Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part 1: Productive Thinking in Context

Chapter 1: Why Think Better

 Chapter 2: Monkey Mind, Gator Brain, and the Elephant's Tether

Part 2: Productive Thinking in Principle

Chapter 3: Kaizen vs. Tenkaizen

Chapter 4: Stay in the Question

Chapter 5: The Miracle of the Third Third

Part 3: Productive Thinking Theory

Chapter 6: Productive Thinking by Design

Chapter 7: Step 1: What's Going On? Puzzles, Probes, Possibilities

Chapter 8: Step 2: What's Success? The Future Pull Principle

Chapter 9: Step 3: What' the Question? Great Answer (Wrong Question)

Chapter 10: Step 4: Generate Answers Ten Thousand Failures

Chapter 11: Step 5: Forge the Solution Masamune's Katana

Chapter 12: Step 6: Align Resources Here Be Lions

Part 4: Productive Thinking in Practice

Chapter 13: Productive Thinking Redux

Chapter 14: Training vs. Entraining

Appendix: Productive Thinking in Action

Six Step Case Study, Jetways

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Success isn’t about what you know. It’s about how you think.

Building a great career and an enriching life isn’t rocket science. It’s about understanding more clearly, thinking more creatively, and planning more effectively. This guide to productive thinking will help you do exactly that. 

Whether you need to solve business problems, create new opportunities, or improve your personal life, Think Better offers the principles and tools you need. Author Tim Hurson takes you through the critical steps you need to:

• Commit to Change: Discover how what’s working often blinds us to what’s possible. Recognize that every frustration is an opportunity in disguise. Imagine a future of creative possibilities.

• Integrate the Principles of Productive Thinking: Don’t just think outside the box. Recognize that for productive thinkers there is no box. Unlock the creative ideas in the “third third” of your consciousness—ideas that are always there, but often hovering just out of reach. 

• Take Active Steps to Focus on and Solve Problems: Use the thinking tools in this book to make the unexpected connections that are at the heart of all creative ideas and implementable solutions.  

It's a myth that people are either born productive thinkers or not. Productive thinking is a skill that can be taught, learned, practiced, and mastered—by anyone.

Thinking better leads to doing better, and ultimately to being better—in business and in life. With productive thinking, you can take on challenges in ways you never dreamed possible.