The Heart of Innovation: May 2011 Archives

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May 27, 2011
Look to Nature for a Creative Breakthrough

Leonardo DaVinci got his idea for the airplane by watching birds in flight.

The creators of Kung Fu developed many of their techniques by watching animals fight.

The pharmaceutical industry develops many of its "miracle cures" by studying the natural healing properties of herbs and plants.

Bottom line, nature is a great source of breakthrough ideas.

The secret for meeting your biggest challenge, in fact, may have already been worked out thousands of years ago by a cockroach.

THE TECHNIQUE

1. Frame your challenge as a question that begins with either "How can I" or "How can we?"

2. Everywhere you go today, notice how nature "gets things done." (i.e. bee hives, ants, sunflowers, etc.)

3. Make a connection between the natural world and your challenge (i.e. "What can I learn about my challenge from an ant colony?")

Technique adapted from Awake at the Wheel

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:15 AM | Comments (1)

May 25, 2011
Rethinking The Role of a Manager

The root of the word "manager" comes from the same root as the words "manipulate" and "maneuver", meaning to "adapt or change something to suit one's purpose".

Although these words may carry a pejorative meaning, there is nothing inherently wrong with them. Indeed, into each life a little manipulation and maneuvering must fall.

For example, if the door to your office gets stuck, a handyman might need to manipulate it to get it working again. If there is a log jam at the elevator, you might decide to maneuver around the crowd and take the stairs. No problem there.

However, there is another kind of manipulation and maneuvering that is a problem -- when managers use their position to bend subordinates to their will.

While short-term gains may result, in the end the heart is taken out of people.

Your staff may become good soldiers, but they will lose something far more important in the process -- their ability to think for themselves.

General George Patton said it best, "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

Unfortunately, ingenuity in many corporations has gone the way of the hula-hoop. "Intellectual capital" is the name of the game these days -- and it is the enlightened manager's duty to learn how to play.

Only those companies will succeed whose people are empowered to think for themselves and respond creatively to the relentless change going on all around them.

Managers must make the shift from manipulators to manifesters.

They must learn how to coach their people into increasingly higher states of creative thinking and creative doing.

They must realize that the root of their organization's problem is not the economy, cycle time, strategy or outsourcing, but their own inability to tap into the power of their workforce's innate creativity.

Where does this empowerment start?

First, by recognizing what power is: "the ability to do or act".

And second, by realizing that power is intimately connected to ideas.

Most managers, unfortunately, perceive new ideas as problems -- especially if the ideas are not their own.

More often than not, managers don't pay enough attention to the ideas of the people around them. They say they want innovation. They say they want "their people" to do something different. But they do precious little to support their subordinates in their efforts to do so. More commonly, they foist their own ideas on others and can't figure out why things aren't happening faster.

That's not how change happens.

If people are only acting out somebody else's ideas, it's only a matter of time before they feel discounted, disempowered and just plain dissed.

People are more than hired hands; they are hired minds and hearts, as well.

Let's start with the basics.

Everything you see around you began as an idea. The computer. The stapler. The paperclip, the microchip and the chocolate chip. All of these began as an idea within someone's fevered imagination.

The originators of these ideas were on fire.

Did they have to be "managed?" No way. In fact, if they had a manager, he or she would have done well to get out of the way.

If you want to empower people, honor their ideas. Give them room to challenge the status quo. Give them room to move -- and, by extension, move mountains.

Why? Because people identify most with their ideas.

"I think therefore, I am" is their motto. People feel good when they're encouraged to originate and develop ideas. It gives their work meaning, makes it their own, and intrinsically motivates.

Who has the power in an organization? The people who are allowed to think for themselves and then act on their ideas! Who doesn't have power? The people who have to continually check-in with others.

Think about it. The arrival of a new idea is typically accompanied by a wonderful feeling of upliftment and excitement -- even intoxication.

It's inspiring to have a new idea, to intuit a new way of getting the job done. Not only does this new idea have the potential to bring value to the company, it temporarily frees the idea originator from their normal habits of thinking. A sixth sense takes over, releasing the individual from the gravity of status quo thinking.

In this mindset, the idea originator is transported to a more expansive realm of possibility. All bets are off. The sky's the limit. All assumptions are seen for what they are -- limited beliefs with a history, but no future.

If you are a manager, you want people in this state of mind. It is not a problem. It is not the shirking of responsibility. It is not a waste of time.

On the contrary, it's the first indicator that you are establishing a company culture that is conducive to innovation.

This is not to say, of course, that you have to fund every idea that comes your way.

On some level, ideas are a dime a dozen -- and only a handful of them are ever going to amount to much. But if you treat all ideas as if they are worthless, you will never find the priceless ones.

Creativity, you see, is often a numbers game. Einstein had plenty of bogus theories. Mozart wrote some crap. But they continued being prolific. And it was precisely this self-generating spirit of creation, which enabled them to access the good stuff.

You, as a manager, want to increase the number of new ideas being pitched to you. You want to create an environment where new ideas are popping all the time. If you do, old problems and ineffective ways of doing things will begin dissolving.

This is the hallmark of an innovative organization -- a place where everyone is encouraged and empowered to think creatively. Within this kind of environment managers become coaches, not gatekeepers.

"Coaching", of course, has been widely written about and there are many fine books on the subject. What hasn't been written about very much is how to become an "innovation coach" -- how to create the kind of environment that elicits the hidden genius of the people around you.

It's one thing to tell people "you want their ideas", it's quite another to create the kind of environment that makes this rhetoric real.

Creativity cannot be legislated. It cannot be sustained by pep talks. What needs to happen is that YOU, as a manager, need to change the way you relate to people. Each encounter you have with another person in the workplace needs to quicken the likelihood that their unexpressed ideas will get a fair hearing -- enabling a far greater percentage of them to eventually take root.

How does a manager do this?

First, by expressing a lot of positive regard. Get interested! Pay attention! Be present to the moment!

This is not so much a technique as it is a state of mind. If your head is always filled with your own thoughts and ideas, there won't be any room left to entertain those of others. It's a law of physics. Two things cannot occupy the same place at the same time.

Here's an example: Let's say someone comes up to you in the middle of the day and says something like, "I have this great idea for a new product that will generate over $200 million for our company."

The first thing you need to do is realize the opportunity you have. An idea is about to be shared, one that may herald a breakthrough or, at the very least, solve a problem, capitalize on an opportunity, or make your life easier.

Your willingness to sit up and take notice needs to be just as strong as if a customer were to call and complain. If possible, drop what you're doing, focus all of your attention on the idea generator, take a deep breath, and begin a series of questions that demonstrate your interest. If you cannot drop what you are doing, schedule some time -- as soon as possible -- for the idea originator to pitch you.

And whether the pitch is now or later, your response -- in the form of exploratory questions -- needs to be as genuine as possible. Consider some of the following openers:

* "That sounds interesting. Can you tell me more?"

* "What excites you the most about this idea?"

* "What is the essence of your idea - the core principle?"

* "How do you imagine your idea will benefit others?"

* "In what ways does your idea fit with our strategic vision?"

* "What information do you still need?"

* "Who are your likely collaborators?"

* "Is there anything similar to your idea on the market?

* "What support do you need from me?"

* "What is your next step?"

Basically, you want the idea originator to talk about their idea as much as possible in this moment of truth. An idea needs to first take form in order to take root, and one of the best ways of doing this is to encourage the idea originator to talk about it -- even if their idea is not yet fully developed.

The telling of the idea, in fact, is not unlike someone telling you their dream. The telling helps the dreamer flesh out the details of what they imagined and the subsequent hearing of it firmly installs it in their memory -- and yours -- so the idea does not fade quite as quickly.

Most of us, however, are so wrapped up in our own ideas that we rarely take the time to listen to others. Your subordinates know this and, consequently, rarely share their ideas with you.

But it doesn't have to be this way. And it won't necessarily require a lot of time on your part. Some time, yes. But not as much as you might think.

Bottom line, the time it takes you to listen to the ideas of others is not only worth it -- the success of your enterprise depends on it.

Choose not to listen and you will end up frantically spending a lot more time down the road asking people for their ideas about how to save your business from imminent collapse.

By that time, however, it will be too late. Your workforce will have already tuned you out.

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2011
Drowning for Profit

WC Fields was always an exceptionally gifted performer. But some of his most unforgettable performances took place off-camera.

Like most actors in the start of their career, Fields found himself a little short of cash. A problem? Not for him.

The non-traditional Mr. Fields simply created a "Blue Ocean" job for himself in Atlantic City, one summer, as a professional drowner.

Here's how it worked:

Several times a day, Fields would swim out to sea, pretend to be drowning, and then be "rescued" by one of his accomplices, the lifeguard.

Invariably, a large crowd would gather on the beach as the no longer struggling actor was "resuscitated."

Once it was clear that this poor fellow was going to live, the suddenly relieved crowd would turn to Field's third accomplice, the hot dog vendor, (who just happened to be standing nearby) and treat themselves to an "I'm-so-glad-he's-alive" snack.

At the end of each water-logged day, Fields would split the take with his buddies -- the lifeguard and the hot dog vendor.

Brilliant!

Now, I'm not suggesting that you do anything to deceive your customers. Not at all.

But what I AM suggesting is that you take a fresh look at what you might do differently to get an extraordinary result.

Is there a new risk you need to take? An experiment you need to try? A non-traditional collaboration to enter into?

If your product, service, or venture is drowning, what can you do to resuscitate it?

My company, Idea Champions, once got a sizable contract from AT&T by teaching the Director of Training and Development how to juggle in five minutes -- something he'd been trying to learn for 25 years.

That's what I'm talking about: a new approach, a different twist, a non-traditional angle that will spark extraordinary results.

So... what is it?

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2011
Reinventing the Technology of Human Accomplishment

Here is an impassioned, inspired, lucid, refreshing 15-minute presentation by Gary Hamel on the need for organizations to radically reinvent the way they manage their people. Hamel not only builds a compelling case for something you've always felt (but never quite had the words to express), he uses motion graphics in a way that adds major mojo to his presentation.

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:56 PM | Comments (1)

May 21, 2011
Playing with Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease has limited the way legendary jazz guitarist Sangeeta Michael Berardi plays, but not his desire to keep making music any way he can.

Now, 11 years after his diagnosis and no longer the technical virtuoso he once was, Sangeeta is going into a recording studio again, joining with musicians from his past to make one more CD.

Rather than hide from the deterioration brought on by Parkinson's (or "Mr. P", as Sangeeta calls it), his goal is to use the unavoidable shakes and tremors as part of his instrumentation.

"I'll bring my guitar, of course, but I'll also bring bowls and spoons, my pill containers in a bag, my compromised voice and almost anything that serves as an extension of Mr. P -- for he is as much presence in this recording as the other musicians."

The recording, and the process leading up to it, is being filmed by award winning documentary filmmaker Burrill Crohn for a new documentary, Playing with Parkinson's.

Along the way, we learn about Sangeeta, not only as a musician, but as a writer, poet, painter, philosopher, meditator (the name Sangeeta means "Divine Song") and, once -- in 1958 -- bank robber (the idea was to get enough money to make music).

This is a film about music and Parkinson's, but it is also a film about the human spirit, transcendence, and the everyday heroes that walk among us.

I've not yet met Sangeeta, but I've known Burrill Crohn for more than a decade and have nothing but admiration for him and his extraordinary gifts as a filmmaker.

To learn more about the film and how you can help Burrill and Sangeeta complete it, please click here.

More info here.

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2011
I Breathe, I Blog, I Speak

Guess what? I don't just write this blog. I speak!

Yes, I speak. I really do.

As in give keynotes to large audiences who want to get out of the box and raise the bar for innovation. People who want to tap into their brilliance, brainpower, and buoyancy -- aspiring innovators, creative thinkers, difference makers, movers, shakers, and anyone else who wants to find a better way of getting the job done.

I am pleased to announce that I am now being represented by the extraordinary Mike Frick, Founder of Speakers' Platform and Core Speakers Agency.

Give Mike a call today -- 760.673.7700. He speaks, too.

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2011
A Gift for the Parents of Teens

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Teens End Terrorism!