Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas.

Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.

Being right is not too difficult. Your choose your perception. You select your information. You leave out what does not suit you. You drag in some general-purpose value words. You throw in a sneer or two about the opposition, and you are a fine fellow who made a fine speech.

Once a new idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought. There is a sense of immortality in a new idea.

Maybe the social value of truth is as a destination - so long as we do not assume we have arrived there.

Intelligence is something we are born with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned.