About a month ago, Mark Dykeman, author of the Broadcasting Brain and  ThoughtWrestling Blog did an audio interview with me as part of an information product he is working on. Earlier this week, he gave me access to the audio file and permission to post it to my blog. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss topics that include:

• The roots of visual mapping
• How did I get started with mind mapping software
• Is the market moving beyond Tony Buzan’s original mind mapping concepts?
• The challenges of sharing mind maps with colleagues who may not be familiar with it
• Complex mind maps I have created
• How bloggers can use mind maps to manage their businesses
• The growth of mind mapping software as a business planning tool

This interview is accessible only to members of the Mind Mapping Insider membership program.

Click here to learn more about the exclusive resources that you can leverage to become more efficient and creative in your work and life via this affordable membership program.

“The problem that the average worker faces today is overload. They have too many e-mails, too many phone messages – just too much to read and do. They don’t know how to manage either themselves, time or the information. And that is one of the advantages of the mind map. The mind map cuts out 90 percent plus of the rubbish that most people unnecessarily deal with. What the brain needs for thinking and creativity and memory and all its major thinking processes is the key ideas, the key elements, the key words, the key concepts.”

In Buzan’s mind, linear note taking and left-brained forms of communications are relics of the past, and don’t help us to effectively cope with the torrent of information we face today:

“The normal ways of making notes and transferring information drown key ideas and words in reams of useless grammar and syntax… The modern worker is fundamentally using the wrong tools. They’re using information age tools, industrial age tools in the age of intelligence, where you have to be far more flexible, adept, fast and essential. You can’t waste time with all of the unnecessary information that is thrown at you.”

Where does power come from today? According to Buzan, being a creative and flexible thinker and problem solver. And the tool that is ideally designed for this modern age is, naturally, the mind map:

“The modern worker is in a different position than any worker in the history of the human race. It’s the most exciting time, because suddenly all of the information is available on the web. (Access to) information used to be the way in which you became powerful. The rulers of the past had information that other people didn’t. Then came the knowledge age, which said that knowledge is power…

“Now we are in the age of intelligence, where intelligence is power. If you can think, solve problem and are fast on your mental feet, if you are original, if you are flexible, if you have control of the strategic and the analytical elements of any situation, then you are a leader. The mind map allows you to do all that in a way that the brain is naturally designed to do.”

My interview with Tony Buzan covers a lot more ground, including details on the new ThinkBuzan system that he is introducing during his trip to the States next week, and what’s next for his firm’s highly successful iMindMap software.

Click here to access this exclusive interview (membership in the Mind Mapping Insiders group is required).

• How I got started in the world of mind mapping software
• Five features a mind mapping software program must have to be a credible tool for personal productivity
• What buyers should expect from mind mapping software in the free, low-mid price and high-end price ranges.
• 5 key business productivity applications that mind mapping software can be used for

You can download and listen to this interview here (18.3 MB MP3, approximately 40 minutes; to save to your computer, right click the link and select “save as”).

I hope you enjoy it. Michael audio taped this interview for his new mind mapping software e-course, The Business Profit Productivity Blueprint.

• Does technology really make you more efficient?
• What single thing enhances your productivity the most?
• How can software help you organize your ideas, make better decisions, and reduce stress?
• Which mind mapping software is the best?
• What other categories of productivity software should you explore?

Roger’s a BIG fan of mind mapping software, and utilizes it to plan and implement his many book and report publishing projects. See his s blog for more details, including the call-in time and number.