Blog

Creativity Keynote Speaker

Hiring for Innovation

Jan 10, 2020

With all of the businesses I’ve run I can’t remember ever asking anyone for a resume. Of course I want to know that the person can do the job, but I’m much more interested in other qualities, like creativity, curiosity and enthusiasm. If someone comes in for a job...

How a Child’s Curiosity Transformed the Camera

Jan 2, 2020

I've noticed that many inventors came up with their ideas while on vacation, including my own invention, the wrist water bottle. There are probably a few reasons for that. For one, you are usually more relaxed and have more free time to simply stop and smell the...

Problem Solving in the Building Code Industry

Dec 30, 2019

Last week I was the innovation keynote speaker for the FL Building Officials Emerging Tech Conference on problem solving in the building code industry. I wasn't sure building code officials had a lot of leeway to be innovative, but it turns out government...

The Ability to Make Boring Things Interesting

Dec 8, 2019

I've never understood the concept of being bored. As an inventor and innovator that's not even in my vocabulary. Inventors are infinitely curious about the world around them. So even the topics that might seem boring are interesting to a person with diversive...

How a Toy Innovation Created a System of Play

Dec 2, 2019

In a day when kids have access to all kinds of digital toys, one old school, low tech toy innovation still exists today... LEGO, with their patented "system of play". It started in the workshop of businessman and carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen. The business, which...

Safety Inventions

Oct 23, 2019

I was the innovation keynote speaker this week for the St. Louis Safety Conference on the topic of safety inventions and I realized this is one of the most important industries for inventors. A great safety invention could save lives and ultimately change the world....

The Role of Serendipity in Innovation

Oct 6, 2019

I often speak about the role of serendipity in innovation as an innovation keynote speaker. Many products inventors come up with are "happy accidents", a word coined by English writer Horace Walpole in 1754. In the fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip", the king...

Accidental Innovation – The Microwave Oven

Sep 25, 2019

Many of the inventions we have now started out as accidents. One accidental innovation was the microwave oven. We take it for granted when we want a quick cooked meal, popcorn or a warmed over slice of pizza from the night before. It's easy to wonder how we ever lived...

Innovation in Nature – How Shrimp Can Save Lives and Planet

Aug 19, 2019

As a futurist and innovation keynote speaker I like to make innovation simple and easily accessible so that anyone can do it. Nothing is more accessible than nature, yet the vastness of what's possible in innovation through biomimicry, (using nature to solve problems)...