the...

Background About 100 years ago, leadership at the University of Iowa were exploring creativity and craft. In academia there was a debate...

As of today, I’ve produced 75 episodes of The Iowa Idea Podcast. The latest episode will be published soon. I consider myself incredibly...

The new podcast, produced by Spark, examines stories of creativity, collaboration, innovation and persistence through interviews with...

In an earlier post, I highlighted the four capabilities needed to help teams and organizations embrace creative problem solving in...

In an earlier post, I highlighted the four capabilities needed to help teams and organizations embrace creative problem solving in...

When navigating a sea of complexity, it's important to know how to SWIM.

When facing complex challenges, we need to move beyond a win-lose, true-false, binary view of the world.

Complex, adaptive systems don't respond to best practices. Utilize sensemaking to help navigate adaptive challenges.

10 ways you improve the creative output of your team.

My uncle and communication scholar, John Cragan, taught me that without a theory, you can’t tell a fact from a non-fact. A theory, likes...

Here's a short story to illustrate the importance of understanding customer needs and goals, and putting those goals in the context of...

While working on a change management and communication project for a client, we were discussing ways to build trust. I had discussed an...

If you’re going to design brand experiences that are meaningful for your constituents and effective for your business, you need to be...

A recent coffee conversation with a friend, the conversation focus on brand experience for non-profits. Naturally, the conversation went...

As brand experience continues to take on greater gravitas in advertising, marketing, and CX discussions, it is important to realize that...

This model is a framework we use to help walk teams through design and innovation work. Whether it's continuous improvement, iteration,...

Let Human Centered Design Be Your Guide Human Centered Design (HCD) can serve as a map, or GPS, for your innovation innovation journey....

The successful companies of today and tomorrow are the ones that can continuously generate and mange consumer insights.

The group bullseye comprises four outcomes to be maximized for team success - productivity, quality, consensus, and satisfaction.