Problem Solving
Generate brilliant ideas by relaxing your cognitive filters
Your brain is bursting with ideas, and most of them are … weird. You only have to recall the wonderfully bonkers notions of your childhood. Like the time you wanted […]
The Four A’s of visual intelligence
Looking probably isn’t something you need to practice. People believe they can apprehend a painting at a glance. They read coworkers’ messages and assume they understand a situation. Or they […]
Want to boost your problem-solving skills? Tune out to hone in.
Problem-solving skills are in demand. Every job posting lists them under must-have qualifications, and every job candidate claims to possess them, par excellence. Young entrepreneurs make solutions to social and […]
Want to tap into the power of simplicity? You must first define.
People admire complexity. Many attribute it to the work of superior minds, those with the skills or intelligence to wrangle challenging ideas into a workable—if not always comprehensible—whole. This esteem […]
Shipwrecked: Leadership lessons from history’s famous castaways
It’s the early 20th century, and you are the captain of a ship. A barquentine specifically—three masts and a coal-burning steam engine in her belly. She’s a sturdy and capable […]
5 important lessons from women business leaders
In recent years, women have made incredible strides in the business world. Forty-one women currently lead Fortune 500 companies. While that remains an unacceptably low percentage (8 percent) overall, it […]
Don’t let your business become anti-human: Watch for these 2 dangers.
Anti-human business practices deteriorate their charges, and there’s perhaps no greater warning of this end result than the life of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. Nobel invented dynamite in 1867 with […]
6 laws for strategic networking
History is not the story of great people directing the course of the world. It’s about networks. Sure, great people may have had an outsized pull on certain events. But […]
History can help us face today’s challenges (Yes, even in 2021)
Even a year like 2020 couldn’t prepare Americans for the first few weeks of 2021. The year’s opening act was a siege on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of […]
The Best of the Best: Big Think+ in 2020
For many, 2020 will not be remembered as a “best of” much. We don’t need to repeat the reasons here; it’s sufficient to point out that a 100-year pandemic was […]
Thought experiments: A surefire way to stretch your team’s creativity
Quick! There’s a runaway train on the tracks. Some dastardly evildoer has knocked the driver out cold and tied five people to the tracks ahead. The train is barreling down […]
6 steps for building your innovation prototyping kit
Writers, filmmakers, and mythologizing biographers tend to imagine innovation originates with a lone genius who has “the spark,” that light-bulb moment when the path from inspiration to world-altering invention reveals […]
Innovate like a venture capitalist: Drive your digital transformation with the 10-5-4-1 Model.
Every organization needs the capacity to generate disruptive ideas. No one can afford to stand still and pretend that past habits will guarantee future success. If your organization isn’t ready […]
Need an agile team? Call in the 3 types of connectors.
We love a good heist movie, but our favorite part is not the caper. It’s building the team. The brilliant thief—just out of jail to do one more job, he […]
Is your business ready for the next black swan? Watch for these 2 signals.
Let’s talk about swans. All swans are birds or, more specifically, waterfowl. They are large and sport long, slender necks. They migrate south for the winter, traveling in that eye-catching […]
The unexpected secret to strong leadership? Humility.
One of Socrates’s best-known claims was that “I know that I know nothing.” It’s no fluke that this quote has survived more than 2,000 years or that Socrates is nearly […]
Creative collaboration: How to get your team to bring their A-game
“Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.” In her Big Think+ video, “Empower Your People — Conversational Moves for Engaging Your Team in Creative […]
3 public speaking tips guaranteed to lift your game
Should you find yourself speaking to a group of people and not connecting, you’re stuck in a situation that seemingly benefits no one. For some people it seems to come […]
Bryan Cranston: How to manage opportunity when time is precious
After his breakout performance as Breaking Bad’s Walter White — and after playing dad Hal in Malcolm in the Middle — it might seem that Bryan Cranston’s always been as […]
A 4-step method for problem solving, inspired by Sherlock Holmes
The way in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes solves even the most challenging of mysteries is more than just dazzling fun. In fact, says Maria Konnikova, author […]
Elastic thinking: Can you solve this famous puzzle?
“Everything in society today that can be solved by straightforward analysis gets solved immediately,” says Leonard Mlodinow, theoretical physicist and author of Elastic. Unfortunately, many problems aren’t that simple. To work […]
Chris Voss: Close deals like an FBI negotiator
Negotiating is often a white-knuckle affair, but the stakes are rarely higher than when the FBI is trying to come to terms with a kidnapper. Chris Voss, now CEO of […]
For growth, identify what’s fixed and what’s flexible
For a startup, growth is a straightforward matter of scaling up: adding employees, setting up distribution channels, and so on. But, says David Butler in his Big Think+ video “Design […]
5-year plan? How about a 500-year plan?
Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, is a programmer. When he got the idea to begin posting free online classes, he was able to get the basic infrastructure in place […]
Negotiation 101: Master research, empathy, and stagecraft
Journalist Ronan Farrow says he’s not a great negotiator, but he’s certainly had a unique opportunity to see how one works. Just out of law school, he was recruited by […]
China’s economy: The good, the bad, and the future
Weijian Shan, chairman of the PAG group, sees a bright future for investors in China, as long as they understand the evolving nature of the country’s economic growth. Though China’s […]
The 3 phases of crisis management, with risk expert David Ropeik
The first response to big, bad news is likely to be widespread panic — it’s human nature. Yet, says risk communication expert David Ropeik, you can actually strengthen a team’s […]
Build resilience like a Navy SEAL. Step 1: Run a S.W.O.T analysis.
Brent Gleeson is a business consultant, author, and former Navy SEAL. In that last role, he’s learned about the importance of resiliency when working through challenges. He’s not just talking […]
Accountability isn’t a buzzword. It’s a life raft when projects fail.
Executive coach Alisa Cohn, in her Big Think+ video, “Understand Ownership and Accountability: What It Means to Be In Charge When Things Go Wrong,” uses her experience with a company […]
Don’t lose employees to the blame game. Conquer failure together.
Failures are going to happen. That’s just the way things are. Beyond the thing that didn’t quite manage to work out, though, there’s more that can go off the rails, […]