Intelligence might be built into our DNA, but what about creativity and problem-solving? Not so, experts say. So, if it can be taught, how can we learn? We ask some local brainiacs for their tips for inspiring outside-the-box thinking.

Raley’s recently nabbed the coveted Retailer of the Year award from Wine Enthusiast, thanks to Director of Alcohol and Beverage Curtis Mann

The planning stage of our December issue typically starts with a conversation reviewing what we mean by “innovation.” Technology is often only part of it — a starting point, if that. Notable innovation hinges on better solutions to existing problems.

A problem thought to be facing a person or group of people that entrepreneurs are looking to solve through goods and/or services.

Back in 1998, two family businesses —Holt Bros. and Tenco Tractors — merged into one, for a total of three families now under one business roof at Holt of California. Twenty years later, they rely on a long history of leadership transitions to select the next in line for succession.

It would have been impossible to predict that from the card table in my grandmother’s living room, I would start a business in 1987, now called Byers Enterprises, and 30 years later would have grown it from a single contractor to an 87-employee full-service roofing, gutter and solar business.

Do your eyes roll when you hear the words “mission statement?” You are not alone.

Many of you work at organizations with a mission statement that is now gathering dust on a shelf, framed on a wall or, even worse, carved in stone above your portal. If the following sounds familiar, you’re in trouble:

1. Discuss your values and motivations. Explore your family’s motivations behind your giving to better understand what you want to accomplish. By identifying core values, you’ll be able to direct your support to mirror the causes important to you.

A number of the Capital Region’s most prominent family-owned businesses — like the River Cats — have made social responsibility a core tenet of their companies, employing staff and consultants to help make their programs central to who they are and how they operate.

Call it a disagreement, difference of opinion or power struggle, but family-owned businesses are no less likely to have challenges about how things are run than any other company.

Here are my top three reasons why family businesses need systems: