I have always been interested in creativity. At school, I realised that I would never make the sort of living I wanted as an artist, so decided to become a professional inventor. With barely a thought that it was a bit unusual, I went to Cambridge to read engineering.

I then had 20 years of fun, inventing products ranging from bizarre contraceptives to power tools. I ended up with 39 patents and quite a few products on the market. As far as I can tell this makes me the UK’s most successful female inventor.

In 1988 I was one of a group of co-founders that set up the award winning Technology Consultancy, TTP Group. Our motto was “have fun and make money” and it worked.

Over the years I’ve become more and more interested in what makes people and organisations productively creative. In 2000 I set up The Creativity Partnership www.tcp-uk.co.uk . I now spend most of my time running courses and workshops and helping fascinating organisations be more creative.

I’m also a founding Board Member of “Stop Climate Chaos”, www.stopclimatechaos.org ; the major coalition of NGOs set up to create a public mandate for political action on climate change.

PUBLISHED WORKS

• I write a regular column on creativity on the website of Cambridge Network.
  „ Cambridge Network - follow the link to cat-herder
  
  
• Ideas Audit 2:
  A report on what the leaders of three very different organisations do to encourage creativity.
  Published by EEDA and available on-line at
  „ Space For Ideas
  
  
• Myth of the Mousetrap:
  An article on how to get ideas adopted. Published by Published by EEDA and available on-line at
  „ Space For Ideas
  
  
• How to make money from Ideas:
  Opinion piece on the BBC website.
  „ BBC Website
  
  
• Innovation in Japan
  A discussion of the unique characteristics of innovation in Japan. Published by Ingenia and available on-line at The Creative Partnership.
  „ The Creative Partnership

I am currently planning a book on the adoption of ideas