Author Archives: Neil Wadhwa

5 Effective Brainstorming Techniques – Let Your Ideas Flow:

Group brainstorming sessions can be great spaces of collaboration where innovative products and cost-cutting services are born from that one, wild idea. Free-flowing idea generation can turn the most rigid of boardrooms into a space where, for a moment, the dress shoes become unlaced and tossed aside.

In 7 Tips on Better Brainstorming, the team behind OpenIDEO shares their advice for effective brainstorming in traditional group settings. Here are few ways to get your ideas flowing in no time.

1. Don’t Limit Your Ideas

Brainstorming is best when we can think freely and come up with wild ideas. It allows us to think about what we really want if we didn’t have to worry about things like technology restrictions or costs. Encourage the wild ideas, as any road bumps you encounter are just opportunities to build new technologies or software that can help deliver them.

Brainstorming for an hour and walking away with only 2 or 3 ideas may be a sign that too much time is being spent on dissecting, debating, and over-analyzing ideas during the brainstorming process.

2. Build. Build More.

Ideas beget ideas. By encouraging an environment free from judgment, it allows everyone to speak their mind and let the ideas flow in an uninhibited manner.

You can foster a judgment free zone by mastering the skill of the skill of saying “and” instead of “but” when building upon someone else’s idea. The word “but” is normally used to introduce an objection, whereas “and” shows that you have an open mind to an idea. It allows you to keep building while still being able to pose questions and provocations, and make everyone feel like their ideas are valued.

3. Quantity Counts

Generate as many ideas as you can. Brainstorming for an hour and walking away with only 2 or 3 ideas may be a sign that too much time is being spent on dissecting, debating, and over-analyzing ideas during the brainstorming process. While that’s certainly important, you should really start refining only once you have a large bank of ideas to choose from, or during a second session dedicated to fleshing out your ideas further. Continue reading →

Reaching Your Full Potential: Tips From A Stanford Psychologist

Neil Wadhwa

Let’s get this out of the way: you’re talented. How far you tap into your inborn talents, however, all depends on the attitude and mindset you bring to your creative work, and how you choose to work with those around you.

Psychologist Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology for Success, believes that if you feel your talent can grow based on the amount of effort you put in, your potential is limitless.

Providing feedback is an easy way to facilitate growth in your co-workers – as long as you focus on the process.

The term for this is “growth mindset,” and is just one of the topics she discussed when she sat down for an interview with Jocelyn Glei. Here’s what else Carol has to say about the relationship between a growth mindset and your personal prosperity.

A “Fixed Mindset” Will Hold You Back

As children, we’re fearless. We believe we can do anything, and our creativity knows no bounds. But at a certain age this slows down, and even stops, as we begin to think of mistakes as failures.

This fear of failure permeates all aspects of our lives, and results in a “fixed mindset,” which is Carol’s term for people who believe that they only have a certain amount of limited ability. People with a fixed mindset are concerned with appearing “smart” at all times, and believe that talent comes naturally – and if they don’t believe they’re smart or talented, they won’t step out of their comfort zone to try and learn or develop. They effectively put a cap on their growth.

Having a “Growth Mindset” Means Embracing the Struggle

Have you ever pushed forward with a project in your personal or professional life in which you had no previous experience? It can be challenging at times, but with a growth mindset you embrace the effort required, understand that it may not come easy, and move forward. You’re determined to succeed, and no challenge can stop you.

This is the core difference between having a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Those with a fixed mindset approach the same project, question their ability, and stop before ever getting started. Continue reading →

5 Bad Career Tips – Time to Toss These Out

Neil Wadhwa

We often hear helpful advice on ways to advance in our professional careers. How you can make your resume stand out, be more productive, and enhance your communication skills are just a few examples we’ve discussed in the past. Now we need to take a different approach: it’s time to retire outdated advice that’s still floating around.

In 6 Career Tips You Should Put In The Shredder, author Molly Cain shares career advice that you should avoid at all costs. Let’s take a look at what you should hang in the rafters immediately.

Attempting to stay at one company forever also presents a plethora of other issues. You only understand one type of company culture, one type of technology, one organizational structure, and you’re trained in only one kind of pay scale.

“Your Resume Should be One Page”

If you’ve been working long enough, you know how hard it is to list all your work experience, accomplishments, and education on one page. If you start to delete important information, manipulate font sizes, and use slang, it may be time to embrace the second page.

On the flipside, if you’ve been working for a few years but don’t have enough for the second page, don’t panic. Forcing your resume to look bigger by adding false information or “fluff” is only going to make your resume look weaker to potential employers. You’ll eventually reach the second page given more time and experience.

“Find a Company You Can Stay at Forever”

Working at one company for the rest of your life may have been possible 30 years ago, but in today’s economy you can’t handcuff yourself to one company forever. “It used to be safe to put all your faith into one company for your entire life,” says Cain, “but it’s not anymore.”

Attempting to stay at one company forever also presents a plethora of other issues. You only understand one type of company culture, one type of technology, one organizational structure, and you’re trained in only one kind of pay scale.

“Don’t Negotiate”

The first offer is the first offer. If you’ve been offered a job or a promotion and aren’t satisfied with the terms, you can, and should, negotiate and counter-offer. You know what you’re worth and what you can bring to the company; by accepting without negotiating, you may be settling for a lowball offer. Continue reading →

5 Quick Tips for Good Communication Skills

Neil Wadhwa

Between Twitter and text messaging, the emphasis placed on strong communication skills has taken a hit over the past few years. But this doesn’t mean you can carry over the same relaxed approach in professional settings. In face-to-face situations, nothing can make you stand out more than the way you effectively communicate with those around you.

Great communicators ask questions, explore other’s ideas, and make an effort to understand all sides of an issue.

(Unless, of course, you’re Gregg Popovich.)

Don’t let your message get lost in a wave of “uh’s” and “umm’s”. Let’s take a closer look at a few points outlined in 5 Habits of Effective Communicators that will make you a killer communicator in no time.

1. Just the Facts

“Good communicators stay rooted in facts,” states article author Leo McLeod. Adding pieces to the conversation that aren’t based in reality only compound the existing difficulties with communicating effectively.

Instead of telling people that, “she has it out for me,” get to the root of the problem and refrain from adding the unnecessary colour commentary in your conversations. By sticking with the facts, you can also help separate the terrific ideas from the terrible.

2. Strategically Use Silence

Conversations may become diluted as each person talks, but neither takes the time to really listen. You can build better dialogue by leveraging moments of silence – absorbing and thinking through what’s being said before responding.

Allowing for moments of silence also helps the speaker organize their thoughts without feeling rushed, and shows them that you value their ideas and conversation.

3. Actively Engage the Other Point of View

To become a great communicator, you need to understand that people come from different walks of life, and their experiences have shaped their point of view. In some cases, these experiences and indicators may not be physical (e.g. beliefs, assumptions, and cultural influences), making the barrier to effective communication even more difficult. Continue reading →