When a Best Practice Isn't
I'm a collector of best practices. I like to find out what forward thinking individuals and organizations have done to accomplish extraordinary results.
Sometimes I share these stories in my keynotes or workshops. Invariably, my stock rises when I tell these stories. People think I know stuff. They get giddy. They take notes. They think about how to adapt these best practices to their organization. But then things get weird.
People start becoming satisfied with emulating other people's lives. Instead of thinking up their own best practices, they imitate. Ouch!
The spirit of innovation gets replaced by the religion of innovation.
Gone is reflection. Gone is the process of discovery. Gone is the ownership that comes with birthing new insights. In it's place? Simulation. Imitation. And, all too often, the blind following of pre-packaged solutions.
I'm not saying there isn't value in paying attention to other people's best practices. There is.
But when when imitation replaces creation, something invariably gets lost -- and innovation eventually goes down the drain.
Idea Champions
My Keynotes
Cartoon
Create your own best practices
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:47 PM | Comments (2)
June 25, 2017Want to Vacation in Woodstock?
If you are looking for a great place to rent in Woodstock, NY, consider renting my home -- just a 12 minute walk to town. Mountain views. Peaceful. Gorgeous. A great place to rest, renew, and rejuvenate. Short- term or long-term rentals available. Click here for the full monte. Or send me an email: mitch@ideachampions.com
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June 22, 201725 Awesome Quotes on Creativity
"The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity." - Alfred North Whitehead
"The chief enemy of creativity is 'good sense.'" - Pablo Picasso
"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference." - Nolan Bushnell
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones." - John Cage
"As competition intensifies, the need for creative thinking increases. It is no longer enough to do the same thing better . . . no longer enough to be efficient and solve problems." - Edward de Bono
"I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them." - Thomas Edison
"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things." - Theodore Levitt
"There is no ideal condition for creativity. What works for one person is useless for another. The only criterion is this: Make it easy on yourself. Find a working environment where the prospect of wrestling with your muse doesn't scare you, doesn't shut you down. It should make you want to be there, and once you find it, stick with it." - Twyla Tharp
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams
"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things." - Ray Bradbury
"Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity." - Edwin Land
"There's room for everybody on the planet to be creative and conscious if you are your own person. If you're trying to be like somebody else, then there isn't." - Tori Amos
"The key question isn't 'What fosters creativity?' But it is why in God's name isn't everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create, but why do people not create." - Abraham Maslow
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." - Joseph Chilton Pierce
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou
"By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The non-existent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired." - Nikos Kazantzakis
"Creativity is discontent translated into arts." - Eric Hoffer
"A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations." - Gerald Jampolsky
"Things are only impossible until they're not." - Jean-Luc Picard
"Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity." - T.S. Eliot
"Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous." - Bill Moyers
"The new meaning of soul is creativity and mysticism. These will become the foundation of the new psychological type and with him or her will come the new civilization." - Otto Rank
"The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards."
- Arthur Koestler
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
- Henry David Thoreau
"If you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself." - Carl Jung
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:32 AM | Comments (4)
June 16, 2017Listen to Your Subconscious Mind
If you study the lives of people who have had Eureka moments, you'll discover that their breakthroughs almost always came after extended periods of intense, conscious effort.
They worked. They struggled. They abandoned all hope. They recommitted -- and then the breakthrough came. And often at the most unexpected of moments.
They weren't buying lottery tickets at their local deli, hoping to win a breakthrough fortune. They were digging for treasure in their own back yard.
Rene Descartes (Mr. "I-Think-Therefore-I-Am") got the Scientific Method revealed to him in a dream. Elias Howe arrived at the final design for the lock stitch sewing machine in a dream. Richard Wagner got the idea for his uber work, Das Rhinegold, while stepping onto a bus after long months of creative despair.
In other words, the conscious mind works overtime in an attempt to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Unable to come up with the solution, the challenge gets outsourced to the subconscious mind, which then proceeds to figure things out in its own, sweet time. Of course, all of this assumes we are listening to that still small voice of wisdom within us.
Well then, what's a not-so-still, left-brained, bottom-line-watching person to do if he or she wants to increase the odds of tapping into their inner Einstein.
Here's a start:
This week, keep a log of your most inspired ideas, intuitions, and dreams. When something pops for you (an inspired thought, an inkling, a sudden insight) write it down, even if it doesn't make sense. Then, at the end of the week, read your log. Look for clues. Notice patterns. Make new connections. See what insights come to mind. And be willing to share them with your peers.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:48 PM | Comments (3)
June 15, 2017The True Definition of Comedy
"Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious." - Peter Ustinov
Clarence Darrow chimes in
Quotes on humor and playfulness
The Daily Show
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2017The Most Important Ingredient to Ensure an Organization's Success
In a recent survey of 246 CEOs from around the world, "having the right culture to foster and support innovation" was rated the most important ingredient to ensure a organization's success. In other words, if innovation is the big fish companies are trying to hook, culture is the ocean in which those fish are swimming.
Changing a company's culture, however, is not an easy thing to do. When you think about how difficult it is for just one person to lose five pounds or stop smoking, imagine the challenge of getting thousands of people to go beyond their old habits and outdated mental models. That being said, it IS possible.
The key to success? Beginning. And the key to beginning? Giving people a simple roadmap of what they can do, within their sphere of influence, to make a difference
This is what Mitch Ditkoff's Jump Starting a Culture of Innovation keynote is all about. Each person in the audience exits the keynote not only with fresh insights, inspiration, and ideas about what they can do to move the needle, they craft a personalized game plan for how to actually make it happen.
Tell us about your need
50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation
The Four Currents of a Culture of Innovation
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2017Great Quotes on Customer Service
The following quotes are dedicated to the good people of Nations Roof, a forward-thinking client of ours who continues to impress us with their commitment to providing extraordinary customer service.
"Always keep in mind the old retail adage: Customers remember the service a lot longer than they remember the price." - Lauren Freedman
"The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary." - Sam Walton
"Make a customer, not a sale." - Katherine Barchetti
"Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They DO expect you to fix things when they go wrong." - Donald Porter
"Always do more than is required of you." - George Patton
"It's easier to love a brand when the brand loves you back." - Seth Godin
"Here is a powerful, yet simple rule. Always give people more than they expect to get." - Nelson Bosell
"Make the customer the hero of your story." - Ann Handley
"Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they'll come back. We have to be great every time or we'll lose them." - Kevin Stirtz
"A lot of people have fancy things to say about customer service, but it's just a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, persevering, compassionate kind of activity." - Christopher McCormick
"Customer service is the new marketing." - Derek Sivers
"To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity." - Don Alden Adams
"Don't find fault. Find a remedy." - Henry Ford
"Seek first to understand. Then to be understood." - Steven Covey
"Any customer that walks away, disrespected and defeated, represents tens of thousands of dollars out the door, in addition to the failure of a promise the brand made in the first place. You can't see it but it's happening, daily." - Seth Godin
"Every great business is built on friendship." - James Cash Penny
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." - Will Rogers
"When the customer comes first, the customer will last." - Robert Half
"The customer's perception is your reality." - Kate Zabriskie
"If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours." - Ray Kroc
"Revolve your world around the customer and more customers will revolve around you." - Heather Williams
"There are many who subscribe to the convention that service is a business cost, but our data demonstrates that superior service is an investment that can help drive business growth. Investing in quality talent, and ensuring they have the skills, training and tools that enable them to empathize and actively listen to customers are central to providing consistently excellent service experiences."- Jim Bush
"No amount of advertising can repair the damage done by failing to properly address a customer's concern." - Albert Schindler
"The reputation of a thousand years may be undermined by the conduct of one hour." - Japanese Proverb
"Whether you are big or small, you cannot give good customer service if your employees don't feel good about coming to work." - Martin Oliver
"Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most will never bother to complain. They'll just walk away." - Marilyn Suttle
"Don't reinvent the wheel. Focus on winning one customer at a time. Be honest and sincere. Do what's right. There's nothing magical about this. That's been my guiding principle. To make it work, you have to live it every day. Make it your mindset." - Robert Spector
"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?" - Brian Tracy
A story about extraordinary service
Idea Champions
Storytelling as a customer service catalyst
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2017It's Really Very Simple
Illustration: gapingvoid
MitchDitkoff.com
IdeaChampions.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
