Category: Innovation

Innovation, Personal Growth

Learning How Our Brain Learns, Unlearns and Learns Again

I stumbled upon this amazing video which I think clearly articulates how our brain works, with respect to learning new skills. Before I share what I learnt from the video, I will strongly recommend that you watch the video first. What I learnt from watching the video: Our brains are lazy in a way. Brains are engaged when we try to learn something and once we do, ie, we create a neural pathway, it starts using that pathway for that task as a default without giving it any other thought, until it perceives a threat in continuing to using the […]

Ideas, Innovation, Strategy

Feeling Stuck When Solving a Complex Problem?

When we are working on a complex problem and are stuck, one the best ways to find inspiration to unstuck ourselves is to move away from our regular environment where we got stuck to a different novel environment. Here is a great post from IDEO university that talks about an activity that could help us find inspiration outside our context – https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/an-activity-to-help-you-find-inspiration-outside-your-context. The post talks about a three-step process: Step 1: Start with Emotions Step 2: Identify Analogous Experiences Step 3: Reflect and Connect This is one way to find inspiration. We could also find inspiration to solve a complex problem […]

Ideas, Innovation, Marketing

Lessons from Apple and the Swiss Watch makers

Premise: I read this post that shared the fact that in the previous quarter, Apple sold more watches than all Swiss watch makers put together. I personally think that this is a pivot point in the watch industry and there is a lot that other entrenched players can learn from how the Swiss watch makers missed the plot.  Why is this important: Typically, the Swiss watch makers are considered to be the best watch makers with brands like TagHeuer, Rolex, Breitling, etc coming out from there. It took decades of innovations and millions of dollars in advertising for the Swiss […]

Innovation, Podcast

PBTO S2E4: Rethinking Vertical Movement Inside a Building

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Who is on the show: In this episode we host architect and product designer Elena Larriba. She works at the intersection between art, science and design. Her curiosity leads her to investigate new concepts, technologies and techniques which she blends together in novel experiments merging engineering, design and craft. Why is she on the show: She is the designer of a vertical movement product called Vycle, which is a hybrid version of a cycle and an elevator and can be used for vertical movement. She has since this conversation gone on to create a lot more interesting products. What did I […]

Innovation, transformation

Mime Artists & A City’s Transformation

I came across a story that could potentially be a Hollywood blockbuster. This is the story of a mayor who transformed an entire city, an unruly one into one that learnt to follow rules. He did this by breaking all the rules about how a politician should look like or behave like. And the entire transformation of the city started by getting “Mime” artists performing on the street. Problem: To understand the extent of the ingenuity, lets first try to comprehend the problem that was being tackled (sounds a lot like our cities): Lots of people dying on the roads […]