Martin Lindstrom

Here's a challenge for every leader: Once a month, experience your business as a complete stranger. Try buying something, getting help, or solving a problem without special access. You may discover more in 30 minutes than in your last five meetings.

When you admire someone's originality, study what they pay attention to rather than what they create. The books they read, the places they visit, the questions they ask. Great ideas often begin long before anyone sits down to create.

Start keeping a list of things that make you say, "This is ridiculous." Confusing signs, unnecessary rules, terrible instructions. Every annoyance is a clue that someone has stopped questioning how things work.

Here's a habit worth stealing: Every month, do one thing your younger self would have been afraid to try. Confidence grows when you give yourself evidence that you can handle unfamiliar situations.

The next time you're stuck on an idea, ask someone who knows absolutely nothing about your industry. Sometimes the freshest perspective comes from someone who hasn't learned all the rules yet.

Keep a list of things you've changed your mind about. Add to it every year. It's a surprisingly good way to measure whether you're still learning or just getting better at defending old opinions.

Before asking AI for an idea, spend ten minutes thinking of your own. Even if your answer is terrible, you've exercised something worth protecting: your ability to think independently.

Once a week, do something you're terrible at. Draw badly. Learn a new instrument. Try a new language. Being a beginner reminds your brain there's still a lot of life left to discover.

Here's a useful rule: Don't take criticism from someone whose advice you wouldn't ask for. Not every opinion deserves a seat at your table.

When you run out of ideas, change what you're looking at. Read something outside your field, visit somewhere unfamiliar, or talk to someone half your age. Creativity needs new ingredients.

Changing your mind is not evidence that the old you was wrong. It may be evidence that the current you kept learning.

For decades, brands paid millions to look flawless. Now people zoom in looking for imperfections to prove something was made by a human.

The things that made you feel slightly strange growing up may become the exact things people remember you for.

AI may create the first generation of people who can produce an impressive answer without ever understanding the subject.

Children draw before they learn to write. Adults eventually stop drawing because they learn to worry whether they’re good at it. Somewhere between the two, creativity becomes a performance.

The true test of a brand begins five minutes after something goes wrong.

We say we want more choices. Then we walk into a restaurant with a 12-page menu and order the thing we already know.

Put the same coffee in a paper cup and a beautiful ceramic cup and watch your brain quietly change what ‘good coffee’ tastes like.

Companies ask employees to ‘think outside the box,’ then send them a 14-step approval process for leaving it.

You probably know exactly what a Netflix show sounds like before you know whether you’ll like it. That’s what distinctive branding actually does.