Greetings! It's me, Mitch Ditkoff, author of this blog, President of Idea Champions, writer, speaker, husband, father, and dust particle. If you've been enjoying this blog, there is a good chance you will enjoy my forthcoming book. Towards that end, I have just launched a GoFundMe campaign and am inviting you to participate. We're talking crowd-sourced funding -- a way for me to buy the time and resources I need to write, produce, publish, and promote the book before hell freezes over. Hope you can be part of it! It takes a village... and a few village idiots!

Click here to find out more
Click here if you don't want to find out more

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

Need powerful, new ideas to grow your business, solve a problem, or find a better way? Don't want to go to yet another meeting to figure things out? Start paying attention to the ideas you are conceiving away from the workplace. And encourage others to do so, as well. Here's WHY and HOW.

Idea Champions
First, identify the problem
Innovation sparking keynotes
Free online creative thinking tool

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

Idea Champions has just launched a groundbreaking three-hour workshop that will save your organization untold time, tons of money, and a thousand pounding headaches you can't afford to have.

What our clients say

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

If you want to "get away from it all" for a romantic getaway this Spring or Summer (or just want a weekend to chill out), consider the Blue Pearl in Woodstock, NY -- arguably the most beautiful vacation cottage in all of the Hudson Valley.

Just a two hour drive from New York City, the Blue Pearl is an 850 square foot cottage on a quiet, country lane, with mountain views -- just a 12-minute walk to the town of Woodstock.Click the link below for a Blue Pearl slide show and a sampling of guest testimonials

Here's what guests are saying:

"Thank you for creating such a wonderful, comfortable, and welcoming place, We will come back again and again." -- Susan and John

"Your cottage is perfect -- the vibe is welcoming and warm. We immediately felt at home. Thank you for letting us borrow the brownie pan!. We had an amazing time!" -- Cathy and Carlos

"Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend! Your cottage is beautiful and offered us the perfect relaxing vibe we were looking for. This is a great place in a great town and we are lucky to have had the pleasure of staying here." -- Sarah and Joe

"We had a wonderful time at the Blue Pearl and enjoyed every single moment of our stay! The house decorations are absolutely amazing. Thank you for your amazing collection of books, too!" -- Tuliya and Stas

"The cottage makes for a fantastic romantic weekend! We went for a fun walk up to Meads Mountain and we enjoyed walking to town several times. We'd love to come back for a stay in the summer!" -- Adam and Lauren

"We loved it! We loved it! We will be back!" -- Cindy and Bob

"We had a wonderful time and felt so relaxed." -- Jill, Scott, and Jamie

"The Blue Pearl is a special, magical place. Words cannot describe how peaceful the energy is in this place. I asked the love of my life to marry me here!!!" -- Ricardo and Nancy

"We had an absolutely fabulous time in Woodstock, mostly due to how beautiful the Blue Pearl is. Thank you for being so accommodating. We will definitely be back." -- Patti and Robin

To make a reservation or call 845.389.5405

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

If you want to "get away from it all" for a romantic getaway this Spring or Summer (or just want a weekend to chill out), consider the Blue Pearl in Woodstock, NY -- arguably the most beautiful vacation cottage in all of the Hudson Valley.

Just a two hour drive from New York City, the Blue Pearl is an 850 square foot cottage on a quiet, country lane, with mountain views -- just a 12-minute walk to the town of Woodstock.Click the link below for a Blue Pearl slide show and a sampling of guest testimonials

Here's what guests are saying:

"Thank you for creating such a wonderful, comfortable, and welcoming place, We will come back again and again." -- Susan and John

"Your cottage is perfect -- the vibe is welcoming and warm. We immediately felt at home. Thank you for letting us borrow the brownie pan!. We had an amazing time!" -- Cathy and Carlos

"Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend! Your cottage is beautiful and offered us the perfect relaxing vibe we were looking for. This is a great place in a great town and we are lucky to have had the pleasure of staying here." -- Sarah and Joe

"We had a wonderful time at the Blue Pearl and enjoyed every single moment of our stay! The house decorations are absolutely amazing. Thank you for your amazing collection of books, too!" -- Tuliya and Stas

"The cottage makes for a fantastic romantic weekend! We went for a fun walk up to Meads Mountain and we enjoyed walking to town several times. We'd love to come back for a stay in the summer!" -- Adam and Lauren

"We loved it! We loved it! We will be back!" -- Cindy and Bob

"We had a wonderful time and felt so relaxed." -- Jill, Scott, and Jamie

"The Blue Pearl is a special, magical place. Words cannot describe how peaceful the energy is in this place. I asked the love of my life to marry me here!!!" -- Ricardo and Nancy

"We had an absolutely fabulous time in Woodstock, mostly due to how beautiful the Blue Pearl is. Thank you for being so accommodating. We will definitely be back." -- Patti and Robin

To make a reservation or call 845.389.5405

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

For years I was trying to figure out what all my clients had in common. Opposable thumbs? Yes. The Isle of Langerhans. That, too. Big, fat opinions about everything. For sure.

But even more than the aforementioned stuff in the preceding paragraph which you just read and probably haven't yet forgotten even though your short-term memory is getting shorter by the nanosecond and you're probably wondering, by now, why I'm rambling on and on when most blog postings are supposed to be short and sweet, it dawned on me one fine day as I was scraping marinara sauce off my shirt that the main thing all my clients had in common was the blues.

Yes, indeed. The blues. The same blues Muddy Waters had. And Robert Johnson. And BB King. Those blues.

Unlike the blues greats, however, my clients didn't have a way to express their blues. And, in the absence of this opportunity, their God given right to get right was lost.

But no more, brothers and sisters! No more!

Now, even the most buttoned down, white collared, bow-tied creators of spreadsheets at midnight have a chance to get those business blues off their chest and move towards a better future -- not to mention have fun, collaborate, and learn what it takes to innovate on the fly.

Ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, allow me to introduce you to the world's first business blues band -- Face the Music!.

PS: Should you decide to contact them, be sure to mention that it was Idea Champions who sent you. (We give 5% of our referral fees to TPRF, one of the most well-run and inspired humanitarian organizations in the world).

The Six Sigma Blues
My blues encounter at Pfizer
The Email Blues
The Gotta Have a Process Blues

Idea Champions

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)

If you are reading this, please help me. I need your help!

For the past eight days, I've been in Mexico, being deprogrammed. My captors are quite clever -- latino ninjas, I believe. They never show their faces. But they are definitely having an effect on me.

Two days ago, I completely lost my desire to log on to Facebook. I can't remember any of my passwords. Or the name of my insurance agent.

What in the world is happening to me?

And it's getting worse. Last night, after being fed some "fresh" guacomole, I found myself looking at the moon instead of my email.

Have you ever heard of such a thing? Is it reversible?

For a couple of days, I thought my shaky state of mind might be due to "something in the water," but then I remembered I've been drinking mostly margaritas and cervesa.

These deprogrammers are extremely accomplished. They stop at nothing. I don't know how they do it.

My ability to comprehend the basics of my life? Rapidly deteriorating. I have no idea how many hits my website got last week. I have no clue how the Knicks are doing. The sun is up. That I know. But the Dow? Beats me.

Please, help me!

Do you know anyone at the U.S. Consulate who can intercede? A website I might check out when no one is looking? Something! Anything! Please!

Wait... shhhh... can you hear it? There... off in the distance... church bells... many church bells ringing... Listen.

Photograph

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:58 AM | Comments (1)

Need a break? Looking for a relaxing weekend in a beautiful setting, with mountain views, just a 10 minute walk from the center of Woodstock? Come to the Blue Pearl, just two hours north of NYC. See the flowers bloom. See your spirits rise. Have fun. Breathe deep! Renew!

Includes free copies of Awake at the Wheel and Free the Genie.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)