Intuitive Thinking

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that has honoured the servant and has forgotten the gift.  Albert Einstein.

In Atlanta in early 2000 I attended a conference session about intuition and during that 90 minute session I became convinced that intuition was a powerful tool. When the session was over, I approached the woman who had run it and asked what evidence there was to back up what she had been telling us, and she said the following to me, that "There is none, you just have to believe". I am as much an imaginative guy as I am the sort of guy who wants to know what the details are. But I had to walk away knowing in the back of my mind there was no actual research or evidence, it was just an intuitive thought that knows that this is worth trying. Since that time I have been a big believer of trusting my intuition. Intuition is the part of your brain that works while you sleep, talks to you when you should move or do something and alerts your mind to things that are happening that your conscious mind should be paying attention to. Intuition is a powerful tool and it will do a lot for you. Now this may sound strange, but the lady that I spoke about in Atlanta said you must almost catch yourself with this intuitive thought in the back of your mind telling you that you should check the car because the meter is running out. She says you should thank your intuitive mind and then make a decision on whether to act upon it or not. Quite often when I am speaking, there are moments when I am not sure what piece of material I'm going to go into next, but I trust my intuition that by the time I move from one side of the room to the other, the thought will come...and it does. 

Some years ago I was chatting to a friend who runs my PR and we were discussing different angles on creativity or innovation that may warrant a story. When we finished our discussion I asked, "What do you think?" to which she replied, "I don't know but by tomorrow afternoon something will have come to me". That's trusting your intuition. Elton John calls it 'walking away'. If the song doesn't come to him within 30 minutes he closes the piano, pushes aside a piece of paper and walks away. He trusts that in the time between walking away from and back to the piano his intuitive mind will have found an angle or lyric for him. That's trusting your intuition. Trust it because it works. What's the evidence? Don't know, but it works for me.

Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.   Jonas Salk

Band Sponsorship 

Anyone who has worked in the music industry will know how hard it is for a band to get a sponsorship deal. Fanatic FM came up with an idea to help bring bands together with other brands in the easiest possible way. Fanatic FM is a music sponsorship platform where brands and bands can find each other. Brands can go onto Fanatic FM and show that they have got cash to spend for the right musician or musicians. Muso's then bid on musical projects such as a new album or clip. If the brand picks it up then the sponsor pays the band in question a cost per play on the Fanatic FM player which can be imbedded on any site or social media page. The brand then can use the bands music within its own social media campaign as well as co-promoting directly on the bands music player. It seems like a pretty good win win both ways and certainly a time efficient way for bands to find a partner. The real upside of the muso's, they take 70% of the total sponsorship revenue while Fanatic FM takes the rest. There is no doubt that the music industry is changing with the times. It is certainly not being driven by the record companies but more the muso's and their community. Maybe it's time the book publishing industry took a note of what's going on in the music industry.

Impossible is nothing

Adidas once had a famous saying endorsed by sporting legends 'IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING'. Maybe they are taking the same philosophy into the retail experience teaming up with Intel . Adidas and Intel have come together to create a 3 dimensional shopping experience in the form of an interactive wall that displays up to eight thousand shoes (virtually) at a time. It is called Adiverse. Customers can swipe through endless collections with just a touch of a fingertip. You can rotate the viewing of the shoe for extra perspective, zoom out, pull up, product information, commercials featuring the product and even profiles and information on the sports stars that will wear them. A lot of work has gone into this Adidas / Intel collaboration and from what we can see so far it's pretty impressive. Still in the beta testing stage, Adidas plans to launch these across the United Kingdom (surprise, surprise just in time for the Olympic Games). Great technology and also a clever way to take the pressure off floor staff and put the onus on you and I...the shopper. It's pretty cool, it's interactive and we're pretty sure it will be a stepping stone into the future for virtual shopping.

Sugary Eyes

There is no doubt that the world is about to face a diabetes epidemic. As a population we are getting bigger and more unhealthy each year. However, Professor Jin Zhang of the University of Western Ontario has developed contact lenses which could help monitor diabetes by changing colour as your glucose levels vary. If the wearer of the contact lens has a dangerous sugar level, the contact lens' will change colour. This is breakthrough technology by the University of Ontario, potentially eradicating the need for people to have regular blood tests. Supposedly the contact lenses interact with the glucose in the wearers tears. Another one to watch that certainly will have an enormous market once they get it together.