Ideas, Approaches, and Alternatives: Generating Creative Solutions to Complex Legal Problems

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Ideas, Approaches and Alternatives
Generating Creative Solutions
to Complex Legal Problems
NOV 21, 2014
The General Counsel Forum

2. Copyright © 2014 John DeGroote Services, LLC 2
Empathy
• More than a
“nice to have”
• Generates new
alternatives
• Essential to
negotiation
success

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Networks
3
• Take you places,
if not directly
• Are a foundation
to professional
success
• Can give you
more than just
a network

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Tangibility
• The
Commonplace
Book
• The Mind
Map
• The White
Board

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“
“
Lateral Thinking
You cannot
dig a hole in a
different place
by digging the
same hole
deeper.
- Edward de Bono
5

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Analogies
“
“
Analogies, it
is true, decide
nothing, but
they can make
one feel more
at home.
- Sigmund Freud
6

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Resources
7
• Nancy C. Andreasen, "Secrets of
the Creative Brain”
• Rex Jung, "Creativity and the
Everyday Brain”
• Steven Johnson, "Where Good
Ideas Come From: The Natural
History of Innovation”
• Tom Kelley & David Kelley, "Creative
Confidence: Unleashing the
Creative Potential Within Us All”
• Josh Linkner, "Disciplined
Dreaming: A Proven System to
Drive Breakthrough Creativity"

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Resources (cont’d)
8
• Michael Michalko, "Cracking
Creativity: The Secrets of
Creative Genius”
• Dan Pink, “A Whole New Mind: Why
Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future”
• Melanie Pinola, "How to Use
Mind Maps to Unleash Your
Brain's Creativity and Potential”
• Shane Parrish, "An Introduction
to Creativity”
• Creative Something
• Creativity at Work
• Farnam Street
BLOGS

9. Copyright © 2014 John DeGroote Services, LLC9
Copyright © 2014 John DeGroote Services, LLC 9
John DeGroote is a former global company general
counsel now serving as a mediator, arbitrator and
court-appointed trustee in significant business disputes.
He believes that hands-on leadership, early matter
assessment, and aggressive project management drive
results.
• Serves as mediator and arbitrator in significant business disputes.
• Appointed to serve as the Liquidating Trustee to the BearingPoint, Inc. Liquidating Trust by the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
• Served from 2000 through 2008 as the Chief Litigation Counsel to KPMG Consulting/BearingPoint; led
a team of over 40 in-house lawyers around the globe as the Company's Chief Legal Officer from 2008
through late 2009, when he became the Company's President.
• Serves as a privately-appointed corporate officer and director in select situations.
• Previously practiced with the law firms of McKool Smith, P.C. and Jackson Walker, L.L.P., with a focus
on complex technology, commercial, and intellectual property litigation matters against and for various
Fortune 500 companies.
• Received his mediation training from Pepperdine University's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in
2005. Has participated in over 200 mediations in approximately 20 states as a client executive, as
outside or in-house counsel, and as a party.
• Serves as a co-founder to online decision tree tool ResolutonTree.com and comments on litigation
management, settlement techniques and negotiation strategies at settlementperspectives.com.
• J.D., Duke University
School of Law, 1990
• B.A., Mississippi State
University, 1986
John DeGroote
President, John DeGroote Services, LLC
Hickory Street Annex
501 S 2nd Avenue, Suite A-700
Dallas, Texas 75226
office 214 • 887• 3484
cell 214 • 288 • 6864
jd@johndegroote.com

10. Copyright © 2014 John DeGroote Services, LLC10
Copyright © 2014 John DeGroote Services, LLC 10
Kate Canales is a research professor focused on
building creative capacity inside organizations. She has
a background in product design, mechanical
engineering, and design research and she studies
and teaches the ways we innovate on the basis of
human needs and behavior.
• Serves as a Research Professor and the Director of Design and Innovation Programs in the
Caruth Institute for Engineering Education at the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern
Methodist University.
• Teaches several design courses, including Human Centered Design and Building Creative Confidence.
• Responsible for integrating empathy and creativity into the technical engineering curriculum.
• Previously worked as a designer and design researcher at IDEO and as a Creative Director at
Frog Design.
• Author of various works appearing in GOOD magazine, The Atlantic, and The Journal of Applied
Behavioral Science.
• Key client relationships include Memorial Sloan Ketterling Cancer Center, Procter & Gamble, The
National Health Service of the UK, AT&T, T-Mobile, UNICEF, and the YMCA of the USA.
• B.S., Mechanical
Engineering, Stanford
University, 2000
Kate Canales
Research Professor, Southern Methodist University
kcanales@smu.edu

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