As you know and experience daily, your world is rapidly changing. It's in a constant state of flux. New creative solutions are required. While you might wish, your future simply requires you embrace your past—you might have self-declared, "I'm having a tough time remembering the past!"

This issue of The Results Report, features a conversation with a unique business pro, who knows all about creativity, innovation and even memory!

Dan Steininger and I quickly bonded. We discovered we had lots in common. Dan, like me, is also trained as an attorney. He too, is a successful author: Moving Mountains Every Day and Conquering Your Mountains. As a professional speaker, his message has been shared with organizations throughout the U.S. Plus, we both played soccer. (And agreed, to now—not engage in a foot race!)

Jeff Blackman: You say "creativity and innovation" are learned skills. So how can adults be more creative and innovative—with solving problems and pursuing opportunities—personally and professionally?

Dan Steininger: Adopt the practices and habits of very creative people. Like; curiosity, scheduling periods of daily solitude, the use of humor to move from the left brain to the right brain—the source of creativity, plus daily exercise which provides blood supply to the brain.

Steve Jobs was famous for taking walks either alone or with others to think through creative solutions. Being out in nature stimulates the mind, relaxes tension and provides more openness to creativity.

Einstein claimed his creativity came from sitting alone in his office with lots of notepads and a huge wastebasket. My audience members tell me they're especially creative when showering, sleeping, swimming or driving. No one says their creative ideas come to them at the office!

JB: You say, you've taught others a "secret sauce"  to creativity, what is it?

DS: It's a five-step process:

1. Take the time to really understand the problem or goal. Don't solve or shoot first—and then aim.
2. Employ cause-and-effect diagrams to best comprehend what causes the problem or challenges being faced.
3. Engage in ideation. Per the Harvard Business Review, experiment. The more ideas you put in play, better potential solutions emerge.
4. Employ an evaluation matrix, weighting the criteria in order of importance.
5. Test the most promising ideas emerging from that matrix. 

And here are two bonus strategies:

1. Ask, "Why?" five times.
2. Assign specific team members with a simple, yet significant purpose: to question everything, to continually poke holes in a solution or approach, to relentlessly play devil's advocate and provoke debate.

JB: How is AI influencing innovation? Is it enhancing our abilities or making us lazier?

DS: AI is a magic bullet. It provides an immense amount of research on perplexing questions at a rate much faster than any human could even consider. It's a tool, not a control. Greater, better research leads to more profound insights and answers.

A wonderful thing about AI, is that it can contradict prevailing thinking. It adds a dimension never thought possible. You can even create an AI character that plays the role of devil's advocate to poke those holes in one's thinking. AI becomes a solution-multiplier.

JB: You urge others to "innovate or die" — who (an individual or company), is especially good at innovation and prospers? And who wasn't or isn't and they died or are about to die?

DS: Business history is filled with examples of companies that failed to innovate and died. We used to have a "Kodak moment"—yet they failed to adopt digital photography at a meeting in the late 1980s. It spelled their doom. We no longer have Xerox documents to copy, because they disappeared from the business landscape. They missed a huge technology revolution.

Amazon replaced the Sears catalog and grew exponentially. In 2008, Starbucks was struggling, Wall Street wrote it off. Founder Howard Schultz returned as CEO, and focused on training and enhancing the brand.

JB: You encourage business people to be "archaeologists" — what do you mean?

DS: Business leaders must design products or services that meet the needs of current and potential customers. That process has been called, "ethnographic research"—it's what archaeologists do when trying to understand civilizations from the past.

It's no different in trying to understand your customers and their habits, values and priorities.

Marketing, sales and service departments need to do research just like archaeologists.

JB: We live close to the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview, IL. They had an outdoor sign promoting an exhibit about Curious George. What role does curiosity play in helping our thought-process and inducing action?

DS: Curious people are always looking for causes and things of interest. It's a habit that makes their lives more fulfilling.

When a curious person plans a vacation, they do their homework in advance—to learn about a country's history, culture, food, attractions, etc. Curiosity creates possibilities. And possibilities create solutions.

JB: Dan, you have eclectic interests and expertise, including studying memory and neuroscience. We both often hear from others, "I've got a lousy memory!" How can individuals, of any age, improve their memory?

DS: First, recognize memory loss is inevitable. It's the decline of our fluid intelligence as our brains shrink with age. It's no different than a large number of aging adults, need reading glasses as their eyesight deteriorates.

There are a number of practices to adopt, to improve memory. And they don't include taking supplements so heavily advertised on TV. They don't work!

The ancient Greeks had devices to help remember things, like mnemonics. Other simple, but effective practices are:

1. Pay attention.
2. When you meet someone, repeat their name. Write it down. Enter it into your smartphone.
3. Put important items in the same spot, i.e., your keys go here. Your phone goes there.
4. Create lists.
5. Create reminders on your phone or calendar.

JB: How does one know, if their forgetfulness is normal or something to worry about?

DS: The biggest concern of aging adults, is the threat of dementia. It's very real. Yet it's good to remember, it's a disease. And there are lots of tests including a doctor's visit—to determine if a person has some form of dementia.

With my audiences, I use a simple test or explanation: When you "lose" your cell phone, that's ordinary memory loss. But if you forget what a cell phone is, then it's likely you're experiencing dementia.

JB: To keep one's memory clear, sharp — what are negative habits or health things to avoid, or positive habits / health strategies to focus on/do?

DS: Without our memories, the world is a scary place. We couldn't even start our car to go somewhere without a memory.

So the first rule is, don't panic. Memory loss is normal, but made more challenging because only 20% of the neurons in the brain are dedicated to memory. Our brains are like hard drives, they fill up.

Plus, our brains are also like Dropbox, because all those memories are "there" but getting access to them becomes more challenging.

When we're born, there are approximately 85 billion neurons in our brain. The good news is, the latest findings and neuroscience show we can actually grow new neurons in our brain. We can't grow a new finger, but we can grow neurons in our brain that'll enhance our ability to remember things and stay sharp—well into our 90s and beyond.

While we can't yet track or count the number of new neurons created, the fact though, that new brain neurons can be created is remarkable! And that happens by engaging or exercising the brain with creative challenges, like; learning a new language or taking a course.

To learn more valuable insights from Dan, please take a peek at: DanSteininger

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