Inspiration and imagination are part of what Einstein called the "sacred gift." Without it, an individual can go through life much like a robot or drone.

Inspiration is like a blast of fresh air upon leaving a smoke-filled room. Unfortunately, unlike opening a door to get fresh air, it's...

In mid-summer of 2012, I was invited to bring my methodology on innovation to a group of gifted teachers meeting in a classroom at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. The program, underwritten by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was sponsored by an...

Most business people operate inside the proverbial "box" most of the time. As we age, our brains become increasingly more ingrained into familiar patterns and routines. We get comfortable in this place. I've noticed this pattern over my own thirty-year business career across five different industries.

In strategic planning sessions...

"Higher education is not worth the higher cost" is the response I received from China to a blog piece I had written earlier this summer. I was somewhat surprised to have touched a nerve on the other side of the world.

Making his case was the son of two Chinese...

College tuition costs have more than doubled, even after adjusting for inflation, over the past two decades. Peter Thiel's Foundation is actually paying students to drop out of college to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Are we reaching a break point? Does the value proposition of spending...

Seems like a lofty proposition, right? First of all, we're assuming that there is a "genius inside" worth unlocking. Secondly, this "genius" must also be accessible at will. My research suggests that both assumptions are true: we all have our genius equivalent and we all can indeed unlock the creative...

"Carnage" was the term Joe Carbone used in a recent 60 Minutes interview to describe the current state of the unemployed in the state of Connecticut where he heads the unemployment division. He expressed shock that our country as a whole has not banded together to put maximum efforts into...

"Think Different" was the (grammatically incorrect) mantra and slogan that Steve Jobs brought to Apple. It proved to be more than a slogan; it actually worked. How did he do it?

If Jobs' creativity could be reproduced, every board of directors in the world eventually would want to claim the...

"Think outside the box," over the years has become somewhat of a cliché itself, an ironical twist for an over-used phrase originally designed to encourage creative thinking among problem solvers in all fields. And yet the need for creative thinking is extremely relevant today as we find ourselves stymied by...

"What lessons had I learned over the past thirty years?" was the
writing exercise I undertook before I could begin the arduous process of writing a second book in my reinvented life as non-CEO.

As I frequently do these days, I used my right brain writing technique to delve...

Are Republicans bluffing? Or are they okay with allowing our nation to default on our debt by not reaching an agreement on the debt ceiling? Is this the message politicians want to give to the country and the rest of the world? You don't have to be financially...

"What makes us human?" "How does the cortex work?" "What is the thalamus interested in paying attention to?"

These were the answers I got when I asked three prominent neuroscientists what question they would like answered. These three are making an important contribution to the field of neuroscience, and...

Twelve years ago, I read "Recovery of Your Inner Child." The book opened up a whole new world for me. Technically, it was my right brain (the creative, intuitive, instinctive hemisphere) that I opened up. It was like turning on the proverbial light switch. More than any self-help book I...

In case you don't know what "DOMA" is, it is the legislation titled, "Defense of Marriage Act," enacted in 1996. DOMA enshrines discrimination against gays and lesbians by permitting states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Does DOMA matter? If you're in a heterosexual...

The landmark, bipartisan, and Congressional action I witnessed the president sign last week may prove to be the tipping point when it comes to gay rights in America. The sense of optimism and hope were truly palpable amongst the several hundred at the signing ceremony.

My gut told me...

You never recover from losing a family member to suicide. I know from personal experience, my brother committed suicide at 23.

Teen suicides act as a mirror to our society. Teens take their cues about life, identity, purpose and social value from parents, society at large and too often from...

How do kids in public schools spend their two million minutes from K-12? Are they getting a good education? Is our public school system broken? Worse, was it just not that good in the first place? Some contend it is delivering on the original intention--childcare, rather than education: so parents...

Do bankers lend money to those who don't need it? The topic was the so-called 'Equity Gap in America.' The assembled group pointed to the difficulty nonprofits who have been around less than five years have in seeking working capital to fund their enterprises.

They were primarily a group...

"On the battlefield its how you fight that matters not who you sleep with" according to a senior officer in the U.K. forces. While our country awaits a resolution to the outdated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and presumably "Do Lie" policy currently in force with the military, I asked my...

Combine tragedy, political opportunists and amnesia of past history; what do you get?... an oil spill that can be spun to tar the Obama Administration. Since we are a country that wants to blame the current presidential administration for all that is right and wrong with the country; it...