They Laughed When I Told Them Who My Only Competitor Was - Until I Showed Them Who THEIR’S Was!
Who is your only competitor? According to Tom Peters, that would be
…YOURSELF.
“Together We Innovate:” Apart We Fail
Name a famous creative genius. OK, I’m tired of waiting - let’s take Thomas Edison.
When we think of his many inventions and his seemingly singular drive to innovate, we assume that the sole source of the creative energy was Edison himself. But the truth is, he had a *bit* of help - Edison actually led a collaborate team of about 14 people. His inventions are the result of the collective creativity of his team.
Sphere: Related ContentInnovation at Google Part II: Creative Chaos
Last time I talked about what I think Google’s ultimate goal is for the open wireless spectrum. Today let’s look at the rest of the Douglas Merrill video :
Sphere: Related ContentThe 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
Table of contents for 7 Levels Of Change
- The 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 2 of 9) - Level 1: Effectiveness
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 3 of 9) - Level 2: Efficiency
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 4 of 9) - Level 3: Improving
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 5 of 9) - Level 4: Cutting
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 7 of 9) - Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 8 of 9) - Level 7: Doing Things That Can’t Be Done
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
This is no run of the mill Top 7 list. Prepare yourself for a rigorous review of the greatest innovation field guide in the universe: Rolf Smith’s “7 Levels of Change.”
Want To Be A More Creative Innovator? Then Do This…
There is an activity that seemingly has nothing to do with creative thinking and innovation, yet has everything to do with it. And if you start doing this, you will become a more innovative individual. And that one thing is….
Sphere: Related Content7-Step Guide To Crushing Innovation In Its Tracks
Is your organization just too damned innovative? Do you suffer from exquisitely sustained product lines, great branding, and excessive profits? Do your people bear the burden of creativity, happiness, and motivation? Do your customers endure the drudgery of a one-of-a-kind experience? Do your collaborative partners curse your name as they share in your great success? These simple steps will help you kill innovation more effectively than a bludgeon to the head.
Sphere: Related ContentDegrees of Innovation Effectiveness
After thinking a great deal about the IDEO and Doblin information I’ve presented, my views on targeted innovation are entering another evolutionary stage. Again.
Innovation effectiveness is becoming more of a science. Effectiveness is rising as we learn more about what works, and what doesn’t, at the macro level. So what is the role of creative thinking in the science of innovation effectiveness?
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. III
IDEO loves brainstorming. Doblin hates brainstorming. Who is right? Who is the most wrong? Let’s start smacking them together and see what ends up on the floor.
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. II
In my first installment I discussed IDEO’s approach to brainstorming and how they incorporate it into their innovation processes. Now let’s take a look at someone who thinks brainstorming is a waste of time.
Larry Keeley of Doblin is a well-known innovation educator and consultant. Doblin has researched innovation extensively and discovered a great deal about what does and doesn’t work. Keeley’s unique perspective evolved over 20 years of field experience and forms the basis for Doblin’s innovation strategy. His pragmatic philosophy is reflected in Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation. He believes that rather than waste time and effort on producing ideas that most likely have no value, people should focus their creativity on adapting the strategies proven elsewhere and combining their Ten Types in creative ways. A good overview of his philosophy can be found in this video (90 minutes):
Keeley believes in innovation effectiveness, which he now considers an emerging science until itself. His firm has gobs and gobs of research data on why innovation fails. At about the 15 minute mark of the video he launches into a dry, witty diatribe against brainstorming - which he portrays as a process in which management generates tons of ideas which never are put into action. He later says that brainstorming is ‘dangerous’ and produces far too many useless ideas. His data suggests that innovation fails (over 95 percent of the time) because people don’t do the most simple things - copy what the industry leaders are doing, and focus their creative efforts on the things that matter:
- Make money in a novel way
- Connect to the rest of the world
- Create lots of beneficial alliances with other companies
- Make a spiffy, memorable brand
- Focus on customer experience
Is there a place in Keeley’s model for novel ideas? Not really. Part of this is born from paranoia - the risk associated with implementing novel ideas, and the fact that the market punishes failure. He cites evidence that successful companies focus 98 percent of their effort on sustaining their existing products and services. Instead of generating tons of ideas for new stuff, Keeley recommends that upper level management focus on one or two ideas that combine the Ten Types in novel ways, then shepherd the ideas to fruition. Doing this, Keeley claims an effectiveness success rate of 35-70 percent. Thus Keeley’s approach uses extremely high-level strategic concepts to create a new perspective on what constitutes ‘doing things right,’ and as such should be a fundamental component of every business endeavor.
In my final installment I will smack the two opposing views together and see what breaks.
Sphere: Related ContentTwo Vastly Opposing Views on Brainstorming, Pt. I
To become a better innovator I try to assimilate and integrate different points of view on innovation and the creative process. One of the traditional cogs of innovation is the practice of brainstorming, the group ideation technique invented by Alex Osborne in the 50s. Contrary to what you might think, brainstorming is a well-defined process with specific rules and procedures. The goal of brainstorming is not to generate ideas - it’s to generate NOVEL ideas, using thinking tools that force you to change perspective and collaborate.
I recently found two vastly opposing views on brainstorming from two very respected sources - each forming the basis of a unique creative philosophy. I find their views illuminating, as it helps focus on what makes brainstorming work, and what makes it fail.
On the pro side of brainstorming is IDEO, the nationally reknowned design group. Brainstorming is integral to the IDEO way - “the idea engine of IDEO’s culture.” In the book The Art of Innovation, there is an entire chapter devoted to IDEO’s brainstorming philosophy. A 60-90 minute brainstorming session jumpstarts every project. I found a couple of notable things in their approach:
- They often don’t begin a session until the team researches the problem at hand. Field investigations and fact finding precede ideation. This serves two purposes - better problem understanding, and better quantity/quality of ideas.
- They cover the walls and tables with paper and include toys to amuse and cheap materials to make rough prototypes.
Other than that they conduct fairly tradition ‘Osbornian’ sessions. The sessions are remarkably short and focused, probably due to the field work, and springboard them directly into the rapid prototyping phase. Their tips include:
- Focus on a well-honed problem statement
- Defer judgement (a component of all effective brainstorming sessions)
- Number your ideas
- Build and jump - transition to other focus areas when discussion tapers off
- Prepare the space for lots of ideas
- Warm-up groups that aren’t used to the process
- Use lots of visuals - mindmaps, diagrams, etc
They also discuss several ways to effectively kill brainstorming sessions:
- Letting the boss set boundaries - eliminates wild ideas
- Taking turns speaking
- Using only ‘experts’
- Doing it off-site
- Making it too serious
- Taking notes instead of giving ideas
The results of their proven process are undeniable: IDEO tops out at one of Top 20 most innovative companies in the world every year. If ‘Do What Works’ is your mantra, you couldn’t find much of a better model than IDEO.
Which makes it doubly surprising that perhaps the most ardent ‘Do What Works’ disciple in the nation, Doblin Inc., hates brainstorming with a passion.
Next: why Doblin hates brainstorming.
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