Design Thinking Driven eBay Small Business Challenge Non profit edition Austin Tx

Small Business Challenge engaged 30 PayPal Austin Employees to help 6 non-profit/for-cause businesses improve their business. Shahid Khan constructed a design thinking driven PayPal employee orientation experience. Zak Aossey (summer intern) choreographed the internal marketing & exposure. The two-day design thinking centered orientation was called 'A Day In Utopia'.
Design Thinking driven employee training day was held in a beautiful art gallery in Down town Austin. Shahid led PayPal employees in the morning with 3-hour gift giving Design Thinking workshop preceded by 'Active/Empathy Listening' workshop.

The two workshops were rated 4.85 on a 1-5 scale (5 = awesome).

The following summary video captures the actual value delivered to partners by PayPal Austin employees & training day highlights.

Read Apple Quietly Pushed Into Online In-App payments

The following piece from pymnts.com site shares what Staples experienced with Apple Pay Online In-App revenue but not so much from physical in-store buyers.

The wise marketeers, innovators can learn (unlearn prior perceptions) and reflect on the emerging Apple Pay tsunami about to hit the incumbents. Lessons are succinctly captured in the 'The Wide Lens' book by Ron Adner.

This is Apple 5th expansion of the ecosystem leveraging carry over customers (prior non-customers). A true master of the innovation ecosystem.

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2015/apple-pay-a-hit-for-staples-online-in-store-not-so-much

Why Marketers Are Key Players in the Business Innovation Game

With the growth of international competition, technology and eBusiness, consumers can find high quality products and services faster, cheaper and easier than ever before. Companies are facing extreme competitive pressures. To maintain a competitive edge, companies must continuously innovate. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, innovative companies are expected to grow 60% in the next five years, while 20% of such firms are... Continue reading →

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The Science Behind How Boredom Benefits Creative Thought

Recent studies show that a little boredom in your day opens up the potential for more creative thinking.

Boredom gets a bad rap. Truly amazing ideas and offbeat solutions have often come from endless hours of daydreaming.

Read Full Story

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Looking to Sharpen Your Creativity Muscle To Uncover Great Ideas

Here are some resources that will help you immensely.

1.       Thinker Toys By Michael Mchalko

2.      Cracking creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius by Michael Mchalko

3.      Weird Ideas That Work: How to Build a Creative Company by Robert Sutton

4.      Ten Faces of Innovation by Thomas Kelley & Jonathan Littman

5.      IDEO: http://www.ideo.com/expertise/play

6.      Mindtools Creativity Tools: https://www.mindtools.com/main/newMN_CT.htm

7.      Standford D(esign) School http://dschool.stanford.edu (great tools)

8.     Tim Brown TED Talk on creativity & play

9.      Jump Start: www.ideachampions.com/junp_start.html

10.  Solution Machine: http://home.att.net/~kennethfinn/SOL/solweb.html

11.   Job Force: http://gocreate.com/tools/jobs.htm

12.  100 What’s of Creativity: http: www.dontheideaguy.com/100whats/

13.  Prompts for SCAMPER: https://litemind.com/scamper

Note: If you like to buy the books above, you may want to try www.HALF.com or www.eBay.com for used books (sometimes prices are very good).

High Moral Values and Innovation

In 1959 Nils Bohlin, an engineer at the Swedish Car Manufacturer Volvo, invented the first three point safety belt. It was much more effective than the standard lap belt (as still used on airplanes). Volvo, realising the importance of this invention, chose not to patent it but to share the idea with other vehicle manufacturers. They may have lost some revenues but their action undoubtedly saved many lives and it cemented Volvo’s reputation as a highly ethical company committed to safety. Continue reading →

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Great Companies Are Making All Meetings Optional

Atlassian's infographic shows that the average employee spends 31 hours a month in meetings and considers at least 50 percent of them a complete waste of time. Ninety-one percent daydream, 75 percent do other work, and 39 percent sleep during at least some of them. via Pocket http://ift.tt/1ASEqSL