Beyond Brainstorming: Eight Secrets for Generating Big, Bold, Creative and Profitable Ideas

April 19, 2005
John Sweeney

It’s no secret that new ideas fuel profitability. Even when companies hire top talent and teach best skills, few are able to affect the bottom line unless their employees can generate and execute new concepts. It sounds like a simple principle, but finding new ideas can become a company’s greatest challenge. What if we were to tell you that a little comedy theater in Minneapolis has created an incredibly effective ideation process to help businesses generate more and better ideas? In fact, the owner and executive producer of that little theater has used this breakthrough process to help companies like 3M, Altria, Medtronic, Best Buy, Disney and hundreds of others achieve greater innovation. Now, John Sweeney is sharing that process in his new book, Innovation at the Speed of Laughter: 8 Secrets to World Class Idea Generation.

According to Sweeney, “Perhaps the most beneficial part of our process is the practical application portion, in which the idea gets fleshed out and prepared for implementation. The only way an idea can become profitable is by taking it from the individual mind and the brainstorming session to the company conference room and the factory floor. Our process explains how and when to implement constraints into idea generation in order to bring true gems into fruition.”

Speaker Details

John Sweeney is a world leader in workplace innovation. Years ago, John left a successful corporate real estate career to follow his passion for performing improvisational comedy. Now, he conducts more than 100 training workshops and keynote speeches a year for some of the largest companies in the world. He is the owner of the nation’s oldest satirical comedy theatre and world-renown school for improvisation, is a member of the National Speakers Association, has appeared in dozens of television commercials, and is the recent author of a major motion picture screenplay.