QUICKIE POLL on Your Company's Innovation Climate
Got 5 minutes? Willing to respond to a brief poll on changes in your company's innovation climate since the so-called recession (i.e downturn, meltdown, end-of-the-economy-as-we-know-it) hit?
This poll comes to you courtesy of the founder of the web's best innovation portal, Chuck Frey of www.innovationtools.com). Good food for thought. Results of the poll will be available soon.
Click here to download Chuck's and Renee Hopkins Callahan's excellent report on Innovation Strategies for the Global Recession.
Photo from www.readcurrents.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2009The Jar
A college professor stood before his philosophy class at the start of a new semester. Silently, he picked up a very large jar and filled it with golf balls. Then he asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly, pebbles settling into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students again responded with a resounding "yes."
The professor then produced two beers from under the table and poured them into the jar, filling the empty spaces between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor. "I want you to understand that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things -- your family, health, friends, and feeling of well-being. If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full."
"The pebbles are the other things that matter -- your job, your house, your accomplishments etc. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff."
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there's no room left for the golf balls or pebbles. The same holds true for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you'll never have room for the things that are really important to you."
"Pay attention to the things that are essential to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Smell the flowers. Enjoy the beauty of existence. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. The rest is just sand."
One of the students then raised her hand and asked what the beer represented. The professor smiled, "I'm glad you asked."
"The beer shows you that, no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend."
PS: If you're interested in raising the bar for innovation in your company, figure out what the "golf balls" are. Give your people time to focus on the important things. Be mindful of not filling up their jars with sand (i.e unnecessary meetings, paperwork, admin trivia etc.)
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
February 24, 2009One Secret of Creativity
Want to know one of the little known secrets of creativity? Making new connections between seemingly unrelated elements.
There. That's it. Plain and simple.
Drive in banking? What else is it but the combination of cars and banking? MTV? Not much more than the connection between music and television. Roller blading? Ice skating + roller skating. THESE DAYS, of course, they are oh so obvious, but there was a time before they existed -- a time when it took some out of the box thinkers to see what was really possible.
Is there a simple way to increase your ability to make new connections? Yes there is. It's called the Idea Lottery.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2009Awake at the Wheel wins Silver Medal in the Axiom Business Book Awards!
This just in! Awake at the Wheel, my book on what it takes to originate, develop, and manifest BIG IDEAS has just won a Silver Medal in the Axiom Business Books Awards competition (Business Fable category).
Needless to say, I am very pleased and hope this kind acknowledgment by the savvy business wizards at Axiom will encourage you to click here and order a copy (or ten) before the Sultan of Brunei buys out the entire inventory.
A huge thank you to the fabulous Nettie Hartsock (digital strategist, publicist, and book champion) for encouraging me to enter. And another huge thank you to David Hancock and the wonderful people at Morgan James Publishing for seeing the value of my book (after 22 other publishers rejected it) and launching it lovingly into the world.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:38 PM | Comments (10)
February 19, 2009Taking a Flying Leap
Sometimes, the act of creating something new feels like jumping off a cliff, doesn't it? The ground beneath your feet completely disappears. All the familiar reference points are gone and you need a ton of courage to proceed. And so... in the spirit of "a moving picture is worth a thousand words," check this out, oh aspiring innovators...
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
PS: How does this relate to your life? It does, but only YOU know. If you make any connections, let us know. Happy leaping!
(Thanks to Tim "Wingsuit" Moore for the link.)
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:00 PM | Comments (1)
February 16, 2009Streaming Visual Inspiration
Little Jolts of Wow Dept.:
Lunarr's Elements is another clever new community service for the programmable Web, existing to share "inspirational images and quotes (elements)." 
It's basically an on-demand slide show of photos or graphics that people find especially moving, with social media style customization. You can actively share faves and your own uploads with registered "friends," or just view streams of images from the larger community.
It's very, purposefully, simple in appearance: against a black background, with a minimum of buttons or other elements, one picture appears. It'll stay there until you click Explore to see another, or on I Like It, (broad)Cast It or Create. At right, free membership will let you add pictures, and to view publishers you follow and viewers watching you. Seven buttons, that's it, to do the simple job it has come into this world to offer.
In Mashable, Jennifer Van Grove's take was, "Elements feels like a cross between Flickr's interestingness, Twitter's follow features and Tumblr's content submission, with a focus on sharing inspirational content." - "Elements: A Flickr, Twitter and Tumblr Hybrid?" (2/8/09)
Similar to a Flickr slideshow, say, from a search on "inspiration"?
Behind the presentation level of the Elements site, their company site is fairly disorganized, perhaps because they've based it on a blog and those type of entries are so inherently slippery. So I had to go looking for the declaration of their raison d'etre; but the following, which seems ready to serve as a basic statement of purpose, can be seen if you counter-intuitively click "Products" in the nav bar:
"We've brought the cultural concept of 'ichi-go ichi-e' into LUNARR elements. It means 'one chance, one meeting,' and is traditionally at the center of a Japanese tea ceremony. It's the idea that you must treat your interaction with others as if it is the last time you will see them. With elements, we invite you to come take part in 'ichi-go ichi-e.'No one's taken credit for this other blog post on Lunarr's company site (Toru Takasuka and Hideshi Hamaguchi are listed as management), but it gives some elegant examples of the essential role inspiration plays in a productive life."The elements will gradually become customized for what you might find inspirational based on your actions, those you follow or those who follow you, the elements others cast in your direction and more. We also welcome you to become a catalyst of inspiration by uploading your own elements or clipping them from the web."
"Preserved Innovation"
December 19th, 2008What image caught Peter Tchaikovsky's eye while he was writing The Nutcracker ballet? .. . What conversation stirred John Logie Baird to create the first mechanical television?
What if instead of just seeing their finished product, I could see their entire thought process from inspiration to production? I imagine taking a look at the first images that inspired them to think in a new direction... The doodles and diagrams that came from their hands when that first wave of excitement flew over them as they realized that they could change the rhythm of the world.
Neat. But ultimately, isn't this just a cute implementation of "Web 2.0" social media with photo sharing? Basically pretty much the same thing as that slide show in Flickr or Picasa, or from a desktop Web widget? A one-trick pony?
Well, yes; as we saw, you can go to Flickr, type "inspiration" into the search bar, then look for the subtle "slideshow" link to the right of the top picture... and sit back. Elements, which clearly doesn't claim to be any more than one arrow in your quiver, adds the weaving social media in more directly, and a certain charm derived from the beautiful presentation and the sense of drama it creates.
But the fact that this picture-show site is centered on providing inspiration, the element that energizes and enables us in the most practical way, is what makes this more than just another cool site.
= = =
Have to give the nod to VentureBeat.com's writeup, "Lunarr's Elements is a Twitter-like image-sharing tool to stoke the imagination" by Dean Takahashi, February 8th, 2009.
Posted by Bill Ross at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2009Find Your Creative Tribe on Facebook
Yo! Back in the day, whenever I wanted to hang out with other "creative types" I had to do weird stuff like pound my chest or send smoke signals at midnight. No more!
Now there's Facebook Groups. Or more specifically, my new Create, Innovate, Get Out of the Cave! group -- a place for aspiring innovators to gather round the cyberspatial fire and stoke the flames of creation.
Hey, don't be a neanderthal! You're not in this alone!
Dig it. I struggled to invent the wheel thousands of years before the Mesopotamians (who got all the credit). I had, like, one friend, Ugh, to help me through the process. But YOU have thousands! And they're all starting to meet here.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2009Hamster Burial Kits and 998 Business Ideas
Ideas are a dime a dozen. The money is in the execution.
Need proof? For Seth Godin's Alternative MBA program, this week nine forward thinking (and very prolific) wizards each came up with 111 business ideas.
But ideas are only valuable when someone (like you) makes something happen. What follows are their 999 business ideas, free for the taking.
If you see one you like, let us know. If you need some support developing the idea or maintaining your inspiration, click here... or over here.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2009"Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it." -- Horace
OK, movers and shakers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, creative thinkers, and other assorted humanoids adversely affected by the crumbling global economy... it's time to embrace the fact that the difficulties you're facing actually have a SILVER LINING.
The old forms are dying. Everything you were depending on is no longer dependable. For many of you, it's back to Square One -- time again to reinvent yourself, your business, and your way of relating to the world. Is this a problem? Only if you think it is. And only if the required imperative to adapt and change puts you into some kind of catatonic state.
SNAP OUT OF IT!
You can't afford the luxury of obsessing about the past or blaming the banks or Bernie Madoff or your company or Wall Street or whatever. It's time to take the bull by the horns. (Or at least wave a red flag instead of a white one).
As the Roman poet, Horace, so eloquently said: "Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it" -- the Italian version of that old saw, "Necessity is the mother of invention."
So... may all you latent geniuses of the world rise up and embrace the moment of change that is upon you.
And remember, you are not in this alone. Join forces with others! Create alliancies, collaborations, and partnerships with people who bring something to the table -- and who realize, as you do, that now is the time to make magic happen.
Photo lovingly lifted from Horace's home page on Wikipedia
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:07 PM | Comments (1)
