Quick Notes

Brief, intermittent notes on mindsets and skill sets that help you become a more innovative and effective leader. Written to be easy to absorb and apply.

innovation and leadership insights

Conceptual Creativity

February 19, 2009

When someone says "I'm not creative" they often mean "I'm not artistic." Artistic creativity produces experiences that help us see or understand things in a new way. Conceptual creativity identifies new ways to meet an important challenge. Conceptual creativity is both new and relevant.

Conceptual creativity is the engine of business innovation. It helps us solve problems in new ways - often by integrating current knowledge with new concepts. When Henry Ford wanted a faster, cheaper way to make cars, he combined his knowledge of automobile production with concepts from meat packing (assembly lines), the US Army (interchangeable mechanical parts), and cigarette production (continuous-flow production).

Transportation expert Robin Chase combined wireless technology, fleet service and pay-as-you-go concepts to create Zipcar, an urban car sharing service. She built on the success of this venture by founding GoLoco (online ridesharing) and Buzzcar (p2p carsharing...

creative thinking

Your Leadership Wake

February 18, 2009

Back in 16C, singer, poet and dramatist Hans Sachs proclaimed, " People, when you do something, think of the end result; that is the wisest approach."

So, for centuries leaders have been working to "start with the end in mind."

Every interaction leaves an emotional aftermath. As a leader, the wake of your verbal and nonverbal communications is particularly strong. It becomes a big part of your leadership brand.

How do you want others to feel after spending time with you? What habits could you develop to create this kind of impact? This kind of interpersonal wake ripples out over every job you do, impacting the types of results others expect of you ... and are willing to create with you.

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leadership, values

Welcome to Quick Notes

February 18, 2009

My name is Tracy Fuller, I'm the Managing Director of COMPIO. In April 2008, I started experimenting with sending clients and colleagues brief, intermittent prompts for approaching their work more creatively and effectively. My goal was to stay loosely in touch by sharing simple, actionable ways to continuously increase their effectiveness. These "Quick Notes" were very well received and their distribution list grew. Recipients often emailed me feedback and their own ideas. Then they started requesting prior Quick Notes to send to others. As the requests grew, I decided to start this blog to create a searchable bank of past and current Quick Notes. There's also a "Subscribe to Quick Notes" box you can use if you'd like new Quick Notes emailed directly to your inbox. You'll notice that new Quick Notes are intermittantly posted every several weeks. You're busy, I'm busy and I only create them when I run across an approach...