EP# 060: Critical Thinking 101

EP# 060: Critical Thinking 101

In these times of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories everyone needs to improve the ability to review and understand information. With social media providing never-ending, instant information, we are all becoming lazy as we digest opinions, superficial descriptions, and outright lies. Most of us have not had formal critical thinking education or training. Therefore, most of us form opinions based on often erroneous information and meaning.

Understanding and applying critical thinking empowers you to identify weak evidence and debunk faulty reasoning, evaluate information properly, let go of preconceived opinions, and avoid overconfidence based on experience and beliefs.

EP# 059: Positive Mindset

EP# 059: Positive Mindset

The Positive Revolution is not only about learning new skills and applying them to creatively solve problems. It is about developing a positive mindset to change the way you approach life. Unfortunately, most of us focus on the negative, rather than looking for the positives, even in a challenging situation.

Positive people develop a mental capacity that allows them to easily adapt during adversity. They develop a set of powerful mental traits. Life is about overcoming obstacles. The more you can focus on the positive of every situation, the less stressed and worried you will be.

EP# 058: Creative Thinking 101

EP# 058: Creative Thinking 101

Creativity is not solely about being an artist. Everyone needs to be creative just as much as musicians, ballet dancers, or sculptors.

Creative thinking is a crucial skill for Positive Revolutionists. Creating new businesses, new products and services, solving problems, or, improving processes, require creative thinking skills. Generating and implementing new ideas is critical to improving yourself and the world. Most people greatly underuse creativity based on the conditioning processes of society, educational systems, and business organizations.

EP# 057: Positivity

EP# 057: Positivity

Changing the future is not only about learning new skills and applying them to creatively solve problems. It is about developing a positive mindset to change the way you approach life. Unfortunately, most of us focus on the negative, rather than looking for the positives, even in a challenging situation.

For example, if you get a flat tyre on your car, you can be angry and upset. Or you can realize it is a great opportunity to get some exercise and be glad it did not cause an accident. Negativity is habitual.

The real challenge is finding positivity in every situation. Nothing is negative unless you think it is negative. It all starts with your mindset and how you focus on things.

EP# 056: Weekly Musings

EP# 056: Weekly Musings

In this episode Dr. O discusses the loss of RBG, the ongoing battle against COVID and the growing complacency of people, possibly resulting in a return to more stringent lockdowns. Dr. O also provides an update on his progress with The Positive Revolution and why a move away from negativity and destruction is critical to everyone's future. And he wraps up by reminding everyone to take advantage of COVID and focus on self-improvement. Dr. O shares his recent motorcycle adventure training, and his personal growth riding big bikes off-road.

EP# 055: COVID Life

EP# 055: COVID Life

As the pandemic continues, life and work keeps evolving. Many of us face new challenges as we juggle work/life balance. The time is ripe to rethink how we work and how we interact with our customers and partners. There is no better time than now, to improve processes and differentiate yourself from your customers. Dr. O discusses the need to change, create, and innovate, while sharing how he is working remotely and the new challenges he faces, especially working in three time zones.

EP# 054: Traveling During a Pandemic

EP# 054: Traveling During a Pandemic

Traveling Internationally during a pandemic is not the most relaxing way to spend a day, but Dr. O just flew from London to Los Angeles, and survived. He will share his experiences dealing with travel during the pandemic, and the differences between how England and the US are handling the various challenges. And Dr. O reminds everyone that this is an amazing time to "put your thinking hats on" as there are opportunities everywhere to improve our world.

EP# 053: One Small Step Can Change Your Life

EP# 053: One Small Step Can Change Your Life

This episode discusses the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life written by psychologist and kaizen expert Dr. Robert Maurer. The book outlines ways individuals can take small steps to achieve large goals; i.e, adopting the principles of kaizen for personal improvement. The seven steps outlined in the book allow individuals to develop new habits through simple, small methods. Dr. Maurer provides a clear and simple method for individuals to slowly build their confidence and overcome fear to achieve large, often insurmountable-seeming goals.

Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." It was popularized due to the success of Toyota which utilized kaizen to create some of the world’s most dependable vehicles, while improving every aspect of the organization for industry-leading profits. This business philosophy involves all employees to continuously improve operations. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process, unlike innovation that often is seen as a large, impactful change that happens quickly. Kaizen is more akin to small, incremental improvements that combine for massive changes.

EP# 052: Creating an Idea Factory

EP# 052: Creating an Idea Factory

An IDEA FACTORY is a deliberate and systematic virtual and physical space which teaches people how to develop ideas and apply them for continuous improvement. An IDEA FACTORY can be for individuals, groups or teams, organizations, or communities. The goal is for people to learn how to develop and apply ideas to solve problems, take advantage of opportunities, create new products, services, or businesses, or improve processes. Now more than ever, IDEA FACTORIES are needed during such a massive time of change.

EP# 051: Intrapreneurship

EP# 051: Intrapreneurship

In good times you should never blindly follow the herd. But this is even more relevant during bad times. As Albert Einstein famously said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result". To develop lasting competitive advantages and provide new, unexpected value for your customers, it is critical to think and act differently from your competitors. You have to reinvent the game. You need to become an intrapreneur.

EP# 050: Be a Contrarian

EP# 050: Be a Contrarian

In good times you should never blindly follow the herd. But this is even more relevant during bad times. As Albert Einstein famously said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result". To develop lasting competitive advantages and provide new, unexpected value for your customers, it is critical to think and act differently from your competitors. You have to reinvent the game.

A contrarian is someone does not mindlessly imitate the competition or follows popular opinion or practice. A contrarian challenges the conventional wisdom and "zigs when others zag". Dr. O discusses the importance of having a contrarian mindset and levering the tenets of Maneuver Warfare to succeed in business by confusing competitors and exciting customers.

EP# 049: No Time Like the Present

EP# 049: No Time Like the Present

As the lock-downs and self-quarantines continue, you should not be wasting this once in a lifetime opportunity to improve your mind, body and spirit. For many of us who are working from home, it is time to start preparing for when this horrible event is over and we can get back to some sense of normalcy. Don't waste this opportunity. Work to become the best you can be. Focus on excellence, adding value, and developing new ideas to improve yourself and your organization. Become a source of hope and inspiration within your teams. Focus on positivity and driving excellence. Think how you can come out of this closer to your customers and be the only choice. Zig while others zag, or are frozen by fear. Be the one everyone can count on to move forward, successfully. Times are scary, but we will get out of this. Make sure you are the one who is ready. Don't follow, lead.

EP# 048: The Time is NOW

EP# 048: The Time is NOW

It’s a crazy time right now. Millions of people are in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Thousands of businesses are on the verge of closing. Schools are closed and might not reopen for the rest of the year. With all this chaos and uncertainty, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to evaluate ourselves and our businesses. Though we should always be looking at ways to improve and develop new ways to bring value to our customers, most of us don’t bother until a crisis. And the crisis is here. No matter what you believe, things are going get worse before they get better. The time is NOW, to develop new ways to conduct business, keep your employees working, and most importantly keep your business running. Take a deep breath. Sit back and develop new ways to reimagine how to navigate the new normal. Even if things go back to the way they were, there will be some fundamental changes we need to plan for. Don’t waste this opportunity. Put down the game controller and turn off YouTube. It is time to put some brain power to rethink how to do business.

EP# 047: Rethink How You Think

EP# 047: Rethink How You Think

Solve Tough Problems Faster & More Creatively

Do you want to:

  • Create Strong Competitive Advantages?

  • Grow Your Product Platform?

  • Improve Customer Satisfaction?

  • Gain the Trust & Respect of Colleagues and Senior Executives?

If so, Rethink How You Think: Creative Problem Solving for Product Management is the book you’ve been searching for. With this comprehensive guide, you will be able to create new, innovative solutions to solve tough problems and develop new business opportunities!

Become a powerful thinker

Product managers must continuously solve a wide range of problems. Using the 4i™ System of Creative Problem Solving, you will combine five critical skills into a powerful problem-solving process.

  1. Market Research – Identify customer needs.

  2. Statistics – Use data to help support decision making.

  3. Creative Thinking – Create new ideas, anywhere, any time.

  4. Critical Thinking – Narrow your ideas to the most viable, feasible, and desirable.

  5. Decision Making – Make decisions faster with more confidence.

Dr. O has put these five skills together in an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use process using an A3 template to tell your “story” simply, visually, and convincingly. Many people (and organizations) think problems are negative. You will learn that problems are amazing opportunities to use a wide-range of thinking skills to outmaneuver competitors and create a fast-moving, highly innovative organization that focuses on continual improvement and lifelong learning.

EP# 046: Do, Doing, Done

EP# 046: Do, Doing, Done

Too many of us have chaotic lives. We try and juggle too many things and balance our work and personal lives. Many of us who are in product development jobs, typically have multiple projects happening at the same time. It is extremely valuable to have a system to organize all your work to ensure everything gets done, reduce stress, and most importantly keep work fun. In this episode, Dr. O shares some tips on how he is able to juggle multiple projects and have time to conduct field research while not falling behind. If you feel stressed and over worked, this episode will provide some possible solutions to help get things organized.

EP# 045: Fear and Loathing in India

EP# 045: Fear and Loathing in India

New experiences are the ingredients for creativity. And I try to have as many as possible. I love traveling, meeting new people, and challenging myself. With my new job and living in a new country, everyday is something new. And recently I had one of those “bucket list” experiences that was not just amazing, but terrifying, exhausting, and inspirational. I rode a motorcycle for about five days in India. With three other co-workers, we rode from Mumbai to Goa, on the west coast. 

New experiences are the ingredients for creativity. And I try to have as many as possible. I love traveling, meeting new people, and challenging myself. With my new job and living in a new country, everyday is
something new. And recently I had one of those “bucket list” experiences that was not just amazing, but terrifying, exhausting, and inspirational. I rode a motorcycle for about five days in India. With three other co-workers, we rode from Mumbai to Goa, on the west coast.

EP# 044: The Positive Revolution

EP# 044: The Positive Revolution

We are living in interesting times to say the least. More people are being lifted from poverty and ongoing technology and science innovations are changing lives for the better. As we live in a time of incredible wealth, longer lifespans, and unimaginable progress, we seem to be moving backwards in terms of morality, caring for others, and a sense of community. Due to the ability of those who hate and blame others having a strong voice via social media and various digital outlets, we are at a pivotal moment in time, to stop the progression backwards and move to a positive and more creative future. If we do not demand change and create change, we will continue to slide into a world based on hate, division, and isolation. It is time to change ourselves and help those around us. It's time for a Positive Revolution.

EP# 043: Though Shalt Innovate

EP# 043: Though Shalt Innovate

Israel is known as a hub for medical and computer technology, but the country has a long history of innovations in all fields. A great book Though Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World by Avi Jorisch shares stories of many unknown Israeli innovators who have changed the world. From a group of volunteer medics who save both Arab and Israeli lives, to the inventors of modern drip irrigation, to the beginnings of marijuana research, Jorisch not only describes amazing innovations from a small, resource-constrained country, but shows how people can work together and put aside stereotypes and religious hatred to make the world a better place. The stories demonstrate how persistence and determination can help create amazing ideas to change the world for the better.

EP# 042: I2I Travel

EP# 042: I2I Travel

In this episode I discuss my first trip to India and then onward to Milan, Italy for the 2019 EICMA motorcycle show. The importance of expanding your perspectives and gaining new experiences is critical for improving your creativity and developing new products and services. If you can only make it across town to a new restaurant or visit something new in your city or state, get out there and challenge yourself. The only way to improve yourself is to try new things, see new places, and meet strange and interesting people. Enjoy as I share my trips around the world.

EP# 041: Mindfulness

EP# 041: Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the direct practice of developing a calm mind. The key method to develop mindfulness is daily meditation. Like creative thinking, mindfulness is a skill that can be developed and improved through daily practice. And that practice is founded on mediation. The goal of mindfulness is to become patient, present in the moment, and calm. Anger, a typical emotion that we all encounter is a destructive reaction to perceptions created internally. As product development is typically a high-paced, stressful activity, anything we can do to improve how we respond to others, act in the face of conflict, or create new ideas needs to be a key part of our personal and professional toolbox. The benefits of daily mindfulness practice and a conscious effort to be patient and not anger is a critical goal to enjoy life.