Spark Author Arupa Tesolin to Kick-Off Innovation Panel at World Automotive News Congress

Mississauga, Canada, January 16, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Innovation author and speaker Arupa Tesolin has been selected as the opening speaker at the panel session on "The Role of Innovation in Industry Sustainability" at the upcoming 33rd Annual World Automotive News Congress, a four day gathering of the most influential industry leaders from all over the globe from all facets of the automotive world. The event will be held from Jan. 19-22nd at the Renaissance Centre in Detroit, Michigan, while the 2009 North American International Auto Show takes place at nearby Cobo Hall.

Arupa, who operates Intuita, a training and consulting company specializing in business intuition and grassroots innovation, states that "Any company can find ways to make innovation pay off. She advises that both small and large companies can look to their employees and clients for ways to be more innovative that add value to what they do. Investments in innovation, training and productivity now will recoup their investment and increase profits later."

Arupa will also premiere a short video feature called "The "I" of Innovation" that documents the personal relationship between an idea and one's power to create it, produced together with Joseph Moore, a former actor, film producer and director, currently the owner of CIV Solutions, a firm that specializes in corporate video production.

Edward Lapham, Executive Editor of the Automotive News, states "The auto industry faces some of the most complex challenges in its history. Pressures from global competition, the growing cost of commodities, the higher price of gasoline and consumer demand for more fuel efficient vehicles have sent shock waves through the entire value chain. Never has it been more crucial for suppliers, automakers and retailers to reshape their cultures and build sustainable business models. Companies that find ways to adjust, adapt and overcome the challenges can survive and thrive in these fascinating times."

As automakers seek to shape collaborative relationships with their suppliers, innovation remains one of the surest ways to add value for companies and their partners and customers. Panelists include:

Dr. Andrew Brown Jr, Executive Director & Chief Technologist, Delphi Corporation
Harold Krivan, President, Sawgrass Solutions LLC
Philip R. Martens, Senior Vice President, Light Vehicle Sales, ArvinMeritor
Paul Mascarenas, Vice President, Engineering, Global Product Development, Ford Motor Company
Arupa Tesolin, Speaker, Author & Grassroots Innovation Leader, Intuita

Says Arupa, "Innovation is still in its infancy. It's only dawn in the Age of Innovation. The current economic and industry challenges are a good reason why people and companies must be more innovative, not less. This is the ideal time to explore grassroots innovation and boost productivity and performance. Innovation doesn't always have to be sophisticated or take place in a top tier laboratory or research institute. Even Microsoft was started in a garage."

"Executive leaders and employees must have a way to challenge the "idea orthodoxy" prevalent at many large companies. Those who are successful at doing this today will become the economic and brand leaders of tomorrow. Commanding an innovation destiny requires industry leaders and their employees to take business innovation and personal creative power to the next level."

In Spark, published by Wisdom Tree Publishers, ISBN 81-8328-084-6, Arupa unravels the universal principles behind the hidden science of creating as a creative ideology and describes the process of generating and growing creative vision from scratch. By mastering the hidden science of the creative process, individuals learn to raise their mind beyond limits, and begin to create consciously, in alignment with these principles.

Both imagination and intuition play a large role in the innovation process where everyone is a creative partner in making things happen. The innovation process differs from other initiatives, like quality, because it relies more on personal creative power. Innovation occurs when ideas are enthusiastically brought to life.

Spark and Intuita's related training workshops show teams and groups how they can ignite the riches of their imagination and learn:

Powerful strategies & know-how to spark the process of creating, no matter what external conditions exist
How to break through the barriers that hold anyone back from being free to create
How to magnify and magnetize their visions so they come rushing towards them like bees to a flower
How teams and groups can develop vision and use their creative power to innovate

Arupa's popular 2007 business book 'Ting! A Surprising Way to Listen to Intuition & Do Business Better', also published by Wisdom Tree, ISBN: 81-8328-045-5, is a story about how a young sales manager reawakens both his enthusiasm and his company when intuition enters his life, and was rated 4-Stars in June 2007 by U.S.-based Training Magazine. Ting! shows why intuition is garnering newfound respect as a smart business skill.

About Arupa: Arupa Tesolin is a respected Speaker, Trainer and Innovation Thought Leader specializing in Business Intuition and Grassroots Innovation who appeals to the growing number of people who want to apply their creative abilities more successfully in their lives, businesses & workplaces. She is the author of 2 books and more than 100 international trade publication articles on innovation, training and management and has been a guest on both radio and television.

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