Blog
Inventor’s Spotlight – Woman Inventor – Margaret Knight
I'll never forget the day I got a call from someone who was shocked that a woman had invented the wrist water bottle. We should be so far beyond that in our society, but the fact that fewer than 15% of all patents are issued to women proves that we still have a long...
Maximize Innovation With a Creative Office Space
What do flowers, plants and waterfalls have to do with innovation? A lot, according to an eight month study conducted by Texas A & M University. The study found that offices that included plants, flowers and waterfalls caused women to become more flexible and...
Inventor’s Spotlight – Frederick Walton
It's hard to image that at one time people walked on bare boards in their homes. Rugs had been around for centuries, but a mass-produced, easy to clean floor covering didn't exist until the mid 1800's. That was until British inventor, Frederick Walton, invented and...
Women Scientists and Engineers as Inventors
The first creativity workshop I ever put on was for a group of women engineers. Years later I'm still an innovation keynote speaker for many conferences of engineers and scientists. They're not only able to come up with great ideas, but they also know how to make...
Innovative Sales Rep Turned Accidental Inventor
Invention ideas can come from a variety of places. Sometimes inventions are forced by sheer necessity, and sometimes they happen purely by accident. Door-to-door salesman Edwin Cox became an accidental inventor after coming up with an innovative sales technique...
Inventors Spotlight – Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is best known for the Gettysburg Address and for abolishing slavery, but did you know he is also the only President to be an inventor and patent holder? In 1849 he filed a patent for a device that would help lift riverboats over sandbars, and two...
Why Creativity Gets Better With Age
Aging, in general, gets a bad rap. Though it's true that as you age your body slowly goes through changes and all vital organs begin to lose some of their function. A seventy year old may not be able to compete physically with a twenty year old in a marathon, but...
The Innovator Behind “A Christmas Carol”
The story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley has withstood the test of time since 1843. The classic novella written by Charles Dickens, cuts to the heart of even the most jaded, and brings a ray of hope that the Christmas...
Does Your Company Have an Innovation Plan?
The innovation industry, like any other industry, is full of buzz words. People like to latch on to the latest academic sounding terms and have lengthy discussions about them. This all sounds impressive, but the bottom line is "what is your company doing about it?"...