Games Develop Creative Thinking Skills

It shocked me to read the other day that many school districts around the country are banning games during recess. The article in the USA Today stated that schools are banning touch football, soccer, dodgeball, and recently TAG. The concern...that children may get hurt playing games that aren't supervised as they would be in a physical education class. I wonder if there are bans on musical chairs or duck duck goose? How about the monkey bars that I climbed on when I was a kid...even sprained an ankle one time...I suppose they aren't allowed. Maybe we should just tell children that they can't play...only study. My question is what happend to allowing kids to just play. Sure, sometimes they get bruises or maybe a cut, but there are too many benefits. Play leads to creativity, to socialization, to problem solving. In the long run...this is not a wise decision.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

Creative and Fun Advertising

I love finding creative advertising. Take a look at this advertising for Bloom, a bakery retailer. Now if only we could harness some of that creativity for other aspects of business development.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

My Prayer's Go Out to Sedona

Hey...this is my first day back from a week's vacation in Sedona, Arizona. Fantastic trip...but also a very sad trip. If you've been watching the news...you may have heard about the brush fire in the hills above Sedona...Brin's Fire. It started on the first full day in Sedona...and never stopped. Sometimes we could smell the smoke late at night or early in the morning...and most nights we could see fire burning high above. The last count I heard was roughly 700 firemen and women were there to fight this one...and numerous helicopters and airplanes. Even a couple teams of Hot Shots were there...they are the experts at putting out wilderness fires. I talked to quite a few people that were evacuated and scared that they would lose their homes. It's hard to imagine fires of this size, especially if you live in Wisconsin where we get lots of rain and snow. We have our own potential problems such as tornados and floods...but it's rare for us to have a serious fire. When we left Arizona, there were five or six of them...including a larger one on the north side of the Grand Canyon.

And so it went...that I spent my week playing...flying in a balloon over the state park, riding in a train through the red rock valleys, bouncing in a hummer that took me deep into areas I wouldn't have ever seen, taking a trip to one of the seven wonders of the world...the Grand Canyon, shopping, eating great Mexican food, and having my daily afternoon swim.

And yet the fire continued to burn.

So, I would like to say to the people of Sedona area and to all the firefighters involved...that my prayers are that all of you remain safe and that the fire is brought under control in a very short time.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

Entrepreneurial Cities

I am spending the next week in warm Sedona, Arizona...a little rest and relaxation. I thought I'd leave an extra post this week. It's less about creativity and more about what cities are entrepreneurial "hotspots." INC Magazine gathered the data for this annual issue. They discovered that big cities are in idle...while smaller cities are really pushing the envelop.

I took time to look up the rankings for the major cities in Wisconsin and here are the results: Madison was ranked 27th on in the Medium Size Cities category...and Milwaukee was ranked 52nd in the Large Cities category. Overall, Madison was ranked 122 and Milwaukee came in at 303. Madison is doing well in this category thanks to stem cell research and the increase in biotech industry. Milwaukee is working hard to be a hub for research too.

Oh...and how about Sedona Arizona...It's not listed. But Yuma Arizona is ranked number 1 overall and Phoenix is ranked number 6 overall. Well done.

How does your city rank?

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com/ote

Hiring Your Next Person

A recent poll, highlighted in the USA Today, caught my eye. If you missed the poll, it summarized results of a survey completed by the recruiting firm, MRI Network. The poll asked for "the number of interviews you had within one company before a decision was made." 31% of roughly 900 people said two interviews and 37% said three interviews. Over 20% indicated 4 or more interviews. Now, I think it is simply a waste of time to have four or more interviews for one position. It's important to develop an interviewing system that allows the interviewer to receive the most information in the shortest period of time. There are ways to simplify the interview process and interview only those candidates that are truly compatible. In addition, a strong pre-hire assessment process will provide more than enough intomation to help solidify the decision.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

Innovation and Licensing

I was recently reading a blog post by Jeffrey Phillips regarding the need to give people a license to innovate. His thesis was this idea that organizations don't do enough to educate, train, and give permission to innovate. He makes the argument that training people to be more innovative should cover a few dimensions:

• how does it align with the corporate strategy
• what processes do you follow for sustainable innovation
• how do you work within the existing culture to change the culture and become more innovative.

I remember facilitating a training on creative leadership where the discussion focused on creativity in the workplace. Someone in the audience commented that everyone is creative and then gave examples. But as we broke down those specific areas, it became clear that they were great at solving smaller problems, but they weren't innovative. It's much tougher to be innovative...to take risks and try new things.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

Looking to the Future

I was reading a few of my favorite blogs, one of them being Jim Carroll's blog. He is a futurist and innovation expert. I love reading about his views on the world of innovation. What caught my eye this time was that he gave a presentation in Racine, WI. Racine is about 30 minutes south of my home and I spent two years working there. I wish I would have known about his trip...maybe I could have heard him speak. Oh well...maybe next time. Anyway, check out what he had to say about innovation.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com

A Rockie Road To Success

On Wednesday I was reading the USA Today and the lead article on the front page focused on the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball. The Rockies have stuggled for the past few years, but it seems that they have a renewed swagger...a positive attitude, a renewed character....based on an adopted Christian code of conduct. They are attempting to develop a culture that is based on fellowship and prayer. The article goes on to say that not everyone around the league is impressed or supportive. Trying something new is always difficult, and when it is faith-based it's even harder. The idea of re-building the team by focusing on Christianity and character development is something that should be supported as long as the code of conduct doesn't force those players of other faiths to take part in Christian fellowship. It's good to see that there are owners and managers in Colorado that are willing to think creatively, to think outside of the normal ways of doing business. Will they be successful...let's watch and find out.

In the meantime, I will pray that my team, the Milwaukee Brewers, continue to find ways to win.

Michael T. Bauer
http://www.creativeleading.com