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Did you know that there are two different ways of thinking: divergent and convergent? Neither did I until I picked up a preview of Paul Sloane’s new book entitled ‘How to Be A Brilliant Thinker’.

Sloane explains that ‘convergent thinking’ is our normal state, which involves examining, criticising and analysing a concept and its consequences or outcomes when we hear it. Too many of us use and rely on this in everyday life, which has been shown in an experiment by psychologist Wason (I attempted to explain this in this blog post however I don’t believe I can put it any simpler than in the book chapter!). The experiment basically showed that students had a set of beliefs and assumptions, and we look for evidence to confirm these all the time instead of questioning them. For example, if we have a belief that all squirrels are grey we are more likely to go out and find more squirrels that are grey (and confirm our belief) rather than looking for squirrels that are different colours.

‘Divergent thinking’ on the other hand is more of a spread of ideas. This involves stretching our imagination and making wild, seemingly unrelated connections between two ideas. It’s basically us accepting that in fact there may be squirrels of a different colour rather than believing that only grey squirrels exist. It allows us to use our imagination to explore all sorts of new possibilities.

I felt that the first chapter of the book was very interesting and I enjoyed how he included elements (although rather complex) of cognitive psychology, science and music examples to illustrate his points however I do feel it could have been a lot sharper and more concise.

Now that I know about these different types of thinking, I am looking forward to borrowing the book out of the library and learning about how I can adopt divergent thinking in everyday life.

- Kirsty Russell

'How To Be a Brilliant Thinker: Exercise Your Mind and Find Creative Solutions'
by Paul Sloane
Published by Kogan Page (3rd Jan 2010)
ISBN-10: 0749455063
ISBN-13: 978-0749455064
Picture:  A participant at a workshop exploring divergent thinking by drawing with a marker pen on a flipchart, with thanks to Chris_Corrigan for publishing on Flickr under a creative comms license with some right reserved.

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Adopt a New Way of Thinking

Spend the morning of Monday March 22nd with renowned speaker and author Paul Sloane at the magnificent Glazier's Hall in London. Paul wrote The Innovative Leader and 18 other books on lateral thinking, innovation and leadership. Clients for his workshops include Bayer, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Shell.
The morning is a mixture of talks, interactive workshop modules and question and answer sessions. It is highly interactive and participative. You will learn practical creative thinking methods that you can put into immediate use for you and your team. It is ideal for busy executives who want to improve their personal effectiveness or to accelerate the creativity and innovation of their teams.

What will you learn as an individual?

* The 7 lateral habits of highly innovative leaders.
* 5 ways to generate radical ideas for your business.
* 3 ways to evaluate and select the best ideas.
* How to boost your personal creativity.
* How to turn creative thinking into new products and services.

What will you learn to benefit your organisation?

* What is impeding innovation in your organisation and actions you can take to fix this.
* How to build a culture of creative entrepreneurship.
* How to run dynamic and effective brainstorms.
* How to set the vision, goals and metrics for innovation in your business.
* How agile, innovative companies tackle the problems you face.

Agenda

9.30 - 9.45 Registration - Tea and Coffee
9.45 - 11.15 Innnovation and Lateral Thinking
11.15 - 11.30 Break - Networking, Tea and Coffee
11.30 - 12.40 Putting Innovation into Practice
12.40 End

If you want to take advantage of the early bird discount then you have just a few days left to book a place for you or a colleague on this workshop on Monday March 22nd. The seminar costs just £99 + VAT if you book by Feb 22. Thereafter it costs £150 + VAT. We send an invoice and you can pay by cheque, paypal or bank transfer. The price includes: 1. Seminar 2. Workbook 3. Refreshments.

For more information and details of how to book, please click here.

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Event: Brush Up On Your Lateral Thinking