We help people find, refine and energise breakthrough ideas
Just one good idea can make a world of difference.
We help
- Frame problems
- Explore possibility thinking
We source ideas
- Staff and stakeholders
- Other businesses, industries and countries
We facilitate
- Idea development workshops
- One-on-one discussions
Our focus
Ideas that create success
Ideas that make money
Our clients
Our clients range from start-ups, to SMEs through to large global business. As a specialist in idea development, we also partner with and complement the services provided by accountants, lawyers, bankers and advisors.
Projects we have worked on
Plans for business growth
New products and inventions
Mergers and aquisitions
Plans for establishing new businesses
Business turnarounds
Sporting team and elite athlete strategies
Community projects
Education projects
Testimonials
“Again a big thank you for your enthusiasm, professionalism and attention to detail…you epitomize our company motto, ‘exceeding client expectations’.” Board Chairman, Security Industry
“A big thank you for the inspiration you bring to strategic planning.” Manager Asset Strategy, Water Industry
“This is excellent. A simple thank you doesn’t really do it justice!” Manager, Agricultural Industry
“Your ability to ask insightful questions and suggestions for improvement were instrumental in shaping the second and third generations of our products. Thanks.” CEO and Founder, global business
“I always look forward to your commentaries. They’re great.” US author of 180 patents and 200+ papers in professional journals
“You really helped us turn our ideas into bottom line business results.” CEO Maintenance Services
“The value that Rod brought to the unit (MBA capstone unit – Strategy and International Business Competitiveness) was exceptional.” Final Year MBA Student, Curtin University
“An amazing and insightful experience… you are one of the most inspiring persons I have met.” Final Year MBA Student, Curtin University
“Rod has a unique knack in bringing the ‘jeans and t-shirt’ of the creative thinker into the boardroom.” Colleague, online innovation
Our tools
There are hundreds of idea generation techniques that can be used. Each problem differs depending on the context of the problem and who is involved in solving it. The following are the idea generation tools that, in conjunction with our clients, we generally select from based on the proven past successes that have come from these approaches. Normally we would use 2 – 3 tools.
If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
Albert Einstein
Problem finding
Opportunity Redefinition
Toyota’s Five Whys
Assumption busting
SWOT (Gap analysis)
Mind Mapping
Business canvas or Hambrick’s Diamond Model (for strategic plans)
When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.
Thomas Edison
Future Thinking Maps (Such as The Board of Innovation’s Future Scan.)
Pairing
Super Heros
Story writing
Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different.
Creativity is intelligence having fun.
Albert Einstein
Wishing
Picture prompts / collages
77 cards for inspiring ideas
Morphological Matrix
Analogous solutions
A problem shared is a problem halved.
Proverb
Rapid Ideation
Wishing
Analogous solutions
Pairing
If you want to go fast then go alone, if you want to go far then go together.
African Proverb
Brainstorming (Including deBono’s 6 Hats)
Brainwriting
Brainwalking
Worst idea
Semantic Intuition
The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Whiteboarding
Open innovation is creative thinking on steroids.
Ideas factory colleague
Open innovation
Idea fishing
Social trend analysis
There's a way to do it better - find it.
Thomas Edison
SCAMPER
TRIZ
Lean Six Sigma
80% of the untested assumptions made when developing new ideas are wrong.
Ideas Factory colleague
Design thinking
People
Company Director – Public and private companies
Consultant – The Ideas Factory
Researcher – Completing PhD on the role of the board in breakthrough creativity.
Lecturer – Teaching strategy to final year MBA students.
Adventurer – Record-breaking cyclist and adventurer.
Inspiring ideas
Improving train design by gaining insights from the design of birds
Ideas can often come from observing success in other areas - including in nature. Drawing on inspiration from the anatomic design of birds, designers were able to redesign Japanese bullet trains to eliminate the sonic boom when they exited tunnels, and further increase their speed and efficiency.
Cleaning up the plastic from our oceans
Major problems do not necessarily require complex solutions. This video explains the technology that is proposed to be used to remove half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years.
Transformation of wetlands in Peru
A Japanese PhD student used his research idea and successfully cleaned the highly polluted El Cascajo Lake in Peru. He now wants to use his idea to clean Peru’s biggest lake, Lake Titicaca.
Providing electricity to poor communities
Ideas that improve the lives of others can be as simple as providing the basic things we take for granted. This site shows how a range of social enterprises are finding ways to mass produce simple and sustainable lighting alternatives.
Housing for the homeless
Often what is required is for us to approach a problem from a different perspective. In this video architecture students explore and develop housing solutions for the homeless.
Free mobile laundry for the homeless
Great ideas often start with simple concepts. Two young Australians had a simple idea to improve the lives of homeless people - a free mobile laundry, an initiative they call Orange Sky Laundry. They started out with a washer and dryer in the back of an old van they had.
Insights into the creative process