<Due to scheduling conflicts, this event is cancelled>

AmCham Advance Learning Lab

Session Overview

Creative thinking is fast becoming one of the top skills for success at work. The World Economic Forum has moved up creativity from number ten most important skill in the workplace in 2015 to number three in 2020.

The problem? Most of us were not taught “creative thinking” in schools, and so naturally, many of us think that creativity is an innate talent—either you are born creative or you are not. This is not true.

Creative thinking is a lot like learning a new language. Just as we can learn a new language when we put our mind to it, we can also learn creative thinking by picking up the necessary “vocabulary and grammar.” What’s more, we can gradually develop fluency in creative thinking by continuously applying what we learn on real problems at work.

Try this exercise. See if you can formulate a coherent explanation for why the following three newcomers—Netflix, Google, and iPhone—were able to grab market share from already well-established Blockbuster, Yahoo, and Nokia? Now, what would you have done differently if you were Blockbuster, Yahoo, or Nokia? How confident are you in your response? What is the rationale behind your confidence?

Okay, now try this second exercise. How do you explain why, despite great engineering and design, Segway, Google Glass, and Amazon Fire Phone failed as commercial products? What would you have done differently if you were in charge? Again, how confident are you in your response? What is the rationale behind your confidence?

Using real business cases like the ones above, the speaker will introduce you to a framework for generating delightful solutions to complex tasks, challenges, and problems of varying scope at work. More importantly, he will show you what you can do to develop your fluency in creative thinking.

Agenda

1. What is creative thinking?
2. Why do Taiwan executives, managers, and professionals need it more than ever?
3. How do you strengthen your own “creative muscle” to think more creatively?
4. How do you increase your team’s creative output?
5. Where can we get more information on creative thinking?

About the speaker

For the last 30 years, William Zyzo has been teaching, training, and coaching senior executives at multinationals in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and China. He is the Advisor to AmCham’s Advance Learning Lab and the Managing Director of Z&A Knowledge Solutions.

Contact Person: Kanny Shih (02) 2718-8226 ext. 211 / [email protected]