The six core strategies to elevate any business-and how to implement them-made simple What do the world's most successful companies and organization have in common? And what can you actually take away and use from their examples? Distilling the best fundamental business strategies, trusted advisor and strategist John Spence helps you take a hard look at your business and together develop specific plans and action steps that will allow you to dramatically improve the success of your company. Delivered in Spence's approachable and straightforward manner, Awesomely Simple reveals the six key strategies that create a foundation for achieving business excellence: Vivid Vision, Best People, A Performance-Oriented Culture, Robust Communication, A Sense of Urgency, and Extreme Customer Focus. Filled with case studies and clear action items, includes easy-to-follow guidelines for implementing the strategies in any organization no matter its mission or size After concisely breaking down each strategy, Spence gives specific examples, tips, tools, discussion questions and exercises for how to execute them successfully A perfect resource for business leaders, Awesomely Simple will help you turn ideas into positive action and achieve lasting business success.

How many times have you been in a meeting and someone says to you, "That's a great idea, you should take the initiative and make it a reality." What typically happens? Most of the time - nothing. Most great ideas remain dormant because people don't have the courage, resources, time and/or money to take action. How many times have you had an idea that you were really passionate about-one that you really believed was important? How many times have you waited until you had the perfect amount of time or the perfect environment or the perfect set of circumstances to act on that idea? How many times have your ideas vanished into thin air because those "perfect" opportunities never came? No more. We've been on a two-decade quest to find better ways to take action on our ideas-and share those strategies with others. In this book, you'll learn exactly how to harness the power of now to take action on your ideas. You'll learn how to alleviate anxiety, face your fears, and overcome overwhelm-all so you can bring your ideas to life.

The Agency by Design guide to implementing maker-centered teaching and learning Maker-Centered Learning provides both a theoretical framework and practical resources for the educators, curriculum developers, librarians, administrators, and parents navigating this burgeoning field. Written by the expert team from the Agency by Design initiative at Harvard's Project Zero, this book Identifies a set of educational practices and ideas that define maker-centered learning, and introduces the focal concepts of maker empowerment and sensitivity to design. Shares cutting edge research that provides evidence of the benefits of maker-centered learning for students and education as a whole. Presents a clear Project Zero-based framework for maker-centered teaching and learning Includes valuable educator resources that can be applied in a variety of design and maker-centered learning environments Describes unique thinking routines that foster the primary maker capacities of looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity. A surge of voices from government, industry, and education have argued that, in order to equip the next generation for life and work in the decades ahead, it is vital to support maker-centered learning in various educational environments. Maker-Centered Learning provides insight into what that means, and offers tools and knowledge that can be applied anywhere that learning takes place.

In this increasingly visual age, images speak louder than words. Studies show that images also help people think. Visual note-taking such as doodling increases memory retention rates by nearly 30 percent, and opens creative pathways, strengthens focus, and inspires self-expression. Driven by these groundbreaking findings, entrepreneurs Nora Herting and Heather Willems founded ImageThink, a graphic facilitation firm that has helped an elite roster of clients—from Google to Pepsi to NASA—visualize their ideas and transform their creative processes using simple drawing techniques that anyone can master. Draw Your Big Idea presents their sought-after guidance and more than 150 drawing exercises tailored to brainstorming, refining, and executing ideas in the home, design studio, and office. With this workbook, readers will learn to beat creative block—for good!

From Problem Solving To Solution Design Creating solutions to solve problems can often prove very difficult to accomplish, even for seasoned Solution Designers. Complex organizational problems have several stakeholders, endless variables, and a myriad of possible solutions. It's hard enough to figure out where to start, and even harder to realize what the perfect, mutually-beneficial solution is. With their combined tenure of over fifty years, J. Eduardo Campos and Erica W. Campos present their Solution-Designing expertise in From Problem Solving to Solution Design so that you can learn from their successes (and their failures) to craft sustainable solutions for complex problems. Specifically, you will learn how to implement the I.D.E.A.S. framework that they have been perfecting over the years, which includes five critical checkpoints that any Solution Designer must hit to create solutions that are successfully envisioned, negotiated with stakeholders, and implemented to last over time. - IDENTIFY THE ESSENTIAL PROBLEM AND PRIORITIZE YOUR ACTIONS TO SOLVE IT. - DESIGN SOLUTION OPTIONS ALIGNED TO YOUR GOALS. - ENGAGE YOUR STAKEHOLDERS IN THE SOLUTION AND INFLUENCE THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS. - ACT ON THE AGREED-UPON RECOMMENDATIONS AND EXECUTE YOUR GOVERNANCE MODEL. - SUSTAIN THE IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION BY CREATING A FEEDBACK LOOP. Treat this book as your field guide: it offers clear checkpoints for you to assist your organization in designing effective solutions for complex problems.

How many times have you had an idea that you were really passionate about-one that you really believed was important? How many times have you waited until you had the perfect amount of time or the perfect environment or the perfect set of circumstances to act on that idea? How many times have your ideas vanished into thin air because those "perfect" opportunities never came? No more. We've been on a two-decade quest to find better ways to take action on our ideas--and share those strategies with others. In this book, you'll learn exactly how to harness the power of now to take action on your ideas. You'll learn how to alleviate anxiety, face your fears, and overcome overwhelm--all so you can bring your ideas to life.