Shownotes Transcript
Over time, our brains are biologically hardwired with neural pathways and synaptic connections that largely determine our behavior. Once those pathways are formed our brains are pathological about following them. This is both good news, efficiency, and bad news because it actively inhibits new ideas and solutions. Real creativity, real problem solving, always comes from exploring the unknown and the uncertain. So, how do you go from the way things are… to the way things need to be? Welcome to Thinknado. A Thinknado is the freeing of your brain to act like a tornado to pull random ideas in and spin them around and upside down. Tornadoes do not edit what is right or wrong for a tornado – they just whirl and grab at everything in their path. Thinknados are the same in that they throw ideas – crazy ideas, wrong ideas together pulling them into their vortex, spinning them back to the ground. Co-Founder of Thinknado, designer, entrepreneur and imaginative advocate for a better world, John is recognized for innovative investigations into the practice and understanding of design and leadership in the “design for good” movement. John is founding creative director of Pando Populus and a member of the board of directors and co-author of the book Think Wrong. The thing that John Bielenberg designs best is designers. He doesn’t think much of design as an end in itself, but rather sees its value in its impact on people, and the world. He’s always had a tendency to do something he calls “thinking wrong,” which means, “Whatever you’re supposed to think, or make, or say—do your best to do the opposite, and see where it takes you.” Co-Founder Thinknado, entrepreneur, connector of dots and people. Brandt Williams is a strategist with a knack for transforming ideas into successful ventures. He is a member of the board of directors of Pando Populus. As a serial entrepreneur, Brandt has served as founder/co-founder/CEO for early stage ventures and well as an intrapreneur and CMO for Fortune 500 companies. Brandt cares most about mentoring people and teams to find their true purpose. Deeply invested in building a better future, Brandt strives to find new paths for creativity, sustainable livelihoods, and fulfillment. Much of his early career was spent at Microsoft, Apple and a handful of early stage companies as a co-founder and senior leader. Galvanized by the entrepreneurial rigor and having built and sold a couple of companies, Brandt joined a Fortune 500 company as an intrepreneur where he was able to launch several successful ventures. After several years of working at making businesses bigger he pointed his efforts to people. Brandt has been a guest lecturer at Haas Business School, UC Berkeley, St. Mary's College and an Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts in San Francisco in both Graduate and Undergraduate levels, teaching in several divisions. Brandt is currently an Adjunct Professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana teaching design thinking and entrepreneurship. “Teaching gives a fresh outlook on how best to communicate to motivate. Nothing is more gratifying seeing second career students in grad school find their passion in the process of discovery” -Brandt. His real success is in building impactful teams and help individuals unlock their creativity to build better: businesses, careers, communities and lives.