Fortune‘s latest How I Work column shares some hints from Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the legendary Palo Alto design consultancy:
Control e-mail: I hate PDAs. When I’m in a meeting with someone, I want to be with them. I get more insight if I’m engaged in the moment. I consciously use a phone that doesn’t have a full keyboard on it. Now I’m using the Nokia n95. It takes great pictures.Clear your mind: I love music. I think I have every generation of iPod ever made. I carry a Nano when I go running. It has a couple hundred songs, not much, and I always have it on shuffle. I use the Nike+ [a wireless pedometer channeled through the iPod Nano] when I run, which is about three times a week for an hour. I like the end result. I travel much better when I am fitter, and I find I have better ideas.
Take good notes: I always carry a Moleskine single-lined five-by-seven-inch notebook. I replace it when it gets full — about every six months. I have a half-dozen or so now. They’re on a shelf in my office in Palo Alto. I’ll use any pen, but I prefer my Pilot Bravo black one. It’s good for writing, sketching, and drawing. I go through the finished ones and highlight the big ideas so they don’t get lost.
Flee your time zone: I like when I’m out of sync timewise with San Francisco — especially in Europe. I do e-mail in the morning and forget about it the rest of the day. It gives me time to think. When you’re traveling, it’s important to be in the place you’re in. I’ve had wonderful trips where I’m learning about innovation and design, and if I’m answering e-mail, I’m not in the place.
Try to stage accidents: I loved the library at the Royal College of Art because it didn’t have a logical system, at least none I could figure. When looking for a book on Islamic decoration, you’d find it by one on seashells. And you’d find all sorts of things with it. That’s the value of an accident. The more you encourage serendipity — say, by bringing together different people — the more you’ll get rich answers. The more you put a group together that sees the world the same way, the more conventional the outcome. We try to put teams together that have varied backgrounds — not just disciplines, but life experiences.