Go Beyond Your Pet Ideas!
If your company runs brainstorming sessions, know this: too many of them have become veiled opportunities for people to trot out their pet ideas.
Because everyone is so ridiculously busy these days and real listening is at a premium, people use brainstorming sessions as a way to foist their pre-existing ideas on others.
And while this sometimes leads to results, it doesn't make best use of the opportunity a brainstorm session provides. The way around this phenomenon?
Give people a chance to express their pre-existing ideas at the beginning of a session. Clear the decks. Then use the rest of the time to explore the unknown. Woof! Woof!
High Velocity Brainstorming
Conducting Genius
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:48 AM | Comments (2)
26 Reasons Why Most Brainstorming Sessions Are a Big Disappointment
Whenever I ask my clients to tell me about the quality of the brainstorming sessions in their company, they usually roll their eyes and grumble.
Simply put, most brainstorming sessions don't work.
Not because brainstorming, as a process, doesn't work -- but because they're usually done poorly.
What follows are 26 of the most common reasons WHY -- and after that, a list of what you can do differently to turn things around. Ready?
1. Lame facilitation
2. Wrong (or poorly articulated) topic
3. Unmotivated participants
4. No transition from "business as usual"
5. Insufficient diversity of participants
6. Addiction to the status quo
7. Lack of clear ground rules
8. Sterile meeting space
9. Hidden (or competing) agendas
10. Lack of robust participation
11. The boss is in the room
12. Habitual idea killing behavior
13. Attachment to pet ideas
14. Discomfort with ambiguity
15. Hyper-seriousness (not enough fun)
16. Endless interruptions
17. PDA addiction (Crackberries)
18. Premature adoption of the first "right idea"
19. Group think
20. Hierarchy, turfs, and competing sub-groups
21. Imbalance of divergent and convergent thinking
22. No tools or techniques to spark creativity
23. Inadequate idea capture
24. Meaningless speed. No time for reflection
25. Pre-mature evaluation
26. No real closure or next steps
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO TURN THINGS AROUND?
1. Find, train (or hire) a skillful facilitator
2. Make sure you're focusing on the right challenge.
3. Invite people who care about the topic.
4. Invite people with diverse points of view.
5. Spend time clarifying the "current reality".
6. Start with a fun icebreaker to help change mindset.
7. Ask participants to establish clear meeting ground rules.
8. Design (or find) a more inspiring meeting space.
9. Establish alignment re: session goals.
10. Find ways to engage the least verbal participants.
11. Establish "deep listening" as a ground rule. Model it.
12. Invite participants to name classic idea killing statements.
13. Elicit the group's pet ideas in the first 30 minutes.
14. Explain how ambiguity is part of the ideation process.
15. Tell stories, play music, invite humor.
16. Go off site. Put a "meeting in progress" sign on the door.
17. Collect all PDAs/cell phones. Establish "no email" ground rule.
18. Go for a quantity of ideas. Let go of perfectionism.
19. Encourage individuality, risk taking, and wild ideas.
20. Ask people to leave their titles at the door.
21. Start with divergent thinking. End with convergent thinking.
22. Use tools and techniques to spark original thinking.
23. Enroll scribes, use post-its, have an idea capture process.
24. Create time for individuals to reflect on new ideas.
25. Explain that evaluation will happen at the end of the session.
26. Identify and enroll "champions". Explain the follow up process.
Our approach
Virtual brainstorm facilitation training
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:45 AM | Comments (5)
January 30, 2012The Art and Science of Losing Count
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
-- Albert Einstein
If you have even the slightest respect for the wild-haired father of modern physics, consider this: Your organization's fascination with metrics is often nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to quantify the unquantifiable -- a compulsive effort to validate that which you and everyone else already know to be true.
I'm not suggesting you abandon metrics (I track, daily, how may unique visitors make it to my website) -- all I'm saying is not everything needs to be measured, at least not all of the time.
The core of your company's "innovation process" is actually less about mind, and more about heart. (And if you're about to ask me how I know that, please read the Einstein quote one more time).
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2012Creative Thinking Technique #3
THE EMBEDDED REPORTER
There is a state of mind psychologists have dubbed the hypnopompic state that is a rich source of inspiration and fresh ideas.
In this state, most often associated with the first few minutes upon waking, the analytical mind is at bay and a fuzzier logic prevails.
It is as if a portal opens between worlds and we gain greater access to the subconscious part of mind where brilliance, insight, and expanded perception often reside.
Explained Victor Hugo, "There is visible labor, and there is an invisible labor."
In the hypnopompic state, invisible labor rules the day.
THE TECHNIQUE
1. When you wake up, don't get out of bed.
2. Just lay there.
3. Don't speak. Don't think. Don't move.
4. Let dreams, images, and feelings come to you.
5. Surf them. Then write them down.
Idea Champions
Photo
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel
More about the book
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:02 AM | Comments (1)
January 27, 2012Ten Simple Mindset Shifts for 2012
This is a marvelous, lucid, well-written blog post by Tom Asacker on ten of the fundamental mindset changes that you and your company will need to honor if you expect to thrive during these radically changing times.
HINT: Your marketing efforts need to be less about branding and more about bonding.
Who, on your team, do you need to meet with to explore Tom's key points? And when will you do it?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
Creative Thinking Technique #2
DREAM CATCHING
Many great breakthroughs have come in dreams.
Rene Descartes got the concept for the Scientific Method in a dream. Elias Howe came up with the final design for the lock stitch sewing machine in a dream. August Kekule arrived at the formulation of the Benzene molecule in a dream.
In the dream state, our subconscious mind arrives at solutions that our conscious mind is unlikely to discover no matter much it obsesses.
That's why Thomas Edison and Salvadore Dali used to take naps during the day.
Click the link below for a simple technique you can use to help remember your dreams...
The Technique:
1. Before you go to sleep tonight, bring to mind a question, challenge or opportunity you've been struggling with
2. As you fall asleep, stay focused on it
3. When you awake, write down your dream even if the dream makes no sense to you
4. Reflect on each element of the dream and see if you can make any connections to the project you are noodling on.
Illustration
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel
Awake at the Wheel website
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2012Creative Thinking Technique #1
This is the first in a series of 35 postings that describe simple techniques you can use to liberate your innate creativity.
1. WRITE ON!
Buddha, as the story goes, once said that human beings have 2,000 thoughts per second -- and that he had slowed his mind enough to be able to identify the last two.
Few of us are in Buddha's league. Our thoughts are often a blur, flying in under the radar -- great ideas mixed with odd bits about shoe sales, sex, and salad dressing.
Like unremembered dreams, our ideas come and go, having little or no effect on our lives. That's why you need a way to track and capture them. At the very least, the effort will give you the option of remembering them.
Cavemen recorded their ideas on the walls of their cave. You also need a way.
The Technique
1. Keep an idea notebook with you at all times
2. When an inspired idea comes to you, write it down
3. At the end of the day (or week), review your notebook, circling the ideas that sing to you
4. Look for connections between ideas and see if you can synthesize something new from their interplay.
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel
Awake at the Wheel website
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2012The Rock and a Hard Place Exercise
Here's a fun 5-minute exercise -- a good icebreaker or brainstorm session starter.
Make a list of every bad thing that will happen to you and your business if you don't figure out how to free yourself from being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Then take another five minutes and make a second list of everything you can do to prevent the stuff you just wrote down on your first list from happening. Go!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2012The Seed of Innovation Moment
Let's cut to the chase: Innovation doesn't begin with processes, structures, and protocols. It begins with inspiration.
And where does inspiration come from?
It comes from inside the impassioned mind and heart of each person who works in your organization.
When people's mind/mindset is in the right place (i.e. open, curious, imaginative, communicative), your organization is home to thousands of daily, spontaneous opportunities for innovation to take root.
But all too often it doesn't.
And the reason it doesn't is because the people who work in your organization don't necessarily know how to maximize what I have come to call seed of innovation moments -- those naturally occurring interactions where inspired people share their new ideas with each other.
Idea seeds are being sown all the time, but all too often they are falling on hard ground.
The people you work with are originating -- and communicating -- their ideas more often than you realize. In meetings. In hallways. In elevators, parking lots, offices, bathrooms, cars, and lunch rooms. Many of these ideas are very intriguing -- or could be -- but they rarely take root.
Why not?
1. People are moving way too fast to recognize the "seed of innovation" moment.
2. People rarely think it's their job to listen and respond to the ideas of others.
3. People don't know how to give meaningful, innovation-sparking feedback on the fly.
The result?
Your organization is losing out on one of it's biggest natural resources -- the innate creativity and self-organizing brilliance of it's workforce.
Is there anything you and your organization can do about this? Yes, there is. Check back here next week for our proposed 10-point plan. I'd include it here now, but someone with a juicy idea is knocking on my door...
Why you don't get your best ideas at work
Illustration
Photo
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:08 PM | Comments (3)
January 23, 2012The Real Organizational Chart?
One reason why there isn't more innovation in your organization is because too many people are working on their own. The result? Overwhelm. Stress. Bottlenecks. And too many missed opportunities. Here are 20 ways to change the game:
20 WAYS TO CHANGE THE GAME
1. Tune into the vision of what you're trying to accomplish
2. Identify the gaps between the vision and the reality
3. Make a list of what isn't getting done
4. Make a list of everything you do, then note the tasks that should be done by someone else
5. Write a job description for every role that should be done by somebody else
6. Envision how cool it would be if you had the right people in the right slots
7. Identify the bottlenecks
8. Think about WHY these bottlenecks exist
9. Let go of your need for control
10. Ask one person, today, to join forces with you
11. Ask that person to recommend some other people
12. Change the way you fill empty positions
13. Look for unusual suspects -- people who could help, but no one's ever thought of inviting them to the party
14. Delegate more
15. Let go of perfectionism
16. Improve your orientation process
17. Tap all your existing networks. Let them know you need help.
18. Find someone you trust to help you with all of the above
19. Take three hours off within the next week to focus on all of the above
20. Be grateful for the opportunity you have
How to create an idea factory
Idea Champions
Thanks to Dave Cohen for the chart
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:54 PM | Comments (1)
January 22, 2012You Are Never Too Old to Create
Got a big idea? Think you're too old to create! Think again. Here are some incredible examples to inspire you to go for it! Click "full screen" (bottom right icon) for easiest reading.
The Creative Age
Catalyzing the Creative Mind
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2012Everything Begins as an Idea
Everything begins as an idea.
Whether you're in business, school, jail, or debt, that's how it all gets rolling. First there's the idea, then there's the manifestation of the idea -- assuming, of course, that the person with the idea has their act together.
If you have any doubt, take a look around you.
Everything you see began as an idea: The microchip, the chocolate chip, the fishing net, the internet, the company you work for, and the company you keep. All of it. Everything. Even the Universe, some say, began as an idea in the mind of the Creator.
Well then, if it all begins with an idea, where in the world do ideas come from?
There are two schools of thought on this subject.
The first ascribes the origin of ideas to the efforts of inspired individuals who, through a series of spontaneously occurring or purposeful mental processes, arrive at a useful new possibility.
The second school ascribes the appearance of ideas to a transcendent force, a.k.a. the "Collective Unconscious," the "Platonic Realm," the "Muse," or the "Mind of God."
According to this perspective, ideas are not created, but already exist, becoming accessible to human beings who have tuned themselves enough to be able to receive them.
The first approach is usually considered Western, with a strong bias towards thinking. It is best summarized by Rene Descartes' "I think therefore I am" maxim.
Most business people subscribe to this approach, as it gives great weight to the power of the mind.
The second approach is usually considered Eastern, with a strong bias towards feeling. It is best summarized by the opposite of the Cartesian view: "I am therefore, I think."
Most artists and creative types are associated with this approach, with its focus on intuitive knowing -- a way of understanding that does not lend itself to analysis and quantification.
Both approaches are valid. Both are effective. And both are used at different times by all of us, depending on our mood, circumstances, and conditioning.
No matter what our preferred approach, however, the challenge remains the same for all of us: how to honor, develop and manifest our ideas.
This is a challenge made increasingly more difficult these days by the fact that, somehow, ideas have gotten a bad rap.
If you have one (and most of us do), chances are good you usually apologize before talking about it (if you talk about it at all) with some variation of "Uh... er... um... it's just an idea."
Most of us, in fact, have made a habit of discounting ideas -- in ourselves and in others. "A dime a dozen" is all we think they're worth.
And so the prophecy comes true.
Our ideas are diminished, not because they are worthless, but because we do not know how to elicit their value. We do not understand how to cultivate them.
Afraid we will be judged, or worse, fail -- we toss them out long before their time. Like Jack's mother, of Beanstalk fame, we throw our magic beans out the window, doubting they had any real value in the first place.
But they do. Jack's did. And so do yours. At least they might have value. That is, if you are willing to go on the journey to find out.
Which bring us to the moment of truth. The moment of choice. Now.
Ideas -- no matter how exalted they might be, almost always assume a need, desire or intention on the part of the originator.
A person must care enough about something in order to get an idea about it. The bigger one's need, desire, or intention, the greater the likelihood that ideas will make their appearance.
And so, aspiring innovator, I ask you this:
What is your need, desire, or intention? What is moving you? What is calling you? What do you want to create?
What is your idea -- that 'thing' you want to manifest in this world -- even if seems like a long shot?
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel
An idea greenhouse
An idea hothouse
An idea outhouse
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
The Wisdom of Bruce Lee
"All
fixed
set patterns
are
incapable
of adaptability
or pliability.
The
truth
is
outside
of
all
fixed
patterns."
-- Bruce Lee
What market change does your business need to adapt to?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
PREMier PREMotion Beach Boy StyleTurn up the volume! Go full screen! Here is a fun way that three inspired students of Prem Rawat are getting the word out about his upcoming presentation in Long Beach, CA on 1/29.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2012The Top 5 Innovation Speakers
I am happy to announce that I have just been voted a Top 5 Innovation Speaker by Speaker's Platform -- a leading edge speakers bureau.
I am honored and really looking forward to taking my message on the road.
The message? That every organization in the world can be significantly more innovative if commits to fostering the kind of environment that brings out the natural brilliance of it's workforce.
Everyone is creative. The only problem is this natural ability has been obscured by a truckload of organizational constraints, assumptions, habits, old mindsets, inelegant processes, and an odd unwillingness to make the kinds of changes necessary to meet the demands of a radically changing marketplace.
Click here for descriptions of my keynotes.
How to foster a culture of innovation
Photo
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2012The Beauty of a Wandering Mind
Do you have a tendency to zone out? Daydream? Follow the yellow brick road? Well, your day has come.
Instead of having to defend yourself from the army of people demanding you become more focused every second of the day, now you have some vital research, noted by the New York Times, to build a case for your wandering mind.
Explains, Dr. Jonathan Schooler, of UCLA:
"For creativity, you need your mind to wander, but you also need to be able to notice that your mind is wandering and catch the idea when you have it. If Archimedes had come up with a solution in the bathtub, but didn't notice he'd had the idea, what good would it have done him?"
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:47 AM | Comments (1)
January 17, 201224 Awesome Quotes on Good Communication
1. "The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said." - Peter Drucker
2. "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw
3."Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people." - William Butler Yeats
4. "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." - Epictetus
5. "Speak when you are angry -- and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret." - Laurence Peters
6. "In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do." - Stephen Covey
7. "The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them." - Stephen King
8. "Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language." - Walt Disney
9. "Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
10. "The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through." - Sydney Harris
11. "Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing." - Rollo May
12. "Humor is the affectionate communication of insight." - Leo Rosten
13. "Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break." - Earl Wilson
14. "Communication is everyone's panacea for everything." - Tom Peters
15. "Two monologues do not make a dialogue." - Jeff Daly
16. "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato
17. "Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." - D.H. Lawrence
18. "Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn't listening." - Emma Thompson
19. "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway
20. "You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time." - Scott Peck
21. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." - Mark Twain
22. "That which we are capable of feeling, we are capable of saying." - Cervantes
23. "I have an answering machine in my car. It says, 'I'm home now. But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out.'" - Steven Wright
24. "Give me the gift of a listening heart." - King Solomon
Thanks to Val Vadeboncoeur for locating a bunch of these
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2012How to Conduct a Virtual Meeting
If the number of the virtual meetings you're attending is going up, but the quality is going down, it's time to reconsider your approach.
Here's a useful article from Nick Morgan, of the Harvard Business Review, on how to maximize the effectiveness of virtual meetings.
Common sense? Yes. But common sense, these days, is uncommon. Nick's 5-point plan elaborates on the following:
1. Recognize virtual meetings are sub-optimal and plan accordingly
2. Plan the virtual meeting in 10-minute increments
3. Pause regularly for group input
4. Label your emotions and ask others to do the same
5. Don't neglect the small talk, but use video
The complete article
Illustration
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:30 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2012Rene Descartes Had It Backwards
Rene Descartes, the famous French philosopher, mathematician, and writer is remembered by many as the author of the famous phrase, "I think therefore I am."
With all due respect to the probably-way-smarter-than-me Mr.Descartes, I don't buy it.
Based on my non-Aristotelian, late night sojourns into the flip side of thinking, it's become very clear to me that a more accurate statement would be "I am therefore I think."
Then again, since we all know Werner Heisenberg irrefutably proved that the experimenter affects the experiment, it is likely that the truest philosophical statement of being would probably take on the shape of the person who said it.
And so, in a highly non-caffeinated fit of blogospheric bravado, I present to you 15 alternate statements of epistemological coolitude that give Descartes' tired phrase (and mine) a run for their money.
1. "I wink, therefore I am." - Sarah Palin
2. "I blink, therefore I am." - Malcolm Gladwell
3. "I link, therefore I am." - Larry Page and Sergey Brin
4. "I sink therefore I am." - Davey Jones and his Locker
5. "I stink therefore I am." - Pepe LePew
6. "I drink, therefore I am." - WC Fields
7. "I ink, therefore I am." - Kinkos
8. "I slink, therefore I am." - Marilyn Monroe
9. "I rink, therefore I am." - Wayne Gretzky
10. "I kink, therefore I am." - Ray Davies
11. "I clink, therefore I am." - Moet Chandon
12. "I fink, therefore I am." - Vinny "The Rat" Scalucci
13. "I pink, therefore I am." - Mary Kay
14. "I tink, therefore I am." - Bob Marley
15. "I plink, therefore I am." - Ernest Kaai
A big thank you to Cary Bayer and Barney Stacher for a bunch of the aforementioned pearls of wisdom.
Others we might include on our list?
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2012Want to Innovate? Start Here!
Failure is not what you think it is
Idea Champions
Thanks to Sarah Jacob for the heads up!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2012If You Are Planning to Ask an Innovation Consultant for Help
If someone from your company's leadership team asks you to locate an outside consultant to help your organization establish a culture of innovation, STOP for a moment and, with all due respect, ask that person to answer the following questions.
If they answer "NO" to any of them, do not accept the assignment.
Really. I mean it. If you're afraid to decline the assignment, there's no hope for you, your senior team, or your organization. Zero.
If you say YES without understanding the current reality of the senior team, you will only be going on a wild goose chase -- wasting your time, theirs, and the TBD consulting company's who will be asked to generate a hefty proposal that none of your senior leaders will be ready, willing, or able to respond to.
QUESTIONS TO ASK SENIOR LEADERS BEFORE LOOKING FOR AN OUTSIDE INNOVATION CONSULTANT
1. Do you have a clear, compelling vision of our organization's future? If not, are you willing to create one?
2. Are you personally committed to fostering a culture of innovation? Are other senior leaders on the same page with you? If not, are they willing to make the effort to do so?
3. Are senior leaders willing to walk the talk -- modeling the kind of innovation-friendly behaviors they want to see others manifesting on the job?
4. Are you willing to challenge the status quo?
5. Are you open to receiving new ideas from the workforce -- and are you willing to establish a process that will make it easy for them to do so?
6. Are you willing to listen more deeply to what the workforce is thinking and feeling?
7. Are you committed to establishing and supporting an Innovation Council that will drive the process to raise the bar for innovation?
8. Are you willing to invest in a long-term approach, rather than treating the effort as a flavor-of-the-year initiative?
9. Are you willing to go beyond "command and control", empower people, and push decision making further down the food chain?
10. Are you open to guidance and coaching from an outside company who can support you all of the above?
What other questions would you add to the list?
Idea Champions
Culture of Innovation Keynote
Awake at the Wheel
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:43 PM | Comments (1)
January 11, 2012The Professor and the 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."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
Have Innovation Challenge Will Travel
Because I post a lot on this blog (and because I was recently voted the #1 innovation blogger in the world), many people think all I do is write.
Not true.
My day job is being the President and Chief Creativity Officer of Idea Champions, a highly regarded consulting and training company, founded in 1987.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Take a look at what our clients have to say about the value of our work.
Intrigued? Interested in raising the bar for innovation in your organization? Drink coffee? Eat cheese? Breathe? If so, click here to get the ball rolling.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:24 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2012Get Out of the Box!
What can you do, this week, to help your team get out of the box?
Idea Champions
Free the Genie
Awake at the Wheel
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 201250 Awesome Quotes on Possibility
1. "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi
2. "Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll
3. "The Wright brother flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility." - Charles Kettering
4. "In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd." - Miguel de Cervantes
5. "The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do." - Henry Moore
6. "It's kind of fun to do the impossible!" - Walt Disney
7. "I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities." - Whoopi Goldberg
8. "What is now proved, was once only imagined." - William Blake
9. "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." - Mark Twain
10. "The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke
11. "Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing." - John Andrew Holmes
12. "God created a number of possibilities in case some of his prototypes failed. That is the meaning of evolution." - Graham Greene
13. "Whether you believe you can or not, you're right." - Henry Ford
14. "Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision." - V.S. Naipaul
15. "I don't regret a single excess of my responsive youth. I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn't embrace." - Henry James
16. "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." - Shunryu Suzuki
17. "The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious." - John Sculley
18. "One's only rival is one's own potentialities. One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king." - Abraham Maslow
19. "The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react." - George Bernard Shaw
20. "We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do." - Dale Carnegie
21. "An optimist expects his dreams to come true; a pessimist expects his nightmares to." - Laurence J. Peter
22. "When nothing is sure, everything is possible." - Margaret Drabble
23. "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." - Albert Einstein
24. "I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist." - Max Lerner
25. "If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Soren Kierkegaard
26. "All things are possible until they are proved impossible. Even the impossible may only be so, as of now." - Pearl S. Buck
27. "Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great." - Cher
28. "This has always been a motto of mine: Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work." - Bette Davis
29. "You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices." - Deepak Chopra
30. "Some people see things as they are and say 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and say 'Why not?'" - George Bernard Shaw
31. "The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility." - John Lennon
32. "I love those who yearn for the impossible." - Goethe
33. "Every man is an impossibility until he is born." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
34. "If you can't, you must. If you must, you can." - Tony Robbins
35. "A likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility." - Aristotle
36. "If someone says can't, that shows you what to do." - John Cage
37. "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt
38. "Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." - Mark Twain
39. "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." - Louis D. Brandeis
40. "The possible's slow fuse is lit by the imagination." - Emily Dickinson
41. "I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso
42. "If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison
43. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." - Les Brown
44. If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau
45. "Everything you can imagine in real." - Picasso
46. "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." - Martin Luther
47. "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
48. "I don't dream at night, I dream all day. I dream for a living."
- Steven Spielberg
49. "The shell must break before the bird can fly." - Alfred Tennyson
50. "If not you, who? If not now, when?" - Rabbi Hillel
Something else that's possible
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:11 PM | Comments (2)
January 07, 2012Big Blues From the Viagra People
In 1999, I conceived and co-founded (with Paul Kwicienski) the world's first interactive business blues band, Face the Music.
The concept was a simple one: help organizations increase teamwork and decrease complaint by getting employees to write and perform original blues songs.
The concept resonated with a lot of industries, especially Big Pharma.
Oh yeah, they had the blues, lots of blues, like the "Now We Gotta Compete with Generic Drugs from Canada Blues," and the "No One Trusts the Drug Companies Anymore Blues," and the always popular, "Our Pipeline Is Empty, But Our Inbox is Full Blues."
So we weren't all that surprised when Pfizer came calling...
They had a big conference coming up and wanted to do "something different" to engage participants -- all of whom were high ranking business leaders.
Though our approach seemed risky to them at first, our testimonials from other Fortune 500 companies were proof enough we were the real deal for them to sign on the dotted line.
And so they did.
Unlike most bands -- or business simulations, for that matter -- our service began long before we took the stage.
For each client wanting the complete experience, we'd write a custom blues song weeks before -- a kind of musical caricature of their company that we'd perform to kick off our performance -- a modern day Greek Chorus routine that loosened up audiences while modeling the message of the evening -- to speak (or in our case, sing) the truth.
And though we always shared our lyrics with clients long before an event, rarely were we asked us to modify what we wrote.
Pfizer was a different story.
From their perspective, our lyrics were "incendiary, politically incorrect, and might be taken the wrong way."
Customer-focused as we were (and not wanting to blow a good pay day), we revised our lyrics overnight and submitted version 2.0 the first thing in the morning.
Pfizer didn't like our new version, either. Or version 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0.
After five failed attempts, we decided to drop the custom song and focus on the classic blues songs that made up the bulk of our play list.
But doubt had crept into our client's mind. He was now officially nervous and wanted to see the lyrics to all our songs.
"Piece of cake," we reasoned to ourselves. The lyrics we'd be sending him had been performed for more than a hundred years all over America and were a huge part of the DNA of the nation.
True. But they weren't part of Pfizer's DNA. Our client had major issues with every song we sent them.
So we emailed him the lyrics to another ten classic blues songs. He rejected those, too.
Now, we had the blues. Like the legendary Robert Johnson, we stood at the crossroads, Blackberries and guitars in hand.
"Gentlemen," I began the damage-control conference call in the most corporate voice I could muster, "with all due respect, you have just rejected the lyrics of the most popular 20 American blues songs from the past hundred years. Remember, you are engaging the services of a blues band, not a polka band. You've got to have more trust in us."
Ooooh... the "T" word!
They hemmed. They hawed. Them hemmed again. And then with a semi-shrug of their collective shoulders and the growing recognition that their event was just a few days away, they chose the seven tamest songs and gave us a tepid thumbs up.
"But remember!" they warned, "the show must end no later than 9:30 sharp. Not a minute more."
Show time!
When we got to the venue, I could tell we were in for an interesting night.
Though our client greeted us pleasantly enough, something was off. Outwardly, he was fine. Inwardly, he was anxious, uptight, constricted, nervous, sweating, and silently obsessing about how he was going to cover his ass should his worst nightmares about the evening come true.
The band picked up on his mood and immediately tightened up.
Knowing that good music doesn't issue forth from tight musicians, I sent the band backstage for a glass of wine and some small talk while I filibustered with the client -- the theater now rapidly filling with hundreds of people who made a lot more money than we did.
"Remember," the client reminded me again before the lights went down, "the show must end at 9:30 sharp!"
The band's first two songs that night were lame. Very lame. Channeling the tension of our neck-on-the-line client, the band was playing it safe -- not exactly a formula for foot stomping blues.
By the third song, thank God, the band found its groove. The audience relaxed and the songs they wrote and performed were some of the funniest we'd heard in a while.
I looked at my watch. It was 9:27. Quickly, I signaled the band to wrap things up when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the client making his way to the stage.
Actually, "making his way" wasn't the right phrase to describe his approach. "Storming the stage" was more like it.
I looked at my watch again. Now it was 9:28 and the client was getting closer by the nanosecond. I spoke faster, much faster, doing my best to finish before the bewitching hour.
Two sentences from closure, the man bounds up the stairs and lunges towards me.
"Keep playing!" he blurts. "Tell the band to keep playing! This is really going well! Forget the 9:30 deadline. Keep playing!"
I signal the band and they segue into BB King"s "Let the Good Times Roll" -- the 12-minute version. South Side Denny takes off on a blistering guitar solo. South Side Slim is wailing at the top of his lungs. Screaming Sweet Pea Fradon is bringing down the house. Blind Lemon Pledge is on top of his game.
Everyone in the audience is singing and dancing and clapping and laughing.
The pharmaceutical blues? Gone. At least for the moment.
HELP YOUR COMPANY GO BEYOND THE BLUES!
If you click this link, talk with an Idea Champions consultant, and commit to a Face the Music session by February 1, you get one of the following freebies:
50 copies of Awake at the Wheel
35 decks of Free the Genie
100 seats of an annual license for Free the Genie
50% off of a High Velocity Brainstorming Session
NOTE: This blog posting is excerpted from Mitch Ditkoff's forthcoming WISDOM AT WORK: The Inside Story of What's Really Happening On the Job
If you're a publisher interested in publishing this book, click here.
For more on Face the Music, click here or here.
Check out our Six Sigma Blues.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:56 AM | Comments (0)
Go Beyond the Business Blues
For years I was trying to figure out what all my clients had in common. Opposable thumbs? Yes. The Isle of Langerhans. That, too. Big, fat opinions about everything. For sure.
But even more than the aforementioned stuff in the preceding paragraph which you just read and probably haven't yet forgotten even though your short-term memory is getting shorter by the nanosecond and you're probably wondering, by now, why I'm rambling on and on when most blog postings are supposed to be short and sweet, it dawned on me one fine day as I was scraping marinara sauce off my shirt that the main thing all my clients had in common was the blues.
Yes, indeed. The blues. The same blues Muddy Waters had. And Robert Johnson. And BB King. Those blues.
Unlike the blues greats, however, my clients didn't have a way to express their blues. And, in the absence of this opportunity, their God given right to get right was lost.
But no more, brothers and sisters! No more!
Now, even the most buttoned down, white collared, bow-tied creators of spreadsheets at midnight have a chance to get those business blues off their chest and move towards a better future -- not to mention have fun, collaborate, and learn what it takes to innovate on the fly.
Ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, allow me to introduce you to the world's first business blues band -- Face the Music!.
PS: Should you decide to contact them, be sure to mention that it was Idea Champions who sent you. (We give 5% of our referral fees to TPRF, one of the most well-run and inspired humanitarian organizations in the world).
The Six Sigma Blues
My blues encounter at Pfizer
The Email Blues
The Gotta Have a Process Blues
Idea Champions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2012Wrapper of the Year!
If you have to pee, pee now. Pee before watching this video. I take no responsibility for your wardrobe, dry cleaning bills, or anti-social behavior. Consider yourself forewarned.
Idea Champions
More Christmas cheer
Buy something already
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
What's Next After Twitter
Ever since Twitter made its appearance on the scene in 2006, millions of people have become enamored with the prospect of delivering a message in 140 characters or less.
Short and sweet has become the name of the game. Brevity rules.
And why not? In a world ruled at least as much by ADD as by maniacal despots, who's got time for anything else?
These days, we don't have time. Time has us.
But according to industry sources, Twitter has become passe.
Like the SONY Walkman. Like your father's Oldsmobile. Like the last two sentences of this paragraph.
That's why I've invented TWI -- the next, new super hip, low carbon footprint, social networking platform.
It's quicker. It's faster. And by the end of this post, the company will have already issued an IPO.
140 characters? Please! That's an eternity!
With TWI all you get is 20 characters. That's an 86% improvement in productivity over Twitter. 86%!
If you can't deliver your message in 20 characters, you're obviously a slacker and we don't want your business. Why would we? You'd probably end up calling our customer service bots and wasting their time with your long-winded complaints.
TWI. Think about how much more efficient you will be -- leaving you so much more time to drink coffee and get more things done.
C'mon! What are you waiting for? Time. Is. Passing. Act now!
Idea Champions
Quick way to spark innovation
Even quicker
Illustration
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:21 AM | Comments (2)
January 05, 201221 Awesome Quotes on Intuition
"The only real valuable thing is intuition." - Albert Einstein
"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." - Benjamin Spock
"Systems die; instincts remain." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
"It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover." - Henri Poincare
"Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data." - John Naisbitt
"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something." - Frank Capra
"It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It's my partner." - Jonas Salk
"All human knowledge thus begins with intuitions, proceeds thence to concepts, and ends with ideas." - Immanuel Kant
"Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's. - Billy Wilder
"Your time is limited, don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinion drown your own inner voice. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
"The more and more each is impelled by that which is intuitive, or the relying upon the soul force within, the greater, the farther, the deeper, the broader, the more constructive may be the result." - Edgar Cayce
"I feel there are two people inside me -- me and my intuition. If I go along against her, she'll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely." - Kim Basinger
"Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer." - Robert Graves
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein
"You must train your intuition. You must trust the small voice inside which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide." - Ingrid Bergman
"The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days." - Lao Tzu
"People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind." - William Butler Yeats
"Conclusions arrived at through reasoning have very little or no influence in altering the course of our lives."- Carlos Casteneda
"Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next." - Jonas Salk
"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away
just below the conscious level." - Dr. Joyce Brothers
"Follow your instincts. That's where true wisdom manifests itself."
- Oprah Winfrey
Idea Champions
Free the Genie
Thanks to Val Vadeboncoeur for finding most of these quotes
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2012The One For Whom You Create
Poets, lose your pens,
Painters, toss your brushes
in the sea,
Musicians, give your instruments
away, then go for a long walk.
When you're done, keep walking,
notice the beauty all around you.
Don't try to remember
a single thing, breathe.
This holy moment is your poetry,
your art, your song.
Do not concern yourself with giving it form.
The One for whom you create
deeply loves
what you just didn't do.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)
How to Sell Without Selling
Two years ago, my wife and I bought a Turkish rug from Mehmet, Istanbul's Steve Jobs of rug merchants.
If I could run my company as well he could sell, I'd be a very wealthy man.
Technically, speaking, Mehmet didn't really sell us anything. He simply created the conditions that allowed us to buy (which some people, I know, will think is really just a clever form of selling, but it wasn't.)
How did Mehmet work his magic, when all we did was sit down at his cafe to drink some coffee with no conscious desire to buy a rug?
MEHMET'S MAGIC
1. He effortlessly established rapport
2. He gave us all the space we needed
3. He shared his knowledge with great feeling
4. He had beautiful rugs and knew them better than most people know themselves
5. He loved what he did
6. He had a wonderful sense of humor
7. He had kind eyes and a big heart
8. He conducted the transaction in the spirit of service
9. He asked us how much we thought the rug was worth and then sold it to us for less.
10. He knew what he was doing and he did it with the perfect blend of flair and humility.
Take a moment to think about the way that you currently sell your product or services. If it's not going quite as well as you'd like, ask yourself: "What can I learn from Mehmet the Rug Merchant?"
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:09 AM | Comments (2)
January 03, 2012Here's How to Get a Big AHA!
What is it that allows some people to get creative breakthroughs while others get only creative breakdowns -- alternately blaming themselves, society, their company, and their increasingly suspect astrological configurations?
Is it true that people who experience breakthroughs are "gifted"? Or are there other factors at work -- factors that we (the people) have more control over than we might think?
While nobody can deny that some people seem to be blessed with "creative leanings" (i.e. Mozart at 4), research has shown that anyone can have the much sought after AHA! experience -- that is, IF they immerse themselves in the little understood process of creation.
Time and again, the literature bears this out: great creative breakthroughs usually happen only after intense periods of intention, immersion, struggle -- even madness.
It is sustained and focused effort towards a specific goal -- not luck, wishing, or caffeine -- that ultimately prepares the ground for creative insight.
This kind of effort does not always generate immediate results and sometimes leads people to conclude that it's just not in the cards for them.
Alas, they forget during their inevitable encounters with doubt, that the BIG AHA! is never far away and can happen at any time, any place, under any condition.
Let's take a look at some classic examples:
RENE DESCARTES
Recognized as the "father of modern science," Rene Descartes offers a very interesting footnote to the history of creative breakthrough.
An exceptionally gifted student in 17th century France, young Rene dropped out of school at the age of 17 upon realizing that the only thing he had learned was that he was completely ignorant.
Law school proved no better, nor did a brief stint in the military, or an aborted career as a gambler.
Frustrated with the choices available to him, Descartes decided to retire at the ripe old age of 20.
While his parents, teachers, and friends pleaded with him to change his mind, young Rene was adamant, and for the next two years did little else but stay in bed, read, think, dream, and write.
Curiously, one night in the second year of his retreat, Descartes had a dream in which the essence of what we now know as the "scientific method" was revealed to him.
In time, his discovery was shared with the scientific community and Western science had a new hero. Ah, the paradox of it all!
While scientists far and wide heralded Descartes for his contribution to Western, rational science, no one (in their right mind) would acknowledge that the root of Descartes' discovery came to him in a dream - a non-rational, non-linear, altered state of consciousness in the mind of a dropout!
Descartes story is not at all uncommon.
The truth, the breakthrough, the AHA! came to him only after years of intense, conscious effort.
Like ripe fruit, the answer made its appearance at the right time -- a time when he wasn't trying, but had let himself be receptive to the promptings of his own subconscious mind.
ELIAS HOWE
Elias Howe had struggled for years in his attempt to invent a lock stitch sewing machine. His early designs, though inspired, were flawed. Indeed, the needle he designed had a hole in the middle of the shank, which simply didn't work.
Then, one night, depressed at how slowly things were going, Howe dreamed he was captured by a bunch of savages who took him prisoner before the King.
"Elias Howe," screamed the monarch, "I command you upon the pain of death to finish this machine at once!"
Try as he might, Howe still could not find the solution. The King, making good on his word, immediately ordered his troops to take Howe to the place of "execution" (dream pun intended).
As Howe was being led away, he looked up and noticed that the spears the savages were carrying had eye-shaped holes near the top! Voila!
In a flash, Howe awoke, jumped out of bed, and spent the rest of the night whittling a model of the new, improved needle -- the design breakthrough that quickly brought his experiments to a successful conclusion.
RICHARD WAGNER
At the age of 40, Richard Wagner was going through a serious mid-life crisis. His artistic career was stalled, his marriage was falling apart, and his finances were in shambles.
Desperate, he decided to travel, hoping to find some inspiration. Traveling, however, only tired him.
Then, one morning, just at the moment when he finally gave up on his frantic effort to invoke his muse, Wagner heard a musical theme in a dream -- one that was about to change his life and the history of music.
Explained Wagner, "After a night spent in fever and sleeplessness, I forced myself to take a long walk through the country. It looked dreary and desolate. Upon my return, I lay down on a hard couch. Sleep would not come, but I sank into a kind of somnambulance, in which I suddenly felt as though I were sinking in swiftly flowing water.
"The rushing noise formed itself into a musical sound, the chord of E flat major, whence developed melodic passages of increasing motion. I awoke in sudden terror, recognizing that the orchestral prelude to Das Rheingold, which must have lain long latent within me, had at last been revealed to me. I decided to return to Zurich at once and begin the composition of my great poem."
MOZART
A prodigy? Yes. Gifted? Yes. Unusually receptive? Yes. But also tuned in to the state of mind that preceded great creative breakthroughs.
Explained Mozart, "When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer -- say traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them."
"Those pleasures that please me, I retain in memory, and am accustomed... to hum them to myself. If I continue in this way, it soon occurs to me how I may turn this or that morsel to account, so as to make a good dish of it....agreeably to the rules of counterpoint, and to the peculiarities of the various instruments."
"All this fires my soul, and provided I am not disturbed, my subject enlarges itself, becomes methodized and defined, and the whole, though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind, so that I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance."
"Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them.....all at once. What a delight I cannot tell! All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a pleasing lively dream."
RUDYARD KIPLING
Many people who experience supernormal moments of great creativity report a willingness to let themselves be open to the non-logical, non-linear, and unexplainable promptings of an inner voice.
Maybe you call it a "hunch" or "intuition," but whatever you call it, know that paying attention to it is often the key to manifesting your vision or idea.
Rudyard Kipling, the English writer, was very much in touch with this faculty.
"Most men," wrote Kipling, "keep their personal Daemon (guardian spirit) under an alias which varies with their literary or scientific attainments."
"Mine came to me early when I sat bewildered among other notions. 'Take me and no other,' it said. I obeyed and was rewarded. After that, I learned to lean upon him and recognize the sign of his approach. If ever I held back anything of myself (even though I had to throw it out afterwards), I paid for it by missing what I knew the tale lacked."
"I took good care to walk delicately, lest my Daemon should withdraw. I know that he did not, because when my books were finished they said so themselves with almost the water-hammer click of a tap turned off. 'Note here.'"
"When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait, and obey."
AUGUST KEKULE
It is not only writers and composers that have creative breakthroughs. Molecular scientists do, too.
Notes the Flemish scientist, Kekule, "One fine evening I was returning by the last bus through the deserted streets of the metropolis, which are at other times so full of life."
"I fell into a reverie, and lo! the atoms were gamboling before my eyes. Whenever those diminutive beings had appeared to me before, they had always been in motion, but I had never been able to discern the nature of their motion."
"Now, however, I saw how frequently, how smaller atoms united to form a pair; how a larger one embraced two smaller ones; how still larger ones kept hold of three or even four of the smaller, while the whole kept whirring in a giddy dance."
"I saw how the larger ones formed a chain. I spent part of the night putting on paper at least a sketch of these dream forms."
Then, years later, the big illumination made it's appearance.
"I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gamboling before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of this kind, could now distinguish larger structures....long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all twining and twisting and snakelike motion."
"But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes! As if by a flash of lightening I awoke. Let us learn to dream, gentlemen."
Kekule had made a most remarkable discovery -- that benzene is a cyclic or ring structure and the carbon chain at the molecular core of the compound does indeed form a chain that "swallows its own tail".
TCHAIKOVSKY
OK, all you aspiring creators, how about a tip from the man who composed the Nutcracker Suite?
"Generally, the germ of a future composition comes suddenly and unexpectedly. It takes root with extraordinary force and rapidity, shoots up through the earth, puts forth branches and leaves, and finally blossoms."
"I forget everything and behave like a mad man. Everything within me starts pulsing and quivering. Hardly have I begun the sketch, before one thought follows another."
"In the midst of this magic process, it frequently happens that some external interruption awakes me from my somnabulistic state. Dreadful indeed are such interruptions. They break the thread of the inspiration."
How the first caveman got his breakthrough
Breakthrough keynotes
Idea Chamnpions
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2012Top Innovation Bloggers of 2011
Well, I've got good news and great news to share with you.
First the good news: I was just voted the #1 innovation blogger in the world in a contest sponsored by Innovation Excellence, the #1 innovation blog in the world.
Now the great news: 2012 is going to be an awesome year for you -- full of happiness, abundance, creativity, collaboration, community, fun, gratitude and, yes, innovation. That is, if you want it to be.
I'd like to take this moment to thank all of you who voted for me. (And by the way, for those of you who think that all I do is write about innovation, please know that this is just a sideline).
My real work is in the trenches...
I'd also like to acknowledge some amazing people who have inspired and encouraged me throughout the years.
These include Evelyne Pouget, Tim Gallwey, Prentiss Uchida, Seth Godin, Gary Hamel, Ben Zander, Roger van Oech, Guy Kawasaki, Erika Andersen, Rumi, Hafiz, Kabir, Morihei Ueshiba, the entire Idea Champions team, Joe and Eddie, Ron Brent, Phyllis Rosen, Joan Apter and, most of all, Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji).
I first heard about Prem Rawat when he was 13 (and I was 24). At that very young age, he came to America (from India) to bring a very powerful message of peace -- a message he doesn't just talk about, but helps people experience for themselves.
He is not the first to talk about this message. Nor will he be the last. But he is here and now -- helping thousands of people, from all walks of life, go beyond ideas to find their way to the source of peace within themselves.
His dedication, brilliance, love, and endless commitment to innovating is a great source of inspiration to me.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:11 PM | Comments (2)
January 01, 2012How to Foster a Culture of Innovation
Looking for inspiration and guidance on how to make your company more conducive to innovation? Here's some food for thought and action -- Idea Champions' ten most popular postings on the subject.
HOW TO FOSTER A CULTURE OF INNOVATION
1. The Garden of Innovation
2. 50 Ways to Foster a Sustainable Culture of Innovation
3. 56 Reasons Why Most Innovation Initiatives Fail
4. Innovation: It's About Time
5. The Paradox of Innovation
6. The Art of Seeing the Invisible
7. The 100 Lamest Excuses for Not Innovating
8. Innovation Is An Inside Job
9. 41 Ways Business Leaders Can Foster a Culture of Innovation
10. The Four Currents of a Culture of Innovation
Idea Champions
Who We Are
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)
