How to Be a Brilliant Thinker

by Sloane, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780749455064
• ISBN10: 0749455063
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-28
• Publisher: Kogan Page Ltd

Summary

Leading speaker on innovation and creativity Paul Sloane helps readers think in powerful new ways. It shows how to harness techniques in lateral thinking, analytical thinking, problem analysis, idea generation, and other areas to become more creative. Readers will be able to conceive, evaluate and implement great ideas as well as improve their memory, sell their ideas, and win arguments. The book is packed with practical methods to put to immediate use, backed up by exercises, puzzles, quizzes, graphics, and illustrations.

Author Biography

Paul Sloane is an experienced speaker, course leader and facilitator as well as a leading author of lateral thinking puzzles. He speaks and gives workshops on innovation and creative thinking to corporations around the world. He has written The Leaders Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills and The Innovative Leader, both published by Kogan Page.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
The need for different thinking	p. 1
Consider the opposite	p. 6
Confront assumptions	p. 10
Analyse problems	p. 15
The path to the ideal	p. 16
Why, Why?	p. 16
Six serving men	p. 8
Lotus blossom	p. 9
Summary	p. 19
Ask questions	p. 21
Think in combinations	p. 26
Parallel thinking	p. 30
think creatively	p. 35
Think laterally	p. 39
Think what no one else thinks	p. 44
Evaluate ideas	p. 47
Selection criteria	p. 47
Triage	p. 49
Group evaluation methods	p. 50
Make difficult decision	p. 52
Pair rankings	p. 54
Develop your verbal thinking	p. 60
GEt a good dictionary and thesaurus	p. 61
Read	p. 62
Capture new words	p. 63
Write, rewrite and edit	p. 64
Play with words	p. 64
Listen to yourself	p. 65
Take the verbal intelligence questionnaire	p. 64
Think mathematically	p. 67
Get to grips with probability	p. 73
Think visually	p. 79
Questionnaire on visual thinking	p. 82
answers to the questions	p. 83
Develop your emotional intelligence	p. 86
Self-awarencess	p. 87
self-management	p. 88
social awareness	p. 89
Relationship management	p. 91
Be a brilliant conversationalist	p. 92
Ask questions	p. 92
Listen	p. 93
Give compliments	p. 94
Use names	p. 94
Keep up to date on topical issues	p. 94
Be humorous	p. 95
Speak clearly	p. 96
Enjoy it	p. 96
Win arguments	p. 97
Dos, don'ts and sneaky tactics	p. 97
Questionnaire	p. 102
ponder	p. 103
Listen	p. 103
Slow down your life	p. 104
Prioritize	p. 105
Declutter	p. 105
Delay some decisions	p. 106
Incubate	p. 106
Meditate	p. 107
Allocate time for reflection	p. 107
Maximize your memory	p. 109
Memory pegging techniques	p. 111
The virtual journey	p. 114
Mnemonics	p. 116
Remembering numbers	p. 116
Remembering names	p. 116
Experiment, fail and learn	p. 119
Questionnarie on learning from mistakes	p. 120
Tell stories	p. 124
Think humorously	p. 128
Think positively	p. 131
Set goals	p. 136
Priortize and focus	p. 140
Handling your to-do list	p. 142
Turn thinking into action	p. 145
Why procrastination is dangerous	p. 45
Ask yourself' Why am I stuck?	p. 146
It is all right not to know	p. 146
Don't wait for perfection	p. 146
Phone a friend	p. 147
Remind yourself of the benefits	p. 148
Do something-get into motion	p. 148
Set goals	p. 149
Share your goals and actions	p. 149
Pause, don't stop	p. 149
Mentally rehearse and then act	p. 150
Take the procrastination questionnaire	p. 150
Common thinking errors	p. 51
The Availability error	p. 151
Mistaking the cause	p. 154
The gambler'ls fallacy	p. 155
The confirmation bias	p. 156
Clustering illusion	p. 156
Cognitive biases	p. 156
Boost your brain	p. 159
Games for brilliant thinkers	p. 166
Summary-a checklist for the brilliant thinker	p. 169
Answers	p. 173
References and further reading	p. 174
Index	p. 176
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