In her book Think Bigger: How to Innovate, Sheena Iyengar dispels the notion that the best way of coming up with a good idea is to have a group brainstorm or to rely on the unpredictable intuitions of special gifted individuals.

Iyengar is the S. T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and an expert on decision-making and choice. Drawing on advances in brain science, she argues that creativity is not mysterious, but is instead quite similar to analytical thinking.

Together with Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute, Iyengar discusses her six-step methodology to help people unlock their ability to create useful new ideas, illustrating this with many examples from business.

Key topics discussed:

[00:58] What neuroscience says about innovation
[07:43] A six-step method for ideation
[19:22] Limitations of the method
[24:21] The role of groups and technology
[28:51] Implementing the method at your company

Transcript:

If you’d prefer to read this conversation, you can download the AI-generated, lightly edited transcript here.

Additional inspiration from Sheena Iyengar:

• The Art of Choosing (Twelve, 2011)
• TED Talk: The Art of Choosing
• TED Talk: How to Make Choosing Easier