Backstory Talks: Deliberate Creativity

Ever wonder how NASA innovates? Tim and Maggie work in the field of deliberate creativity, and have stories to tell about how their work in the field of science and development has had an impact on spurring innovation to complex problems.  They work with a Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process to help research scientists work across disciplines to approach complex problems. In their twenty years working with scientists they witnessed, and maybe even influenced, the change in culture in academic research.

They also apply the tools and techniques of structured creativity for…

1. Sales; Tim co-authored a book about creativity in the sales process, titled Never Be Closing,

2. Development Work in the Global South; Maggie leads a company, Inclusive Innovation, that fosters collaboration around sustainability, and

3. Urban youth, they both serve on the board of Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts…

Not to mention,

4. practically everything else in their lives.

Maggie is the founder of Inclusive Innovation, a team of facilitators based in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, who run meetings and workshops that provoke inclusive collaboration, and inspire collaborative leaders to tackle complex problems at the intersection of science and development, like those embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals.  (Inclusive Innovation wants to hack the SDGs.)  She’s an alumna of the facilitation team at Knowinnovation, a consultancy team specializing in accelerating multidisciplinary scientific innovation.  She’s an enthusiastic member of the community of creativity practitioners in the US and Europe, working in the field of deliberate creativity since the early 1990s.  She’s an American who’s lived in Europe more than half of her life, 18 years on Paris and the last ten in Barcelona.

Tim is the co-author of the book, Never Be Closing: How to Sell Better Without Screwing Your Clients, Your Colleagues, or Yourself. In 1993, he attended the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) Conference in Buffalo, NY, setting in motion a chain of events that led to a life partner, a new career and a new contintent. All three of which have endured, at least until today. For twenty years Tim has been working with the NSF, the NIH, NASA and other scientific funders to engage scientists across disciplines to solve sticky problems. The book’s content grew organically as Tim incorporated what he learned at the CPSI conference into his work in finance. The same CPS process is the backbone for the work Tim does with Knowinnovation with scientists, and with Inclusive Innovation, which brings the tools and techniques to the Development space, primarily in the global south.