Innovation · CPS · Critical Thinking
Practical Innovation
Turn "be more innovative" into a repeatable method.
Put The Player First · Arvindh Sundar
The gap
"Be more innovative" is not a method.
Most teams are told to innovate and handed a blank whiteboard. The blank page is the problem. They grab the first workable idea, fall in love with a solution before naming the real problem, and chase the loudest voice under pressure. Good ideas come from structure, not from staring harder.
What your people walk out with
Three capabilities. One session.
Innovation
Structured ideation to expand one challenge into a high volume of diverse ideas, past the first-idea trap.
Creative problem solving
Move from surface observation to the real opportunity, and separate exploring from deciding.
Critical thinking
Decide under constraint, surface hidden assumptions, and use AI to stress-test, not rubber-stamp.
How it runs — 3-hour default, scales up
The flow.
1
Blank page
Frame the challenge
2
Sticky Fingers
Think under constraint
3
Lotus Blossom
Generate breadth
4
Insight to Impact
Find the real problem
5
Double Diamond
Solve it right
AI as a thinking partner is woven through steps 3–5. Scales to a half or full day in person, or across multiple batches. Same spine, more reps.
Technique 1 · Critical thinking
Sticky Fingers
Think under constraint.
A timed team challenge — problem-solving under pressure with incomplete information. The debrief pulls the lesson: structured strategy over trial-and-error, the assumptions that helped or hurt, and how a team manages information instead of chasing the loudest voice. Creative problem solving, felt before it's framed.
Technique 2 · Innovation
Lotus Blossom
Generate breadth.
Structured ideation. One central challenge, eight directions around it, then eight more around each. It forces volume and diversity before judgement, so the first idea stops being the only idea on the table.
Technique 3 · Creative problem solving
Insight to Impact
Find the real opportunity.
A diagnostic move from surface observation to a meaningful, workable opportunity. Drill past the symptom to the real need worth solving — before anyone starts building the wrong thing well.
Technique 4 · Creative problem solving
Double Diamond
Solve the right problem right.
The design-thinking discipline. Diverge to explore, converge to define, diverge for solutions, converge to decide. It names which mode you're in, so a team knows when it's exploring versus deciding.
Technique 5 · Force multiplier
AI as a Thinking Partner
Speed, without switching off.
Use AI to challenge assumptions, widen the ideation, and stress-test the chosen direction — while learning to tell a fluent answer from a true one. A multiplier on the thinking, not a replacement for it.
Proof
Booked. And scored.
Akamai Technologies booked this exact programme for their Cultivates Innovation competency — a tech buyer read the design and put it on the calendar.
8.82 / 10 · 113 respondents. The score for the sibling engagement where Lotus Blossom, Double Diamond and AI-as-a-thinking-partner were delivered across 3 batches — zero low scores, and a repeat commission. (That score is the sibling's, not this session's, which runs in 2026.)
In their words
Quote wall.
"The frameworks like Double Diamond and Lotus Blossom, and how to use AI to apply them to work problems."
"Helped explore various tools to apply to thinking and problem solving."
"Different mental models explained and how they can be used with AI."
"No low score, it was fantastic. Nothing. Perfect."
What's included
In the room, and after.
- All five techniques, taught through use on a real or simulated challenge.
- The Sticky Fingers experiential team challenge + structured debrief.
- A committed action per person: one technique, one live problem this month.
- Online 3-hour default, or scales to a half / full day in person.
- Optional post-session summary + manager-observation follow-up.
- Facilitated by Arvindh. Materials included. Multi-batch available.
Investment
Direct engagement.
- 3-hour online session: from ₹75,000, up to ~30 pax.
- Half / full-day in person: scoped up + travel outside Bengaluru.
- Multi-batch calendar programme: volume rate, locked per batch.
- Pricing confirmed on the discovery call.
Next step
Book a call.
Book a discovery call
Arvindh Sundar
arvindh@puttheplayerfirst.com · +91 99458 61640
puttheplayerfirst.com/innovation-in-practice
