Use GenAI for strategic product thinking, not just your tasks and busy work.
Although prompt engineering is suitable for personalized productivity tasks, such as writing PRDs, and clearly defined problems, like conducting a competitive analysis, it isn't the path to thinking big. Students gain proficiency in applying six discrete, structured creative thinking techniques to solve problems with Generative AI as a collaborative partner.
This interactive course, based on my award-winning new book CREATIVE VELOCITY: PROPELLING BREAKTHROUGH IDEAS IN THE AGE OF GENERATIVE AI (WILEY, MAY 2025), unlocks the power and immediate actionability of frameworks like SCAMPER, Generic Parts Technique, and Contradictory Thinking, to manage risk, overcome functional fixations, and effectively address major business, customer, and product challenges and improve strategic thinking.
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF YOU FACE THESE CHALLENGES:
➡️ Information gaps – making critical product decisions without precedent
➡️ Growth plateaus – needing to discover untapped market segments or expansion opportunities
➡️ Operating constraints – working within tight budgets or resource limitations
➡️ Leadership expectations – demonstrating strategic thinking skills to advance your product management career
What you’ll learn
Utilize proven creative thinking techniques with GenAI as a catalyst to overcome mental blocks and constraints to build robust product plans
Discover unseen patterns and connections while exploring unexpected sources for solutions to demonstrate strategic thinking.
Utilize Generative AI to find solutions from other domains.
Apply contradictory thinking to stress-test strategies and run pre-mortems,
Identify potential failure points before they become costly mistakes.
.Creatively overcome hurdles like lack of data, resources, and time.
Navigate ambiguous problem spaces, constraints, and future uncertainty to discover novel approaches.
Generate dozens of creative options quickly, explore multiple perspectives simultaneously, and push beyond your initial thinking patterns.
Learn directly from Leslie
Leslie Grandy
Global, first-to-market product exec; Author; Lead Executive in Residence
Who this course is for
Product leaders who need practical, repeatable techniques to tackle operational constraints, market disruption, or growth challenges.
Startup Founders looking to build resilient plans while navigating limited resources and funding, information gaps, and product-market fit.
Senior leaders who want to empower employees to leverage AI to imagine innovative solutions, accelerate growth, & improve customer outcomes
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Leslie Grandy in a real-time, interactive format.
A copy of my award-winning new book
Creative Velocity: Propelling Breakthrough Ideas in the Age of Generative AI (Wiley, May 2025), winner of five awards for non-fiction
Discount on the Product Management Leadership Accelerator
Get a discount code for an upcoming cohort of the University of Washington Foster School Product Management Leadership Accelerator
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
5 live sessions • 7 lessons • 10 projects
Week 1
Jan
13
Creative Thinking Foundations
The Creative Leader
The Human-AI Collaboration
The Benefits of Using Frameworks vs Engineering Prompts
Jan
16
Structured Frameworks - Part One
Constraint-based Thinking - Breaking Functional Fixations That Block Innovation
Week 2
Jan
20
Stuctured Frameworks - Part Two
SCAMPER: A Toolkit for Perspective Shifting and Transformation
Jan
23
Structured Frameworks Part Three
Combinational and Combinatorial Thinking - When X meets Y Sparks Can Fly
Free lesson
Use Gen AI to Bulletproof Your Path to Achieve Your Goals
Employ a repeatable framework for pre-mortem thinking
By imagining failure as already having happened, it is easier to surface concerns and identify risks.
Apply 3 contradictory thinking techniques to fortify plans
Uncover potential blind spots and obstacles on the path to launch by thinking expansively with the help of Gen AI.
Flip your assumptions and goals to protect against adversity
Exploit Gen AI pattern recognition to explore "what would guarantee failure" to prevent costly mistakes.
Bust expert and consensus biases that can torpedo success
Partner with Gen AI in a "premeditation of evils" exercise to strengthen your plans to achieve your goals.
Schedule
Live sessions
3 hrs / week
Live sessions will be interactive discussions about the exercises.
Tue, Jan 13
1:00 AM—2:30 AM (UTC)
Fri, Jan 16
1:00 AM—2:30 AM (UTC)
Tue, Jan 20
1:00 AM—2:30 AM (UTC)
Projects
1-3 hrs / week
Projects are designed to give students a chance to apply the frameworks to a different problem each week. This material is the basis for our live event discussions.
Async content
2-3 hrs / week
Students should expect to read/watch the material in advance of the live sessions to maximize their learning experience.
Problem Solving is a Creative Act
The What If Method
Frequently asked questions
Save 25% (ends tomorrow)
$999
USD