Red Thread Thinking

“Red Thread Thinking weaves a marvelous tapestry of insight and wisdom. A must read for entrepreneurs hoping to take their ideas from fuzzy to firm.”—Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

“Red Thread Thinking provides a deliberate system to create a ‘revolution in your mind’— the first order of business for any innovator who wants to shift the consumer landscape and offer value and usefulness to customers.”—Jay Walker, chairman of Walker Digital; founder of Priceline.com

Do you know why you prefer dark or milk chocolate? Debra Kaye does. Our preferences aren’t about taste at all. Debra led a major confection company to recognize how culture, experience, upbringing, and memories influence our inclinations to choose one chocolate over another. Which is why she was able to create new chocolate products for the company that went right to the heart of the completely different specific sensory experiences that milk and dark chocolate lovers are really seeking.

Debra Kaye explodes conventional thinking about innovation and provides an approach that anyone or any business can use to expose the crucial links among observations, experiences, facts, and feelings that on the surface do not seem related—but are—to uncover fresh, brilliant insights. In her pioneering RED THREAD THINKING: Weaving Together Connections for Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation (McGraw-Hill; March 2013; $28.00), Kaye proves that that innovation comes from asking the right questions, identifying cultural cues, and making the right connections. Her system enables you to innovate whenever it’s necessary – for everything from personal problem solving to entrepreneurial aspirations to tackling larger, more complex global issues.

Kaye’s mold-breaking method consists of five central threads that fire up your brain, look to the past to gain remarkable advantage, and enable you to understand and address your market in entirely new ways. In RED THREAD THINKING, Debra Kaye reveals how to activate your own knowledge and resources to make better connections, have more and superior insights, apply history as a valuable source for future-leaning innovation, and develop a product or service that achieves the stop-look-touch-and-buy reaction that can wake up the marketplace—and your business fortunes.

DEBRA KAYE is a global innovation and trends expert specializing in brand strategy and innovation for consumer businesses. Her clients have included Mars, Colgate, McDonald's, Amex, and others. A frequent commentator on American Public Radio's "Marketplace" and contributor to Fast Company, she is partner at innovation consultancy Lucule and former CEO of TBWA\Italy. She is a sought-after speaker, addressing audiences at South by Southwest and G2, among other engagements. Debra lives in New York City. Learn more at RedThreadThinking.com and follow her Facebook and on Twitter @DebraA_Kaye and @RTThinking.