The Easiest Way to Generate New and Relevant Ideas

Shiritori - Generate New Ideas Easily

I work as a Global business development responsible for a software development company and one of the tasks that I do frequently is to connect the dots. I connect the dots at work in a few ways:

1. Connect the vision/mission of the company to a set of areas of focus for business development and further connect these areas of focus to relevant habits for the field operations, marketing and software development. This process not only requires you to think abstractly but also be creative in how you connect the job descriptions/goals of individuals to the ideals of the organization. 
2. Connect the software technology that we develop to real world engineering applications.
3. Connect the software technology and its applications to the appropriate audience (end users, IT, decision makers, etc)

All the above tasks require me to not only connect the dots but also to connect them creatively.

A tool/game that I use for the creative part of my thinking process is Shiritori. Shiritori is "word chain" based where a player is first given a random letter. The player comes up with a word beginning with that letter. The opponent then takes turn in coming up with a new word beginning with the last letter of the previous word.

Here's an example:

• Example 1: Cars -  Schumacher - Ride & Handling - Great Performance - Engineering simulation
• Example 2: Truck - Kinematics - Simulation

I've adopted Shiritori to also chain images, chain different engineering applications and chain different software technologies together. 

So: the next time you're having to come up with a new idea - try Shiritori. It's easy and fun!

The art of a "Product Launch"

There's so much to learn from Steve Jobs. I recently watched Apple's iPad2 Product Launch - link and it was terrific.


While Apple does a great job with the product itself, the amount of preparation that goes into a product launch is simply inspiring and something that everyone should start doing. As a Business Development guy, marketing a high technology software, I have been learning a great deal from Steve and Apple.


Steve is definitely a role model for all those who are into presentations and public speaking. I guess he has such a  marvelous brain system that he never gets presentation nerves :-)


Talking about presentation nerves, I was going through Les Posen's blog recently. Les has mentioned 5 interventions for all those dealing with presentation nerves..

1. Chunking and exposure.
Identify and break down your presenting challenges into small manageable chunks, and deliberately expose yourself to each of them step by step.

2. Rehearsal.
Beyond just practicing your slide timings, actually visualize and hear yourself say the words with your slides. You see yourself in front of the crowd and rehearse your presentation to a variety of audience reactions, both positive and negative. 

3. Self-talk.
Anxiety grabs onto self-critical talk such as “I’ll do a terrible job. What happens if the slide show fails. What happens if they don’t laugh at my jokes.” Your task is not to feed your anxiety with this type of talk, but to change it into “I can do this. I will follow my rehearsed plans. This is manageable.”

4. Arousal control via diaphragmatic breathing.
Calm your brain’s fear center with slow, deliberate breaths with slightly longer exhales. Slower rhythm (rather than deep breathing) is helpful for fear management.

5. Deliberate practice.
Practice your beginning, identify challenging concepts, and practice, practice, practice—out loud. These techniques work, and I use them myself as well as with clients. They are powerful and will prove useful in scenarios other than presenting." 

8 steps for a mind map

Mind mapping is a simple yet effective tool that allows you to capture the natural flow of your ideas. In this blog, I would like to share a few easy steps that you may follow to create a Mind Map. There are 8 steps which will not only help you organize your ideas but also help make better decisions for the central thought that would symbolize what you have thought about. To put it in simple words, these 8 steps will assist you in moving towards the right direction about an idea.

Here are the 8 steps:

1. Center First
2. Lighten Up!
3. Free Associate
4. Think Fast
5. Break Boundaries
6. Judge Not
7. Keep Moving
8. Allow Organization

For more information related to the 8 steps, read the following article: steps for a mind map.


In the coming days, I would like to share some of my experience with using Dr. Raj Bapna and Dr. Anil Bapna's mind power techniques. Happy mind mapping everyone!

How do you react in life?

Some of the times, I tend to become not so friendly to people around me by engaging with unnecessary arguments which is just a waste of energy :-) That's when I started to look for a book or an article that talks how to avoid or control such reactions and I learned there's a principle called 90-10 laid out by none other than the "highly successful" Steven Covey. I just went through a two page article about this in scribd (http://www.scribd.com/doc/2034182/90-10-Steven-Covey) and I must say this is certainly very convincing. As a "Mind Blowing Mind Mapper" :-) after going through this article my "mind" started to map similar events that has happened earlier in my life.. Nevertheless, I have decided to start adopting this principle thereby negotiating some stress out of my stressful mind :-) Be in the look out for more interesting blogs and don't forget to control your reactions!

How is your Brain wired?

I'm writing this blog on the 15th of August. Many of you know that it's Indian Independence day but most of you don't know that it's my birthday!


Since it's my birthday and I'm very happy today, I plan to write something about Happiness. According to Deepak Chopra, the constituents of happiness are three fold:
a. Brain Set point (43%)
b. Condition of Living (7 to 8%)
c. Voluntary Action (49 to 50%)


He goes on to say that one must identify his/her limiting beliefs and try to overcome them by having an "Of course I can!" attitude. To id your brain set point, you must ask yourself : "Do I see problems in life or do I see Opportunities?" Having a positive frame of mind will keep your happiness intact. Your condition of Living such as having a posh house, driving a luxury car, having a million dollar work, etc.. is not really important in life. What is MOST important are the voluntary actions that you take! Do you make choices that increase your pleasure? Do you make choices in life that give you fulfillment?


Happiness depends on the daily choices of action. So, keeping the brain set point in the right ballpark & deciding your voluntary actions in life will decide your happiness! Before I start writing information about mind maps, I thought of sharing a youtube link with you.


Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh1uANlH9L4. It's a video that introduces you to a tool called "Free Mind". I hope you enjoyed reading this. Watch for more details on mind mapping in my next blog!

My first blog as a Blogger

I work for a software development company. I work in the Marketing domain and by default everyone expects me to come up with creative presentations, innovative ideas & the likes. I wonder how I can improve my skills? Whenever I see a great presentation or an advertisement, I immediately get to the mapping mode and start to map the concept to my presentations. In the coming days, I have planned to write more blogs on how to think creatively and how certain tools can help you with this. So, see you soon! Happy blogging!