Alien Thinking

Unleash your imagination, catalyse original thinking and find counter-intuitive solutions

How did a balloonist orbit the earth without fuel? How did an inventor create electrical power from human footsteps? How did the WHO figure out how to treat and reduce the transmission of Ebola? They all used alien thinking.

For over a decade, innovation experts Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux and Michael Wade have studied individuals around the world who have made leaps of creative genius. Their research shows five patterns of thinking that distinguish true innovators - Attention, Levitation, Imagination, Experimentation and Navigation. Marked by a flexibility and freshness that transcends conventional problem-solving, alien thinkers know how to free their imagination, detect hard-to-observe patterns, systematically prototype ideas and see the big picture.

Alien Thinking will help you innovate better and develop world changing-ideas of your own.

About the Authors

Cyril Bouquet is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD, where he orchestrates all kinds of innovation journeys for companies that seek to create the future.

Jean-Louis Barsoux is a Research Professor at IMD and has published extensively in Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. He is also the author of several books on management, including the award-winning Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome: How Good Managers Cause Great People To Fail.

Michael Wade is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD and holds the Cisco Chair in Digital Business Transformation. He is the Director of the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation. Michael has published nine books, more than thirty case studies, and appears frequently in the mainstream media.