Stand By Me
Some people say that laughter is the universal language. Others say love. Still others say stock options. The producers of the video below say music. Whatever language you speak, one thing is clear: at the core of who we are, beyond our differences, titles, and strategic plans, we all speak the same language.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:36 AM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2009Blue Sky Thinking for Fun and Profit
In 1989, Gary Kasparov, the Soviet Union Grand Chess Master, played a two game match against "Deep Blue," the reigning supercomputer of the time. Kasparov won easily.
When asked by the media what his competitive advantage was, he cited two things: intuition and the ability to fantasize.
(And this from a master strategist!)
Few of us, in the workplace, are ever encouraged to fantasize -- a behavior most commonly associated with children, slackers, and flakes.
And yet, fantasizing is exactly how many breakthrough ideas get their start -- the act of some off-the-grid maverick entertaining the seemingly impossible...
HERE'S A SIMPLE WAY TO FIND SOME BLUE SKY
1. Make a wish for the successful resolution of your challenge (i.e. "I wish I had more time").
2. Extend your wish by making a wild wish (i.e. "I wish I didn"t have to work my regular job").
3. Extend your wild wish further by thinking of a fantasy solution -- a seemingly impossible way to get a result (i.e. "a fairy godmother shows up at midnight to do my work").
4. Distill your fantasy solution down to a core principle (i.e. "I get more help" or "I outsource my responsibilities").
5. Using this principle as a clue, brainstorm new ideas for the successful resolution of your challenge.
Photo
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2009You're Right!
There is a scene from Fiddler on the Roof that has taught me more about life than most holy books I've read.
In it, two men are heatedly arguing over the age of a horse. When they see Tevye, the town milkman/sage, walking by, they begin passionately pleading their case.
"Tevye!" blurts the first, "I've been cheated! Last month a bought a horse from this sorry excuse for a man. He told me the horse was six, but it was 12!"
Tevye listens carefully, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!" he says.
"What!" screams the second. "No way! Not true! The horse I sold him was six years old and I have the papers to prove it!"
Again, Tevye listens, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!" he says.
A third man, who'd been watching the argument from the beginning, boldly steps forward.
"Tevye... with all due respect for your great insight and wisdom, how can he be right" (pointing the the first) "and he be right" (pointing to the second).
Tevye listens, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!
Then he starts dancing like a madman.
Next time you think you're right... remember Tevye.
Business and innovation are FULL of paradox, contradiction, and seeming dissonance. See if you can dance your way through them without making anyone wrong. You'll enjoy the process more AND fabulous new things will manifest as a result. To life!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:44 AM | Comments (2)
May 20, 2009The Art of Seeing the Invisible
See that FedEx logo to your left? What do you notice? Letters? Colors? Height? Width? Probably. But if that's all you see, you are missing something -- something essential.
Take another look. Do you see an arrow? No? Look again. More specifically, look at the space between the "E" and the "x". The white space. See it? Cool, huh?
Such is life... and the creative process.
There's so much IN it, staring us right in the face, but we often miss it. We look, but don't see. We listen, but don't hear. We touch, but don't feel.
For creative people, the "white arrow" is often a moment that shows up quite unexpectedly. It's not "on the radar." It's hidden from view. It's not immediately apparent. And often that is where the BREAKTHROUGHS reside.
But if we quiet down and really begin to SEE, we notice stuff that didn't seem to be there before. That's where the fun begins.
Is there a way to increase one's ability to see the invisible? Yes, there is... and here are a few ways to begin:
1. Pay attention to your dreams. Write them down.
2. Honor serendipity and synchronicity
3. Listen to the feedback of others
4. Spend time with people from diverse backgrounds
5. Trust your instincts
6. Talk to your customers more
7. Ask impossible questions
8. Notice patterns and trends
9. Sneak up on your project (work in the cracks)
10. Let go of doubt and the internal censor
11. Work in a different environment than you usually do
12. Ask friends to tell you what your blind spots are
13. Initiate a "job swap" day
14. Take a break
15. Look at your challenge through the eyes of someone else
16. Share your ahas and insights with co-workers
17. Get faster feedback from customers
18. Take your team on a fascinating field trip
19. Ask your kids for the answer
20. Invite "unusual suspects" to your brainstorming sessions
By the way, every time I see a FedEx truck or envelope these days, I stop and ask myself "What am I not seeing?" about the project I am most actively working on. It only takes 30 seconds, but often reveals very useful insights.
Here's to the revelation of your white arrow!
PS: If you know of other ways to go beyond the obvious and increase the odds of seeing the invisible, feel free to leave a comment.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2009TED VIDEO: Seth Godin on Tribes
Lucid, entertaining, informative 17-minute video on the power of tribes -- the most ancient and organic way to get a message out to the world. Want to make a difference? Got something to say? Looking for a simple way to connect with those who want to go beyond the status quo? Listen to the bald-headed wonder, Seth Godin, introduce you to what's already happening...
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:47 AM | Comments (0)
May 13, 200956 Reasons Why Most Corporate Innovation Initiatives Fail
Innovation is in these days. The word is on the lips of just about every CEO, CFO, CIO, and anyone else with a three-letter acronym after their name. As a result, many companies are launching all kinds of "innovation initiatives" -- hoping to stir the soup. This is understandable. But it is also, far too often, very disappointing...
Innovation initiatives sound good, but usually don't live up to the expectations. The reasons are many.
What follows are 56 of the most common ones -- organizational obstacles we've observed in the past 22 years that get in the way of a company really raising the bar for innovation.
See which ones are familiar to YOU. Then, sit down with your Senior Team... CEO... innovation committee, or best friend and jump start the process of going beyond these obstacles. Let the games begin...
1. "Innovation" framed as an initiative, not the normal way of doing business
2. Absence of a clear definition of what "innovation" really means
3. Innovation not linked to company's existing vision or strategy
4. No sense of urgency
5. Workforce is suffering from "initiative fatigue"
6. CEO does not fully embrace the effort
7. No compelling vision or reason to innovate
8. Senior Team not aligned
9. Key players don't have the time to focus on innovation
10.Innovation champions are not empowered
11. Decision making processes are non-existent or fuzzy
12. Lack of trust
13. Risk averse culture
14. Overemphasis on cost cutting or incremental improvement
15. Workforce ruled by past assumptions and old mental models
16. No process in place for funding new projects
17. Not enough pilot programs in motion
18. Senior Team not walking the talk
19. No company-wide process for managing ideas
20. Too many turf wars. Too many silos.
21. Analysis paralysis
22. Reluctance to cannibalize existing products and services
23. NIH (not invented here) syndrome
24. Funky channels of communication
25. No intrinsic motivation to innovate
26. Unclear gates for evaluating progress
27. Mind numbing bureaucracy
28. Unclear idea pitching processes
29. Lack of clearly defined innovation metrics
30. No accountability for results
31. No way to celebrate quick wins
32. Poorly facilitated meetings
33. No training to unleash individual or team creativity
34. Voo doo evaluation of ideas
35. Inadequate sharing of best practices
36. Lack of teamwork and collaboration
37. Unclear strategy for sustaining the effort
38. Innovation Teams meet too infrequently
39. Middle managers not on board
40. Ineffective rollout of the effort to the workforce
41. Lack of tools and techniques to help people generate new ideas
42. Innovation initiative perceived as another "flavor of the month"
43. Individuals don't understand how to be a part of the effort
44. Diverse inputs or conflicting opinions not honored
45. Imbalance of left-brain and right brain thinking
46. Low morale
47. Over-reliance on technology
48. Failure to secure sustained funding
49. Unrealistic timeframes
50. Failure to consider issues associated with scaling up
51. Inability to attract talent to risky new ventures
52. Failure to consider commercialization issues
53. No rewards or recognition program in place
54. No processes in place to get fast feedback
55. No real sense of what your customers really want or need
56. Company hiring process screens out potential innovators
Others we may have missed?
We can help. Click here for more.
Photo by Tuli Panka
Thanks to Barry Gruenberg, Bill Shockley, Chuck Frey, and Farrell Reynolds for their sage input.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)
May 09, 2009STICKY IDEA: Post-It Entertainment
If you can spell "innovation," you've probably heard the story about the origins of the post-it note -- how it was an accident in one of 3M's labs and how Art Frye and others saw a market for something that didn't quite stick all that well.
Relax. I'm not going to tell that story again.
What I AM going to do is call your attention to the next creative use of the omnipresent post-it -- a use you are unlikely to have considered yet: the post-it as pure entertainment.
When you're done viewing the 3:19 video, take a few minutes to conjure up some non-traditional uses of your company's best (or worst) selling product. If you don't work for a company, think of some new uses for whatever product or service you are offering the world these days.
As one wise pundit put it, "Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought."
(Thanks to my very creative, 14-year old son, Jesse, for turning me on to this video).
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2009Smoke Signals in Cyberspace
Hey innovation-seeking humanoids!
Back in my day, whenever we wanted to get the word out, it was dirt simple. Smoke signals was the name of the game. Or maybe a primal scream or two.
We didn't have no email, no YouTube, no Twitter, no FaceBook, no MySpace... or the ten thousand other things you modern day Technoids use in your endless effort to make sense of things.
And we certainly didn't have no PR Web Press Releases either, like the one Digital Diva Nettie Hartsock just forwarded to Mr. Finally-Got-Use-of-His-Opposable-Thumbs-Axiom-Award-Winner What's-His-Name today.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2009Are You an Idea Addict?
There are lots of things in this world that people get addicted to: alcohol, nicotine, heroin, sex, and Blackberries just to name a few.
But perhaps the biggest addiction, one that often flies in under the radar, is the addiction to OUR OWN IDEAS.
Here's how it works:
We think something up. We feel a buzz. We embrace the idea. We think about it some more. We tweak it, we name it, we pitch it, and POOF, the addiction begins.
At first, like most habits, it's subtle, harmless, a seemingly casual pursuit with a thousand positive side effects: increased energy, renewed focus, a feeling of well-being, a heightened sense of awareness.
Like wow, man.
But then...
We think about it in the shower. We think about it in the car. We think about it when we don't want to think about it. We even dream about it.
Soon we want EVERYONE to know about our idea. We want them to feel the buzz. We want them to nod in agreement. We want them to recognize just how pure our fixation is.
If this is where it ended, it wouldn't be that big a deal. If this is where it ended, I wouldn't be calling it an addiction. Maybe I'd be calling it an "inspiration," or a "commitment" or a "visitation from the Muse." But it doesn't end here. It goes on and on and on and on -- and often, to our own detriment.
If you have a business, of course, you WANT to conjure up cool ideas that turn you on. That's a good thing. But if you cling to ideas just because they're YOURS, or just because they are FAMILIAR, or just because you've invested major amounts of TIME in them, then it's definitely time to rethink where you're coming from.
It may even be time to get help.
The story behind the creation of the iPhone is a good example of what I'm talking about. Steve Jobs and his Apple team had to face the music and back off their own addiction to what they had created in order to create something even greater.
Here's what Steve had to say about the matter...
"There always seems to come a moment (when what you're doing) is not quite working. Take the iPhone. We had a different enclosure design for the iPhone until way too close to the introduction to ever change it. And I came in one morning, and I said 'I just don't love this. I can't convince myself to fall in love with this. And this is the most important product we've ever done.'
"So we pushed the reset button. We went through all the zillions of models we made and ideas we'd had... It was hell because we had to go to the team and say, 'All the work you've done for the last year, we're going to have to throw it away and start over, and we're going to have to work twice as hard now because we don't have enough time.'
"And you know what everybody said, 'Sign us up.'
That happens more than you think because this is not just engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you're in the middle of one of these crises, you're not sure you're going to make it to the other end. But we've always made it, and so we have a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder."
Fortune Magazine (p. 72), March 17, 2008
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:20 PM | Comments (1)
May 05, 2009Seeing Through the Eyes of a Child
Tonight, I came home from a meeting, and the image above was waiting for me in my inbox. Somehow, when I was gone, my 14-year old son figured out how to do this. (That's him). I will ask the wizard in the morning and let you know how he did it.
"The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child." - Thomas Edison
"Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas." - Paula Poundstone
"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso
EXERCISE: Today, present your biggest problem to a child and ask him/her for three possible solutions.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2009YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRINK: 101 CreativiTeas for Aspiring Innovators
Some people say you are what you eat. Others, more cerebrally inclined, say you are what you think. I would like to propose yet another possibility -- you are what you drink.
And so, in this slightly tongue-in-cheek spirit, I offer you a selection of 101 exotic teas from around the world.
Each one has been formulated to stimulate the specific, inner quality you need more of in order to be a more effective innovator on-the-job.
Your task? To choose three teas, from the list below, whose qualities you most need to imbibe -- then brainstorm ways in which you can bring more of these qualities into your life.
1. Opening Up to PossibiliTea
2. Easy Going FlexibiliTea
3. Gandhi-like HumiliTea
4. Well-timed AdaptabiliTea
5. Taking Care of Details Amidst InfiniTea
6. Loosey Goosey ManeuverabiliTea
7. Acceptance of MortaliTea
8. Total QualiTea
9. Beyond MoraliTea
10. An Occasional Dose of RealiTea
11. Following Your Passion With ImpuniTea
12. Balancing PolariTea
13. InterdimensionaliTea
14. Flashes of NonsensicaliTea
15. Unfettered CreativiTea
16. Appreciation of DiversiTea
17. Tuning in to SynchroniciTea
18. OriginaliTea
19. UnconventionaliTea
20. Old Fashioned PracticaliTea
21. CuriosiTea
22. Celebration of IndividualiTea
23. A Deeper Sense of InevitabiliTea
24. Letting Go of FutiliTea
25. A Transformed MentaliTea
26. Go With the Flow FluidiTea
27. Baby Oh Baby SensualiTea
28. WhimsicaliTea
29. Child-like SimpliciTea
30. Tiger-like FerociTea
31. Nose to the Grindstone DurabiliTea
32. Let it Rip TheatricaliTea
33. Grrr!! TenaciTea
34. Authentic AuthenticiTea
35. Mucho GenerosiTea
36. Acceptance of AsymmetricaliTea
37. Quick Moving MobiliTea
38. Enlightened SpiritualiTea
39. Day By Day ClariTea
40. Sylvester Stallone MusculariTea
41. In the Moment SpontaneiTea
42. Twelve Step SobrieTea
43. Beethovian VirtuosiTea
44. Wild Maniacal HilariTea
45. Increased CapaciTea
46. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTea
47. Lucid PerspicaciTea
48. Ha Ha Ha LeviTea
49. Focused SingulariTea
50. A Daily Shot of InsaniTea
51. Expressing Your PersonaliTea
52. Frontal NudiTea
53. International CommuniTea
54. Much More VarieTea
55. Information Highway ActiviTea
56. Higher ProductiviTea
57. Que Sera SororiTea
58. Off the Wall BanaliTea
59. Alimentary CanaliTea
60. Relaxed InformaliTea
61. Sprint? Verizon? AT&Tea?
62. Understanding Primal CausaliTea
63. SpecificiTea
64. Huge Amounts of PubliciTea
65. Give Up Feeling ShitTea
66. IntentionaliTea
67. Beyond Beyond MetaphysicaliTea
68. A Bowl of Soup and a BLTea
69. Hip Hop, Reggae MusicaliTea
70. Calling on Your Own DiviniTea
71. A Touch of SubtleTea
72. Profound ProfundiTea
73. Bottom Line ProfitabiliTea
74. Surprise and SerendipiTea
75. Do It Now InstantaneiTea
76. Proven CertifiabiliTea
77. Solid MarketabiliTea
78. Truth, Love and BeauTea
79. ExponentialiTea
80. Let Go and Be EmpTea
81. We Are the World SolidariTea
82. A Twist, A Change, Some NovelTea
83. Getting Down to the Nitty GritTea
84. San Andreas FaulTea
85. Midwestern SinceriTea
86. Transcending Financial ScarciTea
87. Death of CertainTea
88. Buddha and KrishnamurTea
89. You Don't Have to Feel So GuilTea
90. Total ResponsibiliTea
91. Challenge AuthoriTea
92. Anyone here From Joisey CiTea?
93. More and More CredibiliTea
94. Get it Done MasculiniTea
95. Be More Receptive to FemininiTea
96. A Three Month Vacation in TahiTea
97. Get Rich and Become a CelebriTea
98. Much Deserved SereniTea
99. Hot Diggity DoggiTea
100. Tons of PositiviTea
101. If All There Is Is Now, What Is EterniTea?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2009Reboot yourself with this one
Think you're underpaid? Complaining about your boss, the economy, or the price of avocados? Read this juicy quote aloud, then see how you feel.
"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
- George Bernard Shaw
OTHER QUOTES FROM GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
"Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week."
"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will."
"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."
"The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:06 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2009"Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted, counts." (Einstein)
Some things we can measure. Some things we can't. And just because we can measure something doesn't make it more real or significant.
Einstein knew this. There was always the "X factor" for him -- mystery, the unknown, and the impossible to quantify.
That's why he used to conduct "thought experiments" in his lab -- times when he turned away from the blackboard with all those exotic formulas and simply daydreamed -- letting the intuitive side of him take over for a change.
Hmmm... what might YOU be attempting to quantify or measure that would best be left alone?
What might you be needing to TRUST that abides outside the boundaries of the rational, logical, analytical, scientific mind?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
