Theory of Constraints Creative Problem Solving

"I believe that [the] book will be a monument of application of TOC Thinking Processes for creative problem solving. ... [The authors'] perspective of applying TOC Thinking Processes to academia is quite creative and many examples are so vivid that there will be no difficulties in following through the main substance.

...[the] book will be very beneficial to teachers, students, administrators, counselors, and anyone who wants to think clearly for making life meaningful. Personally the Creative Thinker's Toolkit will be a great reference for me to run my class 'Thinking Process for Creative Problem Solving.'"

Wonjoon Choi, Professor of Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan, Republic of Korea 44610

"Those who practice TOC Thinking Processes appreciate their real value. At first glance it seems to be merely a set of logical diagrams. But, their intrinsic value goes much beyond that. They are designed to achieve breakthrough results in the desired field of operation. Achieving a breakthrough starts with challenging the status quo and overcoming inertia. In order to achieve substantially better results we need to rigorously apply three fundamental powers in our possession: emotion, intuition and logic. Emotion is critical. Only passionate people have the stamina to march through the tedious road leading to breakthrough results. Moreover, on matters we don't care about. we have zero intuition. Emotions feed the needed intuition to find the right path, to come up with new ideas. Intuition is critical. It fuels logic. Without intuition, applying logic will be, at best, a theoretical exercise with little practical consequence. Logic is critical. Intuition alone can lead us astray. Applying intuition within a logical framework helps us to guide our intuition in the right direction. It helps us to identify missing elements and to devise corrective actions where gaps appear. It helps us to communicate our intuition to other people and to obtain their collaboration. The TOC Thinking Processes support us to achieve this goal. They boost our ability to apply intuition in an area we greatly care to improve, and when used correctly, to achieve breakthrough results. The authors of this book have applied these tools to the field of higher education. They share their journey on the path to remarkable results in student retention and academic achievement, a core problem of many colleges and society as a whole. But this is just one aspect of their story. Going through the chapters we get an opportunity to learn how the Thinking Processes can be used with students in order to achieve the higher goal of education which is 'to prepare students for life.'"