December 30, 2014
Vote for Mitch Ditkoff as Best Innovation Blogger of the Year

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If you have received any value, in 2014, from the postings in this blog, please consider casting your vote, today, for Mitch Ditkoff, the primary author of The Heart of Innovation -- now in the running for "Best Innovation Blogger of the Year." All you need to do is click this link, scroll down to the REPLY area and write his name in the comments box. Then click "Post Comment." Will take you two minutes or less. Voting ends 12/31.

All of us at Idea Champions extend a hearty HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours. May 2015 be filled with peace, joy, and prosperity for you.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:43 AM | Comments (1)

December 29, 2014
Cast Your Vote for the Top Innovation Blogger of 2014

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Click here. Then scroll down and enter your name and email address in the space provided. Then enter my name, MITCH DITKOFF, in the comments field. If you value another blogger's work more, enter THEIR name. Thank you, in advance, for your support!

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)

December 27, 2014
Storytelling and Business Podcast

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If you are interested in the relationship between storytelling and business, you might like this just released 34-minute podcast -- Innovation Engine interviewing Idea Champions' co-founder and President, Mitch Ditkoff.

Like the poet Muriel Rukyser once said, "The world is not made of atoms. It is made of stories."

Storytelling workshop
Power of storytelling in business

25 quotes on storytelling
Idea Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:50 PM | Comments (3)

December 26, 2014
Happy Morphing in 2015!

Idea Champions
Brainstorm Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:04 AM | Comments (2)

December 23, 2014
The 25 Most Influential Innovation Blogs and Experts: 2014

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GOOD NEWS! Idea Champions' The Heart of Innovation blog was just chosen as one of the top 25 "innovation blogs and experts" of 2014 (just 86 years after the first American Yo Yo factory opened in California). Check it out here. To be more specific, The Heart of Innovation is listed as #20. So, it's officially official: You are not a loser for reading this blog. On the contrary, you are insightful, intelligent, adventurous, creative, and very good looking, if not just a wee bit twisted. PS: There are a number of other, fine innovation blogs noted on Nick Skillicorn's end-of-the-year-round-up. Worth a look.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:04 PM | Comments (2)

December 15, 2014
The Seed of Innovation Moment

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If you want to foster innovation in your company, stop obsessing about programs and initiatives for a moment and simply help your people learn how to tune into the seed of innovation moment. It's much less expensive, and much more likely to yield results.

A simple way to begin
Idea Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2014
BIG IDEA: Empowering the Homeless

What idea do you have to make a difference? What can YOU do to go beyond the obvious and really be of service to people in need? And if you work in an organization, how can you rally the troops to join you in the venture? Check out what 24-year old Veronika did. Genius!



Need to brainstorm it with others?

Just need a starter idea?

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2014
Win a Subscription to Free the Genie

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In an effort to ho, ho, ho the ground for innovation in 2015 (and in gratitude for YOU being a reader of Heart of Innovation), Idea Champions will be giving away five annual subscriptions to our Free the Genie creative thinking app. If you want to enter the raffle, simply send an email to info@ideachampions.com by 12/26 and include one New Year's resolution you are making for the coming year. If your name is selected, we'll send you the link to your free subscription on 12/31. Go for it! And happy holidays to you!

FreeTheGenie.com
Five ways to use Free the Genie
The non-virtual version

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2014
How to Jump Start Brilliance in 2015 in an Extremely Cost Effective Way

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The first company that says YES to Idea Champions' brainstorm facilitation training (and signs a contract by 12/31) receives a 20% discount. This ain't eBay folks, but it IS a good deal. Operators are NOT standing by. (We don't have any operators). But we will get back to you within 24 hours.)

Brainstorm Champions

What our clients say

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2014
PEACE: The Ultimate Innovation

PEACE ON EARTH: The biggest innovation possible. (And it begins with YOU -- right here, right now).

Idea Champions
Brainstorm Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2014
Who We Are and What We Do

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When my mother was alive, she would ask me, at regular intervals, what I did for a living. I would do my best to explain it to her but, somehow, her explanations to her friends around the canasta table always ended up with some version of "my son is a motivational speaker." No matter how hard I tried to educate dear Sylvia about what I REALLY did, nothing stuck. It would have been easy if I was a doctor, lawyer, or dentist, but I wasn't. I was a....

Anyway, a few days ago, a new prospect of Idea Champions just asked me a similar question. This is what I told her:

Idea Champions is an innovation consulting and training company, headquartered in Woodstock, NY. Since 1987, we have been helping a wide variety of forward thinking organizations increase their employee's ability and commitment to think creativity, generate powerful new, business-growth ideas, collaborate, and develop the kind of organizational culture that is conducive to sustainable innovation.

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How we accomplish this noble goal depends on the current reality of each client, their level of commitment, and what their hoped-for outcomes are.

Services we provide include: innovation-sparking keynotes, leadership development sessions, creative thinking training, facilitated brainstorming sessions, culture of innovation workshops, brainstorm facilitation training, team building, executive coaching, and innovation-sparking materials.

Our clients have included: General Electric, AT&T, Merck, Lucent Technologies, NBC Universal, Pfizer, Kraft Foods, General Mills, MTV Networks, Chubb insurance, Goodyear Tire, Citibank, Wells Fargo, TV Guide, Hitachi, A&E Television, Genentech, Michelin, Con Edison, MBooth, Blue States Digital, Duke Corporate Education, Atlanticare, TIAA Cref, The National Institutes of Health, Champion International, Coca Cola, and a host of others. This is what they say about us.

Intrigued? Check out either or both of our websites:

Idea Champions
Brainstorm Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)

"What Is There at This Moment That You Lack?" Said the Zen Master

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Idea Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:24 AM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2014
How Big Ideas Make Their Appearance at the Most Unexpected Times

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Just published in the Huffington Post
-- the story of how BIG IDEAS sometimes manifest in the most unexpected situations -- in this case, the idea for a business blues band that came to me late one night, as a young parent, while I was out on the town with my wife for "date night."

Where do YOU get your breakthrough ideas?

Face the Music
How to attract a big AHA!

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)

Who Are We?

Idea Champions is a consulting and training company dedicated to awakening and nurturing the spirit of innovation. We help individuals, teams and entire organizations tap into their innate ability to create, develop and implement ideas that make a difference.

MitchDitkoff.com
Click here for the simplest, most direct way, to learn more about Idea Champions' semi-fearless leader, Mitch Ditkoff. Info on his keynotes, workshops, conferences, and more.
Storytelling for the Revolution
Storytelling for the Revolution is Mitch Ditkoff's newly published book about the power of personal storytelling to elevate the conversation on planet Earth. Provocative. Evocative. And fun. YOU have stories to tell. This book will help you tell them.
Storytelling at Work
"The world is not made of atoms," wrote the poet, Muriel Rukeyser. "It's made of stories." Learn how to discover, honor, and unpack the stories of yours that show up "on the job" in Mitch Ditkoff's award-winning 2015 book, Storytelling at Work.
Top 5 Speaker
Mitch Ditkoff, the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions, has recently been voted a top 5 speaker in the field of innovation and creativity by Speakers Platform, a leading speaker's bureau.
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Workshops & Trainings
Highly engaging learning experiences that increase each participant's ability to become a creative force for positive change
Brainstorm Facilitation
High impact certification training that teaches committed change agents how to lead groundbreaking ideation sessions
Cultivating Innovation
Your "best and brightest" are the future leaders of your company, but unless they know how to foster a culture of innovation, their impact will be limited. A one-day workshop with us is all they need to begin this journey.
Our Blog Cabin
Our Heart of Innovation blog is a daily destination for movers and shakers everywhere — gleefully produced by our President, Mitch Ditkoff, voted "best innovation blogger in the world" two years running.
Team Innovation
Innovation is a team sport. Brilliant ideas go nowhere unless your people are aligned, collaborative, and team-oriented. That doesn't happen automatically, however. It takes intention, clarity, selflessness, and a new way of operating.
Awake at the Wheel, Book about big ideas If you're looking for a powerful way to jump start innovation and get your creative juices flowing, Awake at the Wheel is for you. Written by Mitch Ditkoff, Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions.
Face the Music Blues Band The world's first interactive business blues band. A great way to help your workforce go beyond complaint.

"In tune with corporate America." — CNN
© IDEA CHAMPIONS