Roger L. Firestien

Dr. Roger L. Firestien is committed to making creativity simple, making it practical and helping people apply their creativity to produce results. Roger is the president of Innovation Resources, Inc., a company that delivers programs in creative thinking and problem solving.  Roger’s keynote presentations and training programs are dynamic, interactive, great fun and provide methods that participants can use immediately to create innovative results.

In 1984, Roger joined the faculty of the International Center for Studies in Creativity at the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and he is the author of over 80 articles, books, audio and video programs.  His research focuses on how to help groups develop creative solutions more productively.

Called “The Gold Standard” and the “Classic Cola” of creativity training by his clients, some of the organizations to benefit from his keynote presentations, training and facilitation include: AT&T, Disney, Los Angeles Times, Farmers Insurance, GE, General Mills, Merck, UBS, the American Hospital Association, Young Presidents Organization and the University of Illinois, as well as government groups from the Federal Executive Institute, the US Air Force, US Agency for International Development, NOAA, Department of the Treasury and NASA.

Roger focuses his work on how to be personally creative and how to lead a team to produce creative results. His clients regularly report dramatic improvements in their innovation effectiveness and enhanced quality of work life.  His books, “Leading on the Creative Edge” and his creative thinking fable, “Why Didn’t I Think of That?” are essential reading that leaders regularly order for their teams to kick-start innovation.  He is currently working on a much anticipated sequel to his creativity fable.

Roger holds a Ph.D. in Communication and a M.S. in Creativity and Innovation, from the State University of New York.  When he’s not traveling, he lives in Buffalo, NY, Cincinnati, OH, and regularly drives a tractor, although not too well, on the family farm near Greeley, CO.

MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Unleashing the Power of Creativity™ 
Creativity is essential for survival and growth, and for sharpening your competitive edge. In this interactive program you will experience proven techniques to become deliberately creative--skills you will apply immediately. 

We are all creative. The difference between those people who consistently make their ideas work and those who say, "Now why didn't I think of that?" is their ability to make creativity happen instead of leaving it to chance. By taking control of your creative ability, you can begin to turn problems into opportunities, develop more options, enhance learning, increase profits, and work together more effectively as a team. 

Key points include:

• exercises to warm up your mental muscles
• how to use critical thinking rather than criticism to stimulate good ideas
• cutting-edge research on creativity and innovation: what works, what doesn't
• how a process-orientation can become results-oriented
• strategies for developing a climate for creativity and innovation
• applications of creativity in business, education, health care, human services, education, and life. 

You will leave this program knowing how to take control of your creative ability, turn problems into opportunities, develop more options, and increase profits both personally and professionally. 

Leading on the Creative Edge™
The organizations that will thrive over time are not the ones with the deepest pockets, but the ones that unleash and apply the creativity of their workforce. Leaders who know how to nurture their own creativity while igniting creativity in others are able to use the strategic business weapon most crucial to gaining and maintaining a competitive edge. 

Extraordinary bottom-line results come when a leader nurtures rather than destroys the creativity of everyone in the organization. Whether you lead a multi-million dollar corporation, help a volunteer group, coach Little League, teach in a classroom, or work for a non-profit organization, this program will provide you with the crucial information and cutting-edge research you need to take your leadership (and creativity) to a new level. 

Key points include:

• how leaders can play a vital role in developing a work environment that promotes creativity
• how mistakes can actually stimulate innovation
• how to make a habit of being creative
• how to encourage the creative contributions of everyone in your organization. 

Unleashing the Power of Creativity™
Creative Problem Solving Basics 
In this interactive program, participants will learn the Creative Problem Solving process and how to apply it in order to solve actual problems that they encounter in their professional or personal life. This program has been delivered in both North and South America to train existing work groups as well as entire divisions and organizations. The results have exceeded our clients' expectations in terms of financial gain, time savings, and organizational effectiveness. 

Key program benefits include:

• enhancing participants' skills to increase the creative productivity of the whole organization
• shortening the amount of time it takes to solve problems and implement solutions by adopting a deliberate problem solving process
• clarifying the proper problem
• evaluating and solving real organizational problems
• creating a focus to achieve continuous improvement
• generating and effectively evaluating ideas in groups
• building ideas for action and successful implementation
• developing an organizational environment that nurtures creativity
• adopting a common process and language by which teams can solve problems and create breakthroughs. 

Leading on the Creative Edge™
Leading Innovation Groups 
This program is delivered to organizations that want to increase their creative and competitive edge, and builds on the "Unleashing the Power of Creativity™: Creative Problem Solving Basics" program. It is for managers/supervisors/team leaders who have been identified as Creative Problem Solving "champions." During the program, participants lead Creative Problem Solving groups to tackle real organizational challenges that require group input. 

This program is delivered to small groups with a low participant-to-trainer ratio. Graduates have led groups whose efforts have resulted in notable financial gains, time savings, and organizational improvements. 

Key program benefits include:

• more effective and efficient leadership of Creative Problem Solving groups and teams
• increased proficiency in working with teams on major challenges to solve them efficiently and effectively, thereby increasing the organization's speed of implementing changes
• greater ability to model appropriate behavior to foster and nurture creativity
• enhanced skill in using additional creativity techniques with groups to help them generate and evaluate ideas effectively
• improved leadership to resolve organizational problems
• more effective use of group meeting time- improved leadership skills. 

Creating Breakthroughs Lab 
Creative solutions do exist within your organization. And because nobody knows your organization and the challenges you face better than you and your co-workers do, we work with you to help your group unleash those creative answers. Our focus is on conducting the session and managing the group's dynamics in order to solve tough organizational challenges. Our flexible Creative Problem Solving process utilizes many techniques to help create breakthroughs in organizational performance. 

The Creating Breakthroughs Lab has been used for the following types of projects:

• strategic planning- new product development
• product naming
• organizational vision and mission development
• promotion development- organizational restructuring. 

Key benefits of using this approach to solve tough organizational challenges are:

• group consensus around complex issues
• many breakthrough or "outside-of-the-box" ideas
• dramatic reduction of off-focus debates and tangents
• drastic reduction of meeting time
• equal participation by all group members, including bosses and subordinates
• faster group decision making.