June 30, 2008
I Am Moving to a Blog Cabin in the Woods

I see the future.

Everyone will have a blog. Every blogger's pet will have a blog. Every blog will have a blog. Every blog's blog will have a blog. No one will be reading any of these blogs because everyone will be too busy writing blogs. Bloggers will occasionally visit other blogs, but only for the purpose of leaving comments that will direct readers back to their own blog. Letter writing will become popular once again, gaining a new lease on life after the internet crashes repeatedly because of the profusion of blogs and youtube videos created by 5-year olds, holographic spammers, and terrorist groups.

Why all the blogging?

Because people want to connect. And WHY do people want to connect? Because there is a fundamental need inside each and every one of us to feel connected.

"Connected to WHAT?" is the question.

Most business leaders are likely to say something like "the marketplace," or "our customers" or "company values," but the real answer is far more fundamental -- your self.

Remember that? The part of you that doesn't have a title, a strategic plan, or a Blackberry to keep it all together? That's where innovation begins. And even more importantly, that's where the real experience of life begins.

Bottom line, for each of us to feel truly connected, we first need to connect with ourselves. Then, and only then, does it make sense to connect with others.

Otherwise, all our efforts to connect will be fundamentally flawed -- tinged with the slightly neurotic need for approval and completion -- neither of which are really necessary once we master the fine art of tapping into who we really are in the first place.

Sort of like putting the isness back in business.

And speaking of the future -- high rises are out. Blog cabins are in.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:32 PM | Comments (1)

June 29, 2008
More On Where and When You Get Your Best Ideas

A big thanks to Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools for his June 26th posting on our just-released poll results re: "Where and When People Get Their Best Ideas?"

Chuck notes the top ten catalysts:

1. When you're inspired
2. Brainstorming with others
3. When you're immersed in a project
4. When you're happy
5. Collaborating with a partner
6. Daydreaming
7. Analyzing a problem
8. Driving
9. Commuting to and from work
10. Reading books in your field

And here are the bottom ten:

70. Swimming
71. Brushing your teeth
72. Drinking anything with alcohol
73. Playing a sport
74. When you're sad
75. Mowing the lawn
76. Shaving
77. Procrastinating
78. In a bar
79. Having sex
80. Smoking tobacco

(If you're looking for a fun way to spark some great ideas, click here.)

Or here.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

June 27, 2008
HEAR AND NOW: Small Business Big Ideas Show: 6/29/08

If you're looking for some inspiration and insight to help you grow your business and radically increase your ability to manifest BIG IDEAS, tune into the Small Business Big Ideas Show out of Toronto this Sunday, 7/29, at 9:00 am (www.ckdo.ca).

The delightfully open-minded Lissa Bergin-Boles will be interviewing me from 9:02 -- 9:15 am. We'll explore the fabulous world of creative thinking and what it takes to foster a culture of innovation within yourself and your business.

We'll also be talking about how my new book, Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an uphill world), can help you turn your top-of-the-line ideas into bottom-line results.

If you want to call in and ask me a question, the number is 888-511-2436. Hope to hear you then.

PS: If you're interested in the results of Idea Champions' recently released "Where and When Do People Get Their Best Ideas?" poll, click here.)

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008
POLL RESULTS: Where and When Do You Get Your Best Ideas?

Einstein used to get his best ideas while shaving. Mozart used to exercise before composing. The Scientific Method came to Rene Descartes in a dream.

One of our clients gets her best ideas when blow drying her hair.

Fascinated by the question of what catalyzes people's best ideas, Idea Champions polled 163 people and are sharing the results with you here (i.e. "Where and When Do You Get Your Best Ideas?")

Why bother reading it?

1. It will help you be more creative.
2. It will increase your ability to capture your best ideas.
3. It will give you insights about how to create a culture of innovation.
4. It's fascinating (i.e Out of 80 choices, the "workplace" ranked #35. "Daydreaming" was #6.)

If, after reading the poll, you think of other "best idea" catalysts, let us know. When we get 20 or more, we'll share them with Heart of Innovation readers here.

And if you're looking for help establishing a sustainable culture of innovation, click here... or here...or here. (Clicking your shoes three times ain't gonna cut it.)

Or, if you want to spring for $13.95, you can read Awake at the Wheel: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an uphill world).

(Much thanks to Tim Moore (scroll down to the 8th bio) for his deep thinking, coordination, analysis, and report writing on this project!)

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2008
New Blog Critics Magazine Review of Awake at the Wheel

OK. These two cavemen walk into a bar. The first one burps, pounds his hairy chest, and lets out a primal scream. The second mumbles something about Nietzche and thumbs through a recently purchased copy of Awake at the Wheel.

OK, so the first paragraph isn't exactly a joke (despite it's promising beginning), but it does technically qualify as a segue to the most recent review of my new book.

Sure, as far as segues go, the opening paragraph is not what I would call a "fantastic segue" or even a "good segue," but it IS a segue, which is all I was really going for here.

Violet Nesdoly is the reviewer. (Thank you, Violet!) BlogCritics Magazine is the website.

These two blog critics walk into a bar...

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:04 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008
Getting All Googley

Interesting summary of Google CEO's speech to the Economic Club of Washington this Monday.

Among other things, Schmidt talked about his company's attempts to innovate, including allowing engineers to use 20 percent of their time to work on projects of their own choosing. Schmidt acknowledged that trusting the workforce to follow their fascination has resulted in many successes for the enterprise. "Part of Google's success is creating more luck," he said.

Success also needs a positive environment and encouragement for employees to be more creative and innovative, Schmidt said.

"It is possible to build a culture around innovation, it is possible to build a culture around leadership, and it is possible to build a culture around optimism," added the googley Mr. Schmidt

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2008
The Top 16 Reasons Why Human Beings Love Lists

This just in.

The three most popular postings on this blog, of the 116 we've written since July -- the ones most frequently cited by other blogs and websites -- have one thing in common:

They are all lists.

100 Simple Ways to Be More Creative on the Job
The Top 100 Lamest Excuses for Not Innovating
26 Reasons Why Most Brainstorming Sessions Don't Work

While I acknowledge that these three postings are engaging, entertaining, and useful, I don't think they are that much more engaging, entertaining, and useful than the rest of the stuff on our blog to warrant as much attention as they've been getting.

Something else is afoot.

And that, I believe, is the medium through which the content of these postings have been communicated: Lists.

What's up with lists? Why so popular? Why does every men's and women's magazine plaster their covers with them? Why do blogs?

After some major noodling on the topic and a few consultations with the Master of the Tradition, I am very pleased to report my recent findings to you. Here we go...

THE TOP 16 REASONS WHY HUMAN BEINGS LOVE LISTS

1.We are all victims of information overload. Lists help us make sense of the world.

2. Lists simplify.

3. Lists promise instant knowledge.

4. Lists make it seem as if the list maker knows something that list readers don't.

5. Lists appeal to an ever expanding population of ADD sufferers.

6. Lists provide choices.

7. Lists are made of soundbytes. Soundbytes 'R Us.

8. Lists appeal to the left brain need for order and linearity.

9. Lists are familiar. We grew up making them: laundry lists, grocery lists, and Christmas lists.

10. Lists can be updated, added to, or subtracted from easily.

11. Lists give us an instant opportunity to disagree.

12. Lists, with their declarative headlines, make list readers feel like they are just about to get a crash course on a topic of great significance.

13. Lists, when forwarded to friends or clients, position the list forwarder as a knowledgeable resource.

14. Lists include items that are numbered -- and most readers assume that an item that's numbered must be more true than an item that's merely bulleted.

15. Lists can be printed quickly, folded up, and put into one's pocket -- as opposed to New Yorker articles, the collected works of Henry Miller, or Sunday's New York Times.

16. Lists are great ways for list makers, especially in the hyperlinked blogosphere, to plug their own businesses and books, not to mention the businesses and books of their friends, chiropractors, and college roommates.

PS: If we've omitted any TOP REASONS why human beings love lists, leave us a comment. When we get ten or more, we'll post what our readers have sent us. As a list, of course.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:04 PM | Comments (1)

June 01, 2008
AWAKE AT THE WHEEL: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an uphill world)

Ta da! After seven years, 22 rejections, multiple rewrites, 2 agents, and a whole lot of looking at myself in the mirror, here it is: the publication of my new book, AWAKE AT THE WHEEL: Getting Your Great Ideas Rolling (in an Uphill World). Part fable, part creative thinking toolbox, the book is a wake up call for all aspiring innovators -- a simple way to help people "get out of the cave" and manifest BIG ideas in a world not always ready for the new and the different.

If you have an inspired idea that is lingering in your mind and needs a fresh jolt to see the light of day, this book is for you.

To order from Amazon, click here.

Tim Gallwey: "A superb catalyst for anyone with the urge to bring their best ideas into reality."

Donna Fenn: "Og may have invented the wheel, but Mitch Ditkoff has created a GPS for the innovation process. Awake at the Wheel is a witty and inspiring roadmap for the journey from ideas to invention."

Jay Conrad Levinson: "Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. The time has come for this book and Mitchell Lewis Ditkoff has put it into words. He has done a masterful job."

Jack Mitchell: "Go ahead and 'hug' your employees by giving them Awake at the Wheel and creating a company culture that fosters, develops, and celebrates the best of their ideas."

Joyce Wycoff: "A highly accessible alchemist's stone for aspiring innovators."

Melinda McLaughlin: Awake at the Wheel illuminates! It's the perfect book for those of us who have felt the excitement of the 'aha' moment only to experience the frustration that comes when no one sees the brilliant lightbulb above our head. Mitch Ditkoff takes us on an engaging journey that re-imagines how to turn an idea into great success and makes it suddenly seem easy.?

Chuck Frey: "Entertaining and inspiring."

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:05 AM | Comments (0)