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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS110

‘you’ll never get sacked for buying IBM’. All these aspects can be very
attractive, especially when you are under pressure for rapid and
decisive action or are facing the fear of failure. In addition, the formula
may be all that you think you know because you lack the confidence, or
believe that you lack the skills, to think innovatively.

Convergent and divergent idea-generating techniques are therefore
extremely valuable in helping us break out of these self-imposed blocks
to challenge tried-and-tested formulae in order to arrive at innovative
ideas for new products, services and processes.

Convergent and divergent idea-generating
techniques are extremely valuable in
helping us break out of these self-imposed
blocks

the mind gym: six mental workouts and their
related routines The Mind Gym provides a clear structure to

allow especially your divergent thinking to work out fully and to escape
from the mental straitjackets imposed by your experiences, assumptions
and external pressures. The Mind Gym also ensures that whole areas of
potential importance are not overlooked.

You will find that each of the six types of mental workout, and the
specific techniques within them, will liberate your thinking rather than
confine it. Literally hundreds of techniques exist within these six
distinct workout types to assist you in generating innovative business
ideas. We have highlighted just 16 of these techniques, basing our
selection on those which our experience and research have shown to be
the most effective.

A further benefit of our selection is that all the techniques can be used
by individuals on their own, as well as in groups. Experience shows
that this aspect is critical to anyone setting up a new business, since it
often is done either alone or with one or two other additional partners
at most.

We also recognise that cash and time are scarce resources for the
budding entrepreneur. We have therefore selected techniques whose