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The Idea Factory's latest great idea!

Idea Navigator Journal

By Ed Bernacki, The Idea Factory

Thinking is crucial in all organizations to solve problems, develop new strategies, deal with customers and manage staff issues. Thinking is important. It fuels creativity. It improves decision making. It creates value. What tool do you use to focus your thinking?

According to a recent US study, more than half of senior executives questioned said that they are most effective in personal thinking in these places:

58 percent say at home,
50 percent say commuting to work,
38 percent say during brainstorming sessions.

It's staggering to consider that so many executives believe their offices are not very effective for thinking. If this reflects your reality, consider how you can harness your thinking when you actually do it. You won't be sitting in front of a computer.

The reality is that most people use the same tool as they did in grade four: a blank pad of paper or a school notebook.

Forget the electronic toys and invest in a quality notebook. The Idea Factory launched its newest Idea Navigator Journal in 2007 at a major conference in Washington. You too can purchase a copy for yourself and one for the people you work with.

Order your Idea Navigator Journals now.

New for 2007: the Idea Navigator Journal
The Idea Navigator Journal builds on the success of the Conference Navigator Guides. This is new product idea replaces your school notebook that prompts you to think in more innovative ways.

Editorial Pages: making notes and managing ideas
The Idea Navigator Journal includes eight two-color editorial pages developed by the Idea Factory.

Editorial pages prompt new thinking and new ideas whenever you need them. The theme that underpins this journal is making notes and managing ideas. Pages include:

Not another meeting!
How to be innovative everyday, any day
From 'making notes' to 'managing ideas'
Collecting ideas for your idea factory
Strategies for promoting your ideas

The Idea Navigator Journal is about 8.5 inches by 6 inches, made of textured high quality paper, and designed to be comfortable in your hand. It even includes a pocket page so you can store important notes and papers. These would be a great tool for a training workshop or a conference. In large volumes, you can work with the Idea Factory to customize these and add your branding.

A suggestion box on steroids!
These idea journals are ideal for any organization that has an employee suggestion box program. Whether you have a 'box' or a formal intranet program, people still need a journal to refine the ideas they submit. You can improve the quality of ideas that get submitted if people use this journal. They will learn how to present ideas in more powerful ways.

Time for a new way to record information
In grade four your teacher likely said, "Write down everything I say to remember it." In business you rarely need to summarize everything someone says.

The journal pages include icons that prompt you to consider recording information in a new way:

Record that you hear or create. Provide enough detail to ensure that it will make sense in the future.

Questions are a brilliant way to focus your thinking in the future. What question comes to mind that you want to consider later? Perhaps it is a question for someone at work.

Quotes and references. You may hear someone who inspires you or a reference to a book or website. Record these carefully as they are future resources.

Actions achieve results. Define actions that will move you forward. This may be small like reading a book or huge like relaunching your career or starting a business.

Many people say that this approach has stopped them from summarizing everything and paying attention for insights and ideas.

Order your Idea Navigator Journals now.

Will you think 'outside the box' and order your Idea Navigator Journal?

Charles H. Duell, director of the US Patent Office said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented".
That was in 1899; clearly, he was in the box!
Thinking inside the box accepts the status quo.
Thinking inside the box is continuing to use a school notebook when there is a better idea waiting for you.

The Idea Navigator Journal can help you capture and develop your ideas. When you manage your ideas, you make them stronger and more likely to succeed.

Manage your ideas to think 'outside the box'
Thinking outside the box takes different attributes that include:

Willingness to take new perspectives to day-to-day work,
Openness to do different things and to do things differently,
Focusing on the skill of finding new ideas and acting on them,
Striving to create value in new ways, and
Listening to others.

Also, always support and respect others when they come up with new ideas. Out-of-the box thinking requires being open to new ways of seeing the world and a willingness to explore. Out-of-the box thinkers know that new ideas need nurturing and support. They also know that having an idea is good but acting on it is more important. Results count. An Idea Navigator Journal is your ideal companion.

Order your Idea Navigator Journals now.

You can also order the 160-page book to help you become your own Idea Factory. "Wow! That's a Great idea!" is a common sense approach turn any organization into an idea factory.

Still Not Convinced?
Ed Bernacki has written many articles to prompt people to think in new ways. These articles relate to how you manage your ideas:

Partnering with the Idea Factory
The Idea Factory has worked with many organizations to create customized versions of its Navigator Guides and Journals. In volumes of 500 or more you can add extra pages, customize covers and any other idea that you co-create with the Idea Factory. For very large orders a licensing option is available. This comes with a training program and other resources to turn your organization into an idea factory!

For more information contact the Idea Factory at 613 263 0046 or email info@wowgreatidea.com