Mr Hyde's Other Notebook

Warning - It's addictive. NASA TV

I guess all Creativity & Innovation speakers and writers have an interest in NASA and the Space Program. So many wonderful stories, examples and metaphores that can be applied in all sorts of different fields.

With last weeks success of the Phoenix spacecraft landing near the north pole of Mars for a 90-day digging mission and today's launch of the Shuttle Discovery heading up to the International Space Station to drop off a new module for Japan and some much needed plumbing parts for the malfunctioning toilet,  interest in all things "space" is booming.

Two ways to really get involved.

1/ NASA TV  - Warning it's very addictive. Live feeds from Mission Control, The Shuttle and Space Station.

http://www.nasa.tv/



2/ Send Your Name Into Space

The launch of the Keplar Mission in early 2009 gives you another opportunity to be immortalised in space.
The spacecraft that will go into orbit around the sun and will search for habitable planets like our own, will carry a DVD with thousands of names on it, one of which is mine. You can join in too...(and get a certificate to prove it)

http://kepler.nasa.gov/







 

When were you most creative?

So, at what point in your life were you at your most creative?

It's often argued that it's when we are young, when every thing is possible.
We could still be an astronaut, explorer or brilliant footballer if we wanted to.

Then somehow the walls close in and reality is imposed upon us.
As the saying goes ...

"we enter school as a question mark and leave as a full stop."

One of the strategies I've been teaching people in both my KeyNotes and Workshops
around the country is to find a photo of themselves at that age. And put it on your desk
or on the wall of their workstation or cubicle.

Most people just have photos of their own children, their pets, their cars or their partner.

Why not a picture of you back then, when your attitudes were different.
When anything was still possible!

And ask yourself every day ...

"would the child I was back then, be happy with who I have grown into?"
















(TH at Kelburn School, 1961 ?)

Sleight of Mind - Reviews

The reviews are starting to come in for Sleight of Mind - Kick Start your Creativity

Here's what New Zealand's most prolific author, Richard Webster, said after he completed the 7 Steps

"I loved "Sleight of Mind!  I'm in the idea business,
and this is by far the best idea generator I've found.

I did the entire course following your instructions
and was amazed at how many ideas I generated. 
Congratulations on writing such a concise,
yet comprehensive, course on the subject."

Book Details Here

(P.S.  What makes Richard Webster New Zealand's most prolific author, 93 published titles!)

Esafe Expo - Integral Energy

Thought you might enjoy this shot I took at the giant ESafe Expo held at Rose Hill Racecourse over the last 2 days. Hosted by Integral Energy it's an Expo and Field Day for people who work in the Electricity Industry all over NSW.

My job was MC over the two days and it was a lot of fun, especially running the outside simulations. The shot below is from the Switchboard Fire emergency scenario. A highly controlled stunt featured a stunt man setting himself on fire by tripping out a Switchboard and his two work mates controlling the situation with a dry fire blanket and then a backup extinguisher. The outside demo's including a simulated plane crash pulled big crowds on both days of the expo.

Shared Services Awards Dinner

One of the great joys of my business, is that every week is different. No time for boredom here, as I work with different clients in many different industries.

Pleased to work with the global IQPC organisation for the second time last week, providing MC Duties and a short "Magic of the Mind" performance at their Shared Services Awards Dinner.

Sleight of Mind - Kickstart your Creativity

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days but we have been working hard on getting the new book into shape.

If you want to get hold of a draft copy you can, it's not the finished product but all the content and bonuses are there now.  You'll need to go in via the Brainstorming page and sign up for the newsletter, before you can even see the details, but you'll then be offered the extra special offer. I'll be working on a less convoluted process down the track.      http://www.brilliantbrainstorming.com

Marketing Plan Workbook - free

I like to recommend a few free resources in this blog and today's is a terrific downloadable Marketing Plan workbook. You can also get an Audio MP3 that talks you through the book. Highly recommended.  DETAILS HERE

Masters in Business Innovation

If you missed the terrific "Masters in Innovation" proposal article that Jim Carroll posted in his blog some time ago, he's just made it available again as a pdf here.

Or you can visit his site here to learn more about it first.

http://www.jimcarroll.com/weblog/archives/000899.html#000899

Houdini - Creative Thinking

Another treasure from the collection today. A rare Harry Houdini postcard I picked up at a Sydney antique shop for just a few dollars many years ago. A similar one hit nearly a 4 figure sum when it was auctioned recently in the USA.

Interestingly my passion of both Magic and Creative Thinking collide nicely with Houdini.

I mean "Thinking outside the Box" was his life long work and one of his feature tricks!

One of the Houdini quotes I use in both my keynote and Creative Thinking Workshop is

"My mind is the Key that will set me free."

   

Innovation Scoreboard 2007

Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and UK are the most innovative EU countries and ahead of the US

The yearly European Innovation Scoreboard has added Australia to it's benchmarking this year so I thought it may be of interest to many of my readers. Unfortunately it doesn't make great reading!

Based on their innovation performance, the countries included in the EIS 2007 fall into the following country groups:

• The innovation leaders include Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. Sweden is the most innovative country, largely due to strong innovation inputs although it is less efficient than some other countries in transforming these into innovation outputs.
• The innovation followers include Austria,      Belgium, Canada, France,      Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg,      and the Netherlands.
• The moderate innovators include Australia,      Cyprus, Czech Republic,      Estonia, Italy, Norway,      Slovenia and Spain.
• The catching-up countries include Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia. Turkey currently performs below the other countries.

The full report can be seen here.