How to be a Brilliant Thinker: Exercise Your Mind and Find Creative Solutions

Paul Sloane

Kogan Page Publishers, Jan 3, 2010 - Psychology - 192 pages

Do you want to have great ideas? Do you want to break out of the rut of conventional thinking? Would you like to be a genius? Would presenting brilliant ideas help in your job, career and social life?

How to be a Brilliant Thinker will help you to achieve all these ideals, by helping you to think in powerful new ways. It shows you how to harness techniques in lateral thinking, analytical thinking, problem analysis, idea generation and other areas so that you become much more creative. You will be able to conceive, evaluate and implement great ideas as well as improve your memory, sell your ideas and win arguments. It is packed with practical methods that you can put to immediate use, backed up by exercises, puzzles, quizzes, graphics and illustrations.

Contents

• Chapter 1 The need for different thinking: 1
• Chapter 2 Consider the opposite: 6
• Chapter 3 Confront assumptions: 10
• Chapter 4 Analyse problems: 15
• Chapter 5 Ask questions: 21
• Chapter 6 Think in combinations: 26
• Chapter 7 Parallel thinking: 30
• Chapter 8 Think creatively: 35
• Chapter 9 Think laterally: 39
• Chapter 10 Think what no one else thinks: 44
• Chapter 11 Evaluate ideas: 47
• Chapter 12 Make difficult decisions: 52
• Chapter 13 Develop your verbal thinking: 60
• Chapter 14 Think mathematically: 67
• Chapter 15 Get to grips with probability: 73
• Chapter 16 Think visually: 79
• Chapter 17 Develop your emotional intelligence: 86
• Chapter 18 Be a brilliant conversationalist: 92
• Chapter 19 Win arguments: 97
• Chapter 20 Ponder: 103
• Chapter 21 Maximize your memory: 109
• Chapter 22 Experiment fail and learn: 119
• Chapter 23 Tell stories: 124
• Chapter 24 Think humorously: 128
• Chapter 25 Think positively: 131
• Chapter 26 Set goals: 136
• Chapter 27 Prioritize and focus: 140
• Chapter 28 Turn thinking into action: 145
• Chapter 29 Common thinking errors: 151
• Chapter 30 Boost your brain: 159
• Chapter 31 Games for brilliant thinkers: 166
• Chapter 32 Summary a checklist for the brilliant thinker: 169
• Appendix 1 Answers: 173
• Appendix 2 References and further reading: 174
• Index: 176

About the author

Paul Sloane is an experienced speaker, course leader and facilitator as well as a leading author of lateral thinking puzzles with some 17 books published. He is a recognised authority on innovation and creative speaking and he speaks and gives workshops on these subjects to leading corporations around the world. He has written The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills and The Innovative Leader, also published by Kogan Page.

Bibliographic information

• Title: How to be a Brilliant Thinker: Exercise Your Mind and Find Creative Solutions
• Author: Paul Sloane
• Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers, 2010
• ISBN: 0749458887, 9780749458881
• Length: 192 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Decision-Making & Problem Solving; Business & Economics / General; Psychology / Creative Ability; Self-Help / Creativity