In an age of innovation, where data protection should increasingly include greater bias transparency, it is important for me to present the perspective from which I intend to pitch to you — the reader — as I begin posting here.
Writing makes sense of experience and through my work, I understand confidence is created when we pay it forward. Whilst strength and learning come with treading trenches, greater benefits exist in insight and exploratory, open-minded points of view — more I hope to learn from you — as the challenge to uncover unconscious blocks, clarify conscious thought, communicate constructively and create collaboratively continues.
Having started my first business selling daffodils on the side of the road with my cousin, aged seven-and-a-half, my journey as an innovative industrial designer has taken me from skiing the French alps to manufacturing ergonomic cookware in China. In distributing an award winning invention around the world, writing the book to share the success and then realizing most of the mess was a construct of other people’s definitions — I came to see the ‘success’ I was sensing was not the ‘success’ I was looking for!
Mindset matters much more than any of us realize — we are all much smarter than we think we are and harboured in the hearts and heads of humanity is unlimited potential we’ve yet to unleash. As productivity is increasingly squeezed from the workforce at the cost of health and happiness, I cannot help but believe there are better ways to succeed.
The greatest investment we make in developing any innovative idea is that of our precious time. All great ideas are born in answer to genuine problems. If I am to concentrate a considerable time developing another big idea, the problem it solves must also be substantial.
Drilling down and simplifying significantly, one of the biggest problems facing the western world, at this point in time, lies within our thinking — more specifically; our systemic thinking — how we collaborate, communicate and come together to make the best decisions.
With the Whether System™ — a lateral and literal thinking process designed to deliver balanced decisions and innovative ideas, I have found focus. The Global Brainstorm is a vehicle for deep conversation on complex conundrum, leading to clear direction evolved out of design thinking. The tools and techniques we are pioneering are transforming people and productivity. We all need to advance our thinking and upgrade our ideas if we are to solve our many global challenges, together. The intention is to help facilitate this.
In so doing, the theory evolves. By challenging myself to synchronise steps as succinct posts documenting this iterative journey, the hope is to share outcomes in practice for mutual benefit and greater growth. By all means challenge what you interpret from my typing, question and further explore. This is as much about reading as it is about writing more.