The how-to guide to creative problem solving that fuels ideas and breakthrough solutions.
By Derek Bennington · 124 pages · First edition, 2023
Igniting Innovation is a 124-page guide by Derek Bennington that teaches leaders and teams a five-step creative problem-solving process. It takes you from a clearly defined Opportunity Point to a prototype you can test, using a model called the Creative Diamond.
Every team hits the point where more effort stops producing better answers. I wrote this book to give you a repeatable way past it, using the same process I run in client sprints.
Name the opportunity, choose your tools, go wide, filter down, then build and test.
Name exactly what you want ideas for before you chase a single one.
Tracks guide the team through the process for a specific business need. Or pick individual tools.
Create as many ideas as possible. No idea killers. Judgment comes later.
Refine ideas into solutions, then filter and prioritize down to the Decision Point.
Build a tangible version, get feedback, and iterate.
“Ideas are not solutions.Solutions are not ideas.”
Ideas are all the ways you could address the Opportunity Point. Solutions detail how you will. The process keeps the two apart so teams don’t act on their first idea.
It’s the model behind the book’s process: six stages in two halves. The frontend is where the setup and idea generation happen. The backend is where ideas become solutions and decisions are made.
An Opportunity Point is a clear statement of what you want to accomplish, sometimes called a problem statement. It should be something you can control or heavily influence, so the solutions you build have a bigger impact.
Listen for “We have a need to…”, “We have a want to…”, or “We have a desire to…”. Each one is a cue that an Opportunity Point is in front of you. Rephrase it as “We have an opportunity to…” and the team starts treating it as growth instead of a burden.
The question to ask before you lock it inIs this really where I want to be?
The book includes 13 tools for diverging and 6 for converging. Each one is laid out as a three-step process with an example. Tracks guide your team through the process for a specific business need.
The book closes with a Rapid Prototyping Challenge: teams brainstorm a scenario, reach a Decision Point, and build a physical prototype.
Yes. The book defines creativity as the ability to create ideas, and every person has that ability. What varies is your confidence, how you prefer to create ideas, and how you express them.
Why everyone is creative, and the three myths that convince people they aren’t.
Coming soonCreativity, Creative Level, Style, Expression, and the one that matters most: Creative Confidence.
Coming soonWhy creative confidence fades over time, and how the Creative Flashlight brings more ideas into view.
Coming soonThe book groups the goals it supports into three areas.
Derek Bennington is the founder of Create Innovate Perform in Denver and an expert in human-centered design, design thinking, and the link between creativity and innovation.
His focus is getting every person into the process, from technical engineers to wild-idea leaders, so every perspective in the room shapes the ideas. He has spent over a decade building innovation capability and teaches creativity and innovation as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.
He holds an MBA in innovation and statistical analysis from the University of Denver and a BS in Architectural Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.
It’s a how-to guide to creative problem solving for business. It explains why improvement alone eventually stalls, breaks creativity into five core components, and teaches a five-step process that takes a team from an Opportunity Point to a tested prototype.
The book defines innovation as “the result of a new solution that creates substantial value and enhances the lives of people” and improvement as “the result of making an existing solution better, faster, cheaper, etc.” A business needs both. Improvement optimizes what exists, and innovation unlocks the next level when improvement stops paying off.
In the book’s words, creative problem solving is “creating ideas and solving problems using specifically designed tools and processes.” The five-step process and the Creative Diamond are how the book puts it into practice.
The book’s short answer is that most businesses are missing creativity, which innovation requires and cannot exist without. It also names common causes, including no systematic process, no innovation strategy, slow internal decision making, and a culture that doesn’t support creative thinking.
Igniting Innovation is self-published and available in print. Copies come through my workshops or on request, including copies for your whole team. Book a call to request one.
Yes. Workshops and sprints follow the same five steps, facilitated live. The CIP Method wraps that core in discovery, decision gates, and Innovation Fabric for organizations that want it installed. See ways to engage or book a call.
Take a guided tour through the book. See why creativity fuels innovation, meet the Creative Diamond, and walk through the Opportunity Point, Idea Exploration, and Solution Determination steps with tools you can run with your team right away.
Instant download. No sales sequence.
It’s available in print through my workshops or on request, including copies for your team.
Request a copyI'll be in touch as soon as I can.
— Derek
I'll follow up to schedule your demo.
— Derek
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