Workshop: Creative Problem Solving: 10x Thinking

Location:

Level: 
All

When:

1:00pm - 4:00pm

Prerequisites

None

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” Max Planck

This highly experiential workshop is rooted in the belief that the questions we ask frame the solutions we get. You’ll have the chance to explore a set of lateral thinking tools and exercises that help you change your perspective, see problems from new angles and discover new solution spaces through 10X thinking. We will challenge you to invert your thinking in order to unlock new possibilities that our normal problem solving processes won’t get us to.

Through a series of case studies, exercises and videos, participants will have the chance to practice looking at business, technical and design problems by pulling back to a wider perspective, reframing problems, and creatively developing solutions by changing their lens. You’ll walk away with an expanded toolkit for creative problem solving, as well as highly practical tools and frameworks to bring back to your teams and colleagues to help them expand their thinking.

Key takeaways:

  • Learn critical thinking and creative problem solving skills, including tools for reframing a problem and brainstorming that actually works
  • Flare before Focus: Practice exploring problems from different perspectives to broaden the range of possible solutions before choosing a path forward
  • Introduction to diverse problem solving techniques from Design Thinking, Liberating Structures, and improv.

Speaker: Zachary Smith

Co-founder @Catalyz

Zach is a technology, design thinking, and innovation leader with more than 19 years of product development and client services experiences, serving a wide range of industries and organizations including startups, Wall Street banks, automotive manufacturers, enterprise software platform providers, creative studios, and consulting agencies. Zach is Co-Founder with Ben of the Seattle Design Thinking and Innovation Collective.

Find Zachary Smith at

Speaker: Ben Grossman-Kahn

Leadership Transformation, Co-Founder Catalyz, previously Director of @Nordstorm Technology People Lab

Ben has an M.ED in Learning, Design and Technology from Stanford, and is a graduate and former lecturer and coach at the Stanford d.School. Ben has 8 years of experience consulting, facilitating, and leading innovation engagements, programs and teams at Fortune 500 firms, nonprofits and educational institutions. Ben was an early member of the Nordstrom Innovation Lab, Director of the Nordstrom People Lab where he founded Nordstrom’s Innovation Bootcamp program, and Co-Founder with Zachary of the Seattle Design Thinking and Innovation Collective.

Find Ben Grossman-Kahn at

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Tracks

Monday Nov 7

Tuesday Nov 8

Wednesday Nov 9