The Ideas
I use a scientific mind, artistic heart approach to define and apply original and powerful ideas so you can put them into action in your own pursuits.
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I present the ideas in colorful slides, white papers, and narrative podcasts that explore the intersections of story, design, creativity, psychology, culture, and business.
Featured
Slide Summaries!
A great place to start is with these concise and colorful idea slides.​​
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Idea Slides Vol. 1
Original ideas for design principles
For experience design, marketing, culture, comms, activism, creative, psych, and more​​​​​​
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​​Original ideas for design processes
For strategy, design thinking, education, business, problem solving, and more​
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Original ideas for storytelling
For epic, entertaining, artistic, everyday, practical, business, and data storytelling
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The Ideas List
Presented with slides, papers, and more
Topics: Story | Design | Creativity | Psychology | Communication | Organizations
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Story
The Destiny Narrative
The timeless, persuasive, and powerful story in which a character changes into more of who they already are
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The Destiny Narrative may be the most widely powerful story structure ever because of its unique ability to resolve the massive conflict between the desire to positively change and to authentically stay the same
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Slides | Paper | Podcast​​
Multi-Narrative Storytelling
Featured: Examples from Multi-Narrative Storytelling
Imagery with On Your Feet
Design
The Ds of Design
A flexible model for designing and deciding anything, based on how different stages require very different mindsets
The model distinguishes steps, such as discovering, defining, deciding, designing, detailing, and delivering
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The Science of Cool
A literal scientific model and artistic expansion for breaking norms and making amazing things
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It begins with the psychological truth that we almost all want to feel "cool," defined as a simultaneous sense of "autonomous freedom" and "positively belonging," and we are attracted to brands, things, and people that exude and make us feel this quality​
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Thrill, Take, Connect
A model for designing amazing experiences inspired by what makes a great Disney ride
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Thrill comes from intense moments of excitement or calm, take comes from a sense of transportation and immersion, and connect comes from relating to stories, ideas, and people you already know and love
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The Metamodern Pendulum
A guide to designing for and leading people in our metamodern world
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The biggest cultural shift of 21st century that some have yet to fully understand is how people today have a comfort and desire for "mixed" and "meta" things that oscillate between being ironic and sincere, sad and happy, or optimistic and realistic -- coupled with greater self-awareness of our own interior thoughts and "felt experiences"
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Featured: Examples from The Science of Cool
Graphics by Issac Auxier
Creativity
The Many Scienes of Yes, And
A unique scientific guide to the two words most fundamental to creativity, communication, and collaboration
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This guide is both an argument for the value of applied improv and a unique source of scientific insights into how to better use applied improv in both broad and precise ways​
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Define + Apply
How to use knowledge to design
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The most powerful way to design something amazing is to first deeply define the relevant knowledge, science, and concepts, and then use those deep definitions to creatively apply -- this is a nuanced and massively overlooked skill set in business, academia, and art ​​
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Psychology
Solution Aversion
Why people deny solvable problems and how to overcome this denial
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The aversion to the cure, answer, or "solution" can often be greater or more immediate than the aversion to the problem itself, leading to denial not just of the solution, but of the problem itself​
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Welcome to Team Hero
A model for reaching new and resistant audiences through the act of welcoming
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Specifically, you do three things: make others feel less averse to the solution or path, make them feel that joining team hero is in line with their true self, and make them feel that you socially accept and value them
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Love, Like, and Believe
The foundations for relationships across life, art, work, and community
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​The point of this model is to understand how these three key foundations of Love, Like, and Believe are often distinct from one another and how easy it is to have too narrow of a view of relationships​​
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The Egocentric Bias
A guide to the most fundamental human bias and how to overcome it
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People tend to believe that how they experience the world is the same as how other people do, and this conscious and unconscious tendency biases everything -- sometimes more among those with more experience
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Featured: Comics About Psychology
Art by MR Trower
Communication
Super Signals
A model for combining multiple forces to powerfully communicate
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The best communications have always, intentionally or unintentionally, used multiple powerful forces to signal. This approach identifies these as “Super Signals” and provides instruction on how to reliably create them
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Spoil, Simplify, Solidify
How to get people to remember what you have to say
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​This is the model you need when you need people to remember the meaning and detail of what you have to say -- in other words, this is the type of model everyone actually needs (except entertainers and politicians) that most have never learned
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Business & Organizations
Everyday Sparks
The importance of everyday learning, sharing, and creating experiences
This model explores how building innovative people and organizations requires these everyday sparks that can easily be overlooked
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An explanation of why I love to use simple Word docs and slides.