There was a very interesting article in the Australian Financial Review on 24th October 2012. The article focused on the research out of Oxford University by neuroscientist Susan Greenfield and was all about how technology short cuts brain power...when you finish reading it, it's a real no brainer.
Technology should be a means rather than an end, says neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, who warns that our addiction to social media and devices will come at a cost to our skills and productivity.
We are on a warning from neuroscientists that the human brain adapts to its environment and since our environment is changing and becoming more technology centred, more...we only need to navigate the web we don't really need to think, more...we don't need to solve the problem we can surf the net for a solution, more...we don't need to read we can watch it on you tube instead, more...I'll study it online for free and think about the qual - oh boy - I'm not liking this at all...
Greenfield talks about a survey in the UK where the results indicated that 91% of teachers believe children's attention spans are becoming shorter because of their growing addiction to screens. And there is no shortage of screen based technology that children have access to - from the traditional television, to the computer, the tablets or iPads, the mobile phone devices etc. Consider then the multiplicity of activities available on these various screens - anywhere - anytime. Not surprisingly this was a common theme at a Mind and Its Potential Conference I attended a couple of years ago.
Some children are involved in very little imaginative play, very little rough and tumble play, very little dress up play and little music and art play. Some don't even wander around the neighbourhood anymore - and those that do have a mobile phone with them. I was at a restaurant not long ago and observed three children with their parents having breakfast. All five of them were paying more attention to their mobile devices than each other. Pay attention next time you are out and see what kind of conversations are happening around you.
But I digress - back to the survey. Survey said that children are spending three times as much time in front of screens than they do with their head in a book or um, a Kindle or equivalent! Now think about what they are watching. The duration of the scenes in movies, comics and the like these days are FAST, with some shots not even lasting for one second. Think back and compare that to the older cartoons that you perhaps grew up with. Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z are at least 10 years old - and the duration of the shots/scenes is slow by comparison. If you are old enough to remember Simba the White Lion or the Flinstones you can probably make a cup of tea before the shots change.
Our brains have come to expect constant change and the result of all the extra stimuli, is the incomplete formation of brain pathways in children. The lack of rough and tumble play allowed between children (we don't want little Johnny to get hurt now do we) means that the empathy centres in the brain are not forming properly. When I was little, my favourite Sunday afternoon game was the family wrestle - determined little girls and one ex boxing champion father, trying to pin shoulders on the ground for the count of three. We learnt how far we could go before causing pain, how to recognise the signs that someone was indeed experiencing pain. Nowadays its almost a 180 degree turn as video games with blood, death and destruction desensitise those who partake!
The fact that we spend less time in face to face contact and more time in front of screens could signal potential problems understanding body language and effectively working in teams in workplaces - unless of course they are all virtual and we can communicate behind a screen of some description! Apparently we will be very good at processing multitudes of information but not real smart about understanding it.
Back to empathy - in 2010 the University of Michigan released a study that found that college students had empathy levels 40% lower than students of twenty or thirty years ago, with the biggest decline in empathy levels occurring since 2000.
We can't ditch technology - there are so many benefits to having it. We just need to be clever, creative and innovative about how we engage with it. Technology is here to stay but some days I think the Sci-Fi movies that depict technology running us don't seem so far fetched.
You must excuse me now. I have to txt my children (they are in the room next door), that it's time for bed. I'll face - time them a kiss goodnight while I shop on line for tomorrows groceries. Oh dear I better check with Suri what I actually have on tomorrow!
Saturday 10 November 2012
Friday 2 November 2012
Mental Contrasting - Don't hear that often do you?
So the term Mental Contrasting popped up again the other day in a newsletter from Inventium. I'm surprised it's not used more often than it is...though there is the association between mental and hard work, and that may be prohibitive.
Professor Gabriele Oettingen (so much easier to write than to say) from New York University did all the things she needed to do (i.e. conducted a study, did some research etc.) to prove that the technique of Mental Contrasting has the potential to improve health, relationships, academic achievements and goal attainment.
So what is it and how does it work?
Well it's a collaborative effort between positive thinking (glass always full, imagining what you want, creating your own reality and so on) and bringing a dose of reality into the picture. Make that a big dose - one that spills a bit - sets things off track and needs a bit of mopping up! What I mean is - think about all the obstacles that could possibly be in between where you are NOW and where you want to BE! In our Create and Innovate workshops we call this exercise FAT CHANCE! That means imagining the absolute best scenario for your future that you could hope to achieve...The next session is called Make It Real...or consider all those obstacles that stand in your way!
The idea, and a concept that has been proven in various studies, is that considering/contemplating/imagining/acknowledging ALL the things that could get in your way, actually raises your adrenalin levels - gets your fight or flight gear happening - and therefore increases energy and enthusiasm for the problem solving that lies ahead. What may have been considered unachievable, has become a challenge and as each small step is taken to overcome those challenges, the reality of achieving that once considered illusive goal, hedges closer to reality and is suddenly a very real possibility.
And where else is this process more appropriate than in the innovation space!
Professor Gabriele Oettingen (so much easier to write than to say) from New York University did all the things she needed to do (i.e. conducted a study, did some research etc.) to prove that the technique of Mental Contrasting has the potential to improve health, relationships, academic achievements and goal attainment.
So what is it and how does it work?
Well it's a collaborative effort between positive thinking (glass always full, imagining what you want, creating your own reality and so on) and bringing a dose of reality into the picture. Make that a big dose - one that spills a bit - sets things off track and needs a bit of mopping up! What I mean is - think about all the obstacles that could possibly be in between where you are NOW and where you want to BE! In our Create and Innovate workshops we call this exercise FAT CHANCE! That means imagining the absolute best scenario for your future that you could hope to achieve...The next session is called Make It Real...or consider all those obstacles that stand in your way!
The idea, and a concept that has been proven in various studies, is that considering/contemplating/imagining/acknowledging ALL the things that could get in your way, actually raises your adrenalin levels - gets your fight or flight gear happening - and therefore increases energy and enthusiasm for the problem solving that lies ahead. What may have been considered unachievable, has become a challenge and as each small step is taken to overcome those challenges, the reality of achieving that once considered illusive goal, hedges closer to reality and is suddenly a very real possibility.
And where else is this process more appropriate than in the innovation space!
Friday 12 October 2012
Think Times Are Tough? Then It's Time to Think Differently
This piece appeared in The Newcastle Herald, Saturday 6th October
In July 2005 articles and footage
on YouTube started appearing about Brazilian manufacturer Semco. Semco was
described as a “most radical workplace”. Seven years on, the company’s operating
principles are still considered rare: not knowing which receptionist will be on
at what time because it is up to the receptionists to work out their hours; 3,000
employees setting their own work schedules; early workplace departures when
there is not much to do; employees giving themselves days off; changing work stations
so colleagues can’t track your every move; reviewing your own salary every 6
months; and firing colleagues who aren’t performing. But this type of freedom
comes with “pressure to perform”.
Rather than adhering to routine
and micro management techniques, Ricardo Semler, CEO at Semco, is more
concerned with the productivity in any given month and a concern around the gratification
employees will receive from their work? Semler subscribes to a Thrive not Survive ethic. And this
philosophy means treating employees like grown ups. Employees get a share of the
profit and what accompanies that is an increase in motivation. While Semler
remains concerned with basic free market issues, he is also about “respecting
anthropological issues instead of political ideas”. And his philosophy has worked. He took a
company that was worth $4m US in 1980 to $160m US by 2005.
It is hard to envisage many local
or national companies installing hammocks so employees can rest and think in comfort but it’s exactly what
Semco did. And Semco isn’t the only company encouraging thinking time. Beth Comstock, Senior Vice President at GE, states that
the company introduced a Time To Think
opportunity for their employees decades ago.
Employees were encouraged to put time on their calendars to allow the
“mental and physical space to do this”.
Comstock added “people can’t innovate or create on demand. You have to
give teams time to think, to bounce things off each other”.
And most companies and
organisations have heard of Google’s 20 % Time, where employees are given time
to work on projects they choose to
work on. The yellow sticky note evolved out of 3M’s work practice that allows
15% on an employee’s time to be spent on innovation. 3M have been doing this for
decades – Google weren’t the first.
These and other forward thinking
companies invest in innovation simply because if they don’t innovation doesn’t
happen. Dan Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates
Us, believes it’s motivational practices in business like these that have
become the new reward, the new “carrot” to keep employees stimulated and
fulfilled. More money alone just doesn’t do it anymore.
When times get tough, innovation
is not usually considered as a first option for making improvements and moving
forward.
At the present time, things are
tough, so we need to think differently. We need to create space for problem
solving, for outside the square thinking, for innovation and evolution. We need
to empower the workforce; give employees some input into the operations of the
organisation, input into their future.
Organisational energies should be
directed into projects that could potentially generate income or increase
productivity. Energies could be directed into developing a new or improved
product or service, or a new means of collaborating with other like or ‘unlike’
organisations.
In order to make this work, a
number of factors need to come to together. Management need to buy into the
process. Create and Innovate recently facilitated the introduction of
innovative practices into a local business. Management agreed to allow a
certain group of employees one hour per month to meet and discuss project
ideas. Six months later, there is evidence that the practice has been
productive.
Involvement in innovation should
also be on a voluntary basis. Everyone
is not good at everything. In his
book The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell writes about innovators, connectors,
early adopters and salesmen. All are equally important in the innovation
process, but not all need to take on an innovative or creative role.
Each project will need structure
and will rarely take off unless there is some form of collaboration. Each project will need to be tracked and each
organisation will have to develop it’s own reward system.
Innovation is hard work. It requires passion and belief,
persistence, collaboration and leadership to make it effective. It requires
execution to see it through. Innovation requires structure. It requires
management. An innovative atmosphere has the potential to increase productivity
and that’s got to be more beneficial to any organisation in the long term.
Create
and Innovate facilitates workshops. With an emphasis on brain science,
collaboration, empowerment and putting plans into action. Create and Innovate
encourages and facilitates processes that lead to improvement and change.
The one-day, fast tracked workshop expos are ideal for those working in
companies and organisations, for small business owners, and for individuals who
are time poor yet want to be inspired into new ways of thinking.
On
October 23, Create and Innovate will present an insightful and cutting edge
workshop on how to profit from changing your thinking in tough times. Visit
createandinnovate.com.au for details.
Wednesday 26 September 2012
Retail Revisited
There is a plethora of articles being written at the moment about retail - chains are closing, David Jones and Myers have had profit slumps, the internet is killing the sector etc.etc.etc. So it's time we revisited innovation in retail - because retail is in the spotlight all over the world - for the devastation and the innovation!
Stores are appealing to consumers by creating an entire shopping experience. That means they are appealing to all senses - sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. There are audio visual displays everywhere you look. Walk into a shopping centre and tale a deep smell - burning candles, perfumes, food aromas - coming at you from every direction. There is music playing in most places - and it's true that in certain outlets it is programmed to make you go fast during busy times and allow you to browse in quieter times. I'm sure you get the picture.
And, as I wrote before - there appears to be a greater emphasis on customer service. I read an article recently where Myers admitted things were improving because they had actually put more people back on the floor - the mind boggles. Went to Target the other day and couldn't find anyone to help me find anything I was looking for - so I walked out and purchased elsewhere!
Here's an example of improving the retail experience from the heart of the ultimate retail centre of the world - Paris. The Adidas flagship store developed the mi Adidas concept. Consumers actually get to create their own shoe or their own jersey in store. Talk about customisation!
Yet another approach - companies are sprouting their green and sustainability improvements/implementations...from the products they use or don't use, to the packaging to, Target charging an extra 10c for a plastic bag and so on and so forth. We can now be consumers with a conscience and there are internet businesses springing up that do all the research for you and advise where you should shop so you can feel better about what you are doing/buying/using.
It's all about creating a vibrant atmosphere. I read a term recently, shopper-centric, which seems very appropriate and very now.
On the food side of things, along with one of the weekly papers that gets delivered to my place came a magazine insert, Dick Smith's Magazine of Forbidden Ideas. This mag is full of Australian products - well Dick Smith Australian products. Interestingly there appears a list of what once were iconic Australian brands or products, or products that had become brands, like Vegemite, Arnotts, Golden Circle, Dairy Farmers and heaven forbid Aeroplane Jelly and Fosters. All these products are now owned by off shore companies!
I really enjoyed the read - especially loved the title. One article especially grabbed my eye - about a Dick Smith product called OzEmite. It has been 13 years in the making and has a point of difference in that it's gluten free and not made on Brewer's Yeast. He admits it costs 30c more but isn't that a small price to pay to support everything Australian? I will be making the swap as mother of a Vegemite addict who is just old enough to understand the Support Australian Product ethos.
And, in the true spirit of collaboration, Dick Smith has Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other independents on board!
Stores are appealing to consumers by creating an entire shopping experience. That means they are appealing to all senses - sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. There are audio visual displays everywhere you look. Walk into a shopping centre and tale a deep smell - burning candles, perfumes, food aromas - coming at you from every direction. There is music playing in most places - and it's true that in certain outlets it is programmed to make you go fast during busy times and allow you to browse in quieter times. I'm sure you get the picture.
And, as I wrote before - there appears to be a greater emphasis on customer service. I read an article recently where Myers admitted things were improving because they had actually put more people back on the floor - the mind boggles. Went to Target the other day and couldn't find anyone to help me find anything I was looking for - so I walked out and purchased elsewhere!
Here's an example of improving the retail experience from the heart of the ultimate retail centre of the world - Paris. The Adidas flagship store developed the mi Adidas concept. Consumers actually get to create their own shoe or their own jersey in store. Talk about customisation!
Yet another approach - companies are sprouting their green and sustainability improvements/implementations...from the products they use or don't use, to the packaging to, Target charging an extra 10c for a plastic bag and so on and so forth. We can now be consumers with a conscience and there are internet businesses springing up that do all the research for you and advise where you should shop so you can feel better about what you are doing/buying/using.
It's all about creating a vibrant atmosphere. I read a term recently, shopper-centric, which seems very appropriate and very now.
On the food side of things, along with one of the weekly papers that gets delivered to my place came a magazine insert, Dick Smith's Magazine of Forbidden Ideas. This mag is full of Australian products - well Dick Smith Australian products. Interestingly there appears a list of what once were iconic Australian brands or products, or products that had become brands, like Vegemite, Arnotts, Golden Circle, Dairy Farmers and heaven forbid Aeroplane Jelly and Fosters. All these products are now owned by off shore companies!
I really enjoyed the read - especially loved the title. One article especially grabbed my eye - about a Dick Smith product called OzEmite. It has been 13 years in the making and has a point of difference in that it's gluten free and not made on Brewer's Yeast. He admits it costs 30c more but isn't that a small price to pay to support everything Australian? I will be making the swap as mother of a Vegemite addict who is just old enough to understand the Support Australian Product ethos.
And, in the true spirit of collaboration, Dick Smith has Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other independents on board!
Sunday 16 September 2012
Small Wins
Kevin Coffey keeps coming up with great book discoveries! A few weeks ago he recommended Little Bets - how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries, by Peter Sims. I'm still getting through it (and the 1000's of other books I have on my "to read" list) but I've just read the chapter titled, Small Wins and there are a few things worth pointing out!
Small Wins are defined as small successes that emerge out of our ongoing development process. Sims goes on to describe small wins as building blocks or footholds or landmarks. These types of Small Wins can often indicate if we are heading in the right direction or if we should consider a change of direction - even a 180 degree turn...
The Small Wins theory is set against the analogy of the alcoholic, who doesn't think about whether or not he will be sober in 10 years time but rather puts energy into remaining sober one day at a time. Another analogy I drew was from the movie What About Bob, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Here the patient (Bill Murray) focuses on babysteps to deal with his afflictions, rather than deal initially with massive changes which could seem like Mt Everest...
The chapter has a few examples of Small Wins and my favourite one is the discussion centred around Pixar. For some time after Jobs took over, Pixar continued to lose money. There had always been a grand plan - to make animated feature films - but it was assumed that this plan would not happen any time soon, and apparently the animation division was nearly closed several times. Who knows, perhaps in desperation, the animation team proposed a series of short films, purportedly to promote some hardware Pixar was trying to sell.
Luxor Jr was a 90 second animation film that received a standing ovation at a computer graphics conference (there were 6,000 people on their feet). The Luxor lamp that inspired the movie is now the Pixar logo...That Small Win, led to other small wins which in turn led Pixar to where they are today...making animated feature films that are box office hits.
Another of my Innovation favourite examples is Starbucks Cafe. Sims describes how Starbucks emerged/evolved by listening and acting on customer feedback - they had a yes approach to customer requests. The boss had a no non-fat drink policy in the beginning! Customers however wanted non fat drinks so what the customer wanted the customer got - and low fat drinks were introduced. Starbucks realised that customers wanted "Affordable Luxuries", $2 cappuccinos, exotic tasting coffees etc. Customers got what they wanted and the rest is history.
Small changes at Starbucks led to pivotal changes away from Shultz's (the boss) original idea to model
Starbucks on Italian coffee houses - there is no low fat or non fat milk there!!! Rather, the small wins led to the creation of a new American coffee experience.
The common link here is...an open mind!
Small Wins are defined as small successes that emerge out of our ongoing development process. Sims goes on to describe small wins as building blocks or footholds or landmarks. These types of Small Wins can often indicate if we are heading in the right direction or if we should consider a change of direction - even a 180 degree turn...
The Small Wins theory is set against the analogy of the alcoholic, who doesn't think about whether or not he will be sober in 10 years time but rather puts energy into remaining sober one day at a time. Another analogy I drew was from the movie What About Bob, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Here the patient (Bill Murray) focuses on babysteps to deal with his afflictions, rather than deal initially with massive changes which could seem like Mt Everest...
The chapter has a few examples of Small Wins and my favourite one is the discussion centred around Pixar. For some time after Jobs took over, Pixar continued to lose money. There had always been a grand plan - to make animated feature films - but it was assumed that this plan would not happen any time soon, and apparently the animation division was nearly closed several times. Who knows, perhaps in desperation, the animation team proposed a series of short films, purportedly to promote some hardware Pixar was trying to sell.
Luxor Jr was a 90 second animation film that received a standing ovation at a computer graphics conference (there were 6,000 people on their feet). The Luxor lamp that inspired the movie is now the Pixar logo...That Small Win, led to other small wins which in turn led Pixar to where they are today...making animated feature films that are box office hits.
Another of my Innovation favourite examples is Starbucks Cafe. Sims describes how Starbucks emerged/evolved by listening and acting on customer feedback - they had a yes approach to customer requests. The boss had a no non-fat drink policy in the beginning! Customers however wanted non fat drinks so what the customer wanted the customer got - and low fat drinks were introduced. Starbucks realised that customers wanted "Affordable Luxuries", $2 cappuccinos, exotic tasting coffees etc. Customers got what they wanted and the rest is history.
Small changes at Starbucks led to pivotal changes away from Shultz's (the boss) original idea to model
Starbucks on Italian coffee houses - there is no low fat or non fat milk there!!! Rather, the small wins led to the creation of a new American coffee experience.
The common link here is...an open mind!
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Trust...
So I’ve been ruminating lately on why we don’t Collaborate more.
If the rough flow to a new product or service goes something like;
I believe it's a form of funding that money can't buy.
Why does it seem to then break down at Collaboration?
My hunch is ‘TRUST’ and the lack thereof.
You won’t see a module in any MBA on ‘Trust’. It doesn’t loom large in Human Resource manuals. It certainly is not listed as a KPI that I’ve ever seen. Commercially it has no reward association; rather, the opposite usually applies. Supply Contracts don’t have a clause on it.
(Don’t start me on the legal acknowledgement of distrust that forms most contracts)
For Collaboration to be effective, or indeed work at all, parties must come from a perspective of Trust.
Can you be Trusted with someone’s idea?
Can you Trust the other collaborants with your baby?
Seth Godin has a nice definition of Trust.
Spend a moment placing his template over the relationships you have with your networks and if the collaboration cap fits…type in your password and get on with it!
"Where does trust come from"? Thus sayeth Seth...
Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.
(originally posted at http://thejohnnydeppstep.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/trust/)
Share the trust...it may just work.
Kevin Coffey (part of the Create and Innovate team)
If the rough flow to a new product or service goes something like;
- Imagination
- Creativity
- Innovation
- Collaboration
- Commercialisation
- Product
- Distribution/ Availability
- Purchase
I believe it's a form of funding that money can't buy.
Why does it seem to then break down at Collaboration?
My hunch is ‘TRUST’ and the lack thereof.
You won’t see a module in any MBA on ‘Trust’. It doesn’t loom large in Human Resource manuals. It certainly is not listed as a KPI that I’ve ever seen. Commercially it has no reward association; rather, the opposite usually applies. Supply Contracts don’t have a clause on it.
(Don’t start me on the legal acknowledgement of distrust that forms most contracts)
For Collaboration to be effective, or indeed work at all, parties must come from a perspective of Trust.
Can you be Trusted with someone’s idea?
Can you Trust the other collaborants with your baby?
Seth Godin has a nice definition of Trust.
Spend a moment placing his template over the relationships you have with your networks and if the collaboration cap fits…type in your password and get on with it!
"Where does trust come from"? Thus sayeth Seth...
Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.
(originally posted at http://thejohnnydeppstep.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/trust/)
Share the trust...it may just work.
Kevin Coffey (part of the Create and Innovate team)
Thursday 6 September 2012
Golden Eggs
Lets talk eggs!
There's been much talk lately in quite a few different circles I've found myself in, about putting all our eggs in the mining basket. At the Create and Innovate workshop at Kurri Kurri a couple of weeks ago, people were conscious of not putting all their eggs in the one basket post Hydro. Very sage thinking...
That's where innovative practise and creativity can come in - in developing quality eggs and putting them in fewer baskets. If I'm going to write about this though I can't help but have an all roads lead back to Apple moment - sorry - except I'm not really!
Steve Jobs put a few quality eggs in a few quality baskets. To take Apple out of a death spiral, Jobs outlined his strategy like this:
When we got to the company a year ago, there were fifteen product platforms and a zillion variants of each one...So we went back to business school 101 and asked, "What do people want?" Well they want two kinds of products: consumer and professional. In each of those two categories we need desktop and portable models...That's what we decided to do, to focus on four great products.
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
Imagine if businesses and organisations created four quality products based on strengths that were internal to their organisation (and there are some businesses and organisations that do do this) and marketed those four quality products. Not only would we have less of the same old same old competing for the same share of the market, but the organisation could concentrate on what it was best at. Remarkable concept isn't it!
I picked up a good book at a book sale not long ago - Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham and there are some great exercises on how to find, grow and utilise those strengths in the book. Another recommendation from my Create and Innovate colleague Kevin Coffey is Little Bets, by Peter Sims. I've only had a chance to read the jacket and skim through the book at this point of time but it's all about how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries. The theme running through here, how to get that quality egg, is to take strategically placed small steps and experiment with small incentives as opposed to starting with the big idea. In other words - make Little Bets to get you from A to B.
If you really take this on you need to be free from conventional planning and analytical thinking to do it properly.
Examples of successful uses of this theory exist! Hewlett Packard accidentally discovered the first hand held calculator using this strategy - what a golden egg that was! And Pixar films, according to Sims, have had so very many box office hits only because of their ingenious story boarding process!
Maybe those golden eggs aren't that hard to find after all...it might be just a mix of strengths, perseverance and a lot of love!
There's been much talk lately in quite a few different circles I've found myself in, about putting all our eggs in the mining basket. At the Create and Innovate workshop at Kurri Kurri a couple of weeks ago, people were conscious of not putting all their eggs in the one basket post Hydro. Very sage thinking...
That's where innovative practise and creativity can come in - in developing quality eggs and putting them in fewer baskets. If I'm going to write about this though I can't help but have an all roads lead back to Apple moment - sorry - except I'm not really!
Steve Jobs put a few quality eggs in a few quality baskets. To take Apple out of a death spiral, Jobs outlined his strategy like this:
When we got to the company a year ago, there were fifteen product platforms and a zillion variants of each one...So we went back to business school 101 and asked, "What do people want?" Well they want two kinds of products: consumer and professional. In each of those two categories we need desktop and portable models...That's what we decided to do, to focus on four great products.
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
Imagine if businesses and organisations created four quality products based on strengths that were internal to their organisation (and there are some businesses and organisations that do do this) and marketed those four quality products. Not only would we have less of the same old same old competing for the same share of the market, but the organisation could concentrate on what it was best at. Remarkable concept isn't it!
I picked up a good book at a book sale not long ago - Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham and there are some great exercises on how to find, grow and utilise those strengths in the book. Another recommendation from my Create and Innovate colleague Kevin Coffey is Little Bets, by Peter Sims. I've only had a chance to read the jacket and skim through the book at this point of time but it's all about how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries. The theme running through here, how to get that quality egg, is to take strategically placed small steps and experiment with small incentives as opposed to starting with the big idea. In other words - make Little Bets to get you from A to B.
If you really take this on you need to be free from conventional planning and analytical thinking to do it properly.
Examples of successful uses of this theory exist! Hewlett Packard accidentally discovered the first hand held calculator using this strategy - what a golden egg that was! And Pixar films, according to Sims, have had so very many box office hits only because of their ingenious story boarding process!
Maybe those golden eggs aren't that hard to find after all...it might be just a mix of strengths, perseverance and a lot of love!
Sunday 2 September 2012
Trust Your Gut
Finally - research to back up what we already know from the University of Newcastle - your gut instinct is right! Reminds me of the time I read the study on Camomile - scientists discovered what herbalists and my grandmother knew all along - camomile calms the nerves and soothes the stomach...
What a shame we have let fear and doubt get in the way of what our ancestors took for granted and utilised all the time...
One theory around gut instinct is that our brains access all our accumulated experiences and this allows us to make judgements and to take actions based on those judgements. A process of logical, conscience consideration has not taken place. On this intellectual level, the brain unconsciously organises the patterns of information it has been fed into blocks - this process has been called chunking.
Reminds me of when my children were babies and I was more in tune with my gut instinct. I knew the difference between a pained cry, a helpless cry, a tired cry, a no particular purpose cry, an attention cry - I was tuned in.
In ancient times it is thought that we had an inbuilt radar that would alert us to danger. We used our senses to pick up signals and signs of impending danger, or to read signs to make decisions about actions and/or reactions.
On a spiritual level, it has been noted that our gut feelings (and our butterflies) occur in the gut (obviously) and that this is the exact centre point our body - a point of perfect balance. Interesting....
What a shame we have let fear and doubt get in the way of what our ancestors took for granted and utilised all the time...
One theory around gut instinct is that our brains access all our accumulated experiences and this allows us to make judgements and to take actions based on those judgements. A process of logical, conscience consideration has not taken place. On this intellectual level, the brain unconsciously organises the patterns of information it has been fed into blocks - this process has been called chunking.
Reminds me of when my children were babies and I was more in tune with my gut instinct. I knew the difference between a pained cry, a helpless cry, a tired cry, a no particular purpose cry, an attention cry - I was tuned in.
In ancient times it is thought that we had an inbuilt radar that would alert us to danger. We used our senses to pick up signals and signs of impending danger, or to read signs to make decisions about actions and/or reactions.
On a spiritual level, it has been noted that our gut feelings (and our butterflies) occur in the gut (obviously) and that this is the exact centre point our body - a point of perfect balance. Interesting....
To Brain Storm or to Shift Your Thinking?
I am borrowing again from Amantha Imber at Inventium because I actually tried this in a Create and Innovate workshop and it worked beautifully!
How many times have you been in a meeting and someone has piped up and said, we are going to brainstorm, and you either think oh no not again or right, I have to turn on the brainstorming part of my brain and hope it works...
There is a chapter in one of Dr Amantha Imber's books titled Brainstorming is Bollocks. It's based on the idea that if you don't have a great idea or at least think you have a great idea, you will be more inclined to keep your mouth shut at any brain storming session! What if you sound stupid, or sound like you have no idea, or worse still - make a mistake!! Shudder! Dread! Cringe!
Or - what if what you are feeling is inhibited or pressured? Haven't we already established several times over that we get our greatest inspirations or best ideas when we are in a relatively neutral, even quiet thinking space - you know - shower, just before we nod off, riding a bike, on a walk etc. etc. etc.
Let's face it - some people don't generate their best ideas in a group scenario.
That's where Shifting comes in.
This was apparently developed by Robert Epstein from Harvard University (want a great resource - go to http://drrobertepstein.com/downloads/CREATIVITY_FOR_CRISES-e-booklet-c_2009-Dr._Robert_Epstein.pdf). Shifting combines individual AND group idea development and goes like this...
1. Work on the idea/problem individually
2. Work in a group building on the individually generated ideas
3. Work again generating individual ideas
4. Build on these new individually generated ideas
If you want a bit more detail you'll have to get the book by Dr Imber -http://www.thecreativityformula.com/author.html
So in a controlled study, with a traditional brain storming control group and a shifting group, Epstein found that the shifting group generated more ideas and broader ideas.
The shifting concept encourages continued discussion around the ideas generated. These discussions can take place with friends or colleagues or both, and actually give permission for the ideas to grow. You aren't locked into an answer. The idea is fluid. The idea continues to morph into a solution - and after all, isn't that what we are after from Brain Storming Sessions?
As I said, I tried it in a workshop! Instead of coming away with a list of mediocre ideas and solutions - we came up with a series of actions. I'll let you know how things develop...
How many times have you been in a meeting and someone has piped up and said, we are going to brainstorm, and you either think oh no not again or right, I have to turn on the brainstorming part of my brain and hope it works...
There is a chapter in one of Dr Amantha Imber's books titled Brainstorming is Bollocks. It's based on the idea that if you don't have a great idea or at least think you have a great idea, you will be more inclined to keep your mouth shut at any brain storming session! What if you sound stupid, or sound like you have no idea, or worse still - make a mistake!! Shudder! Dread! Cringe!
Or - what if what you are feeling is inhibited or pressured? Haven't we already established several times over that we get our greatest inspirations or best ideas when we are in a relatively neutral, even quiet thinking space - you know - shower, just before we nod off, riding a bike, on a walk etc. etc. etc.
Let's face it - some people don't generate their best ideas in a group scenario.
That's where Shifting comes in.
This was apparently developed by Robert Epstein from Harvard University (want a great resource - go to http://drrobertepstein.com/downloads/CREATIVITY_FOR_CRISES-e-booklet-c_2009-Dr._Robert_Epstein.pdf). Shifting combines individual AND group idea development and goes like this...
1. Work on the idea/problem individually
2. Work in a group building on the individually generated ideas
3. Work again generating individual ideas
4. Build on these new individually generated ideas
If you want a bit more detail you'll have to get the book by Dr Imber -http://www.thecreativityformula.com/author.html
So in a controlled study, with a traditional brain storming control group and a shifting group, Epstein found that the shifting group generated more ideas and broader ideas.
The shifting concept encourages continued discussion around the ideas generated. These discussions can take place with friends or colleagues or both, and actually give permission for the ideas to grow. You aren't locked into an answer. The idea is fluid. The idea continues to morph into a solution - and after all, isn't that what we are after from Brain Storming Sessions?
As I said, I tried it in a workshop! Instead of coming away with a list of mediocre ideas and solutions - we came up with a series of actions. I'll let you know how things develop...
Friday 3 August 2012
How Effective is Micro Management
Well I had a little chuckle to myself as I headed to Wikipedia for a definition of micromanagement. Chuckle soon turned to choke as I read it, eyes widening and mouth gaping! I shuddered...it was spot on...see for yourself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromanagement). And here is another comment those who have been micromanaged will certainly relate to...micromanagers risk disempowering their colleagues. They ruin their colleagues' confidence, hurt their performance, and frustrate them to the point where they quit... resonating with anyone?
There has been plenty written about micromanagement and still I can't seem to find much on any benefits! The benefit of micromanagement most written about is advice to a micromanager to micromanage themselves out of micromanaging everyone else! I think for me the m word just replaced the f word!
So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of micromanagement? Frustrating, annoying, debilitating, exhausting, inhibiting, suffocating, strangulating....And what effect does it have on productivity? It's stifles all creativity and innovation, promotes tentative behaviour, encourages lack lustre performance, disengages employees, destroys confidence, splits teams, promotes an environment of anger and distrust - need I go on?
Why would you micromanage if these are results of micromanagement? If you are Richard Branson or Steve Jobs and you have the ability to see both the big picture (otherwise known as macro management) and take notes to improve the detail but get the balance of delivery right and therefore your employees don't feel like you are hovering over their every call, their every email, their every move - then it might be OK to micromanage. And unless you want to go from Productive to Disempowering in 5 seconds - make sure you can do both!
Innovation requires risk taking! It means taking an existing rule and bending it to create a new one. It means support and trust and empowerment and fun and achievement and nurturing. It's a no brainer that this won't happen under micromanagement.
To those of you who experience positives at work - go forth and innovate and make sensational contributions to your world. To those at the mercy of micromanagers - somethings gotta give - make sure it's not your sanity or your health...
There has been plenty written about micromanagement and still I can't seem to find much on any benefits! The benefit of micromanagement most written about is advice to a micromanager to micromanage themselves out of micromanaging everyone else! I think for me the m word just replaced the f word!
So how does it feel to be on the receiving end of micromanagement? Frustrating, annoying, debilitating, exhausting, inhibiting, suffocating, strangulating....And what effect does it have on productivity? It's stifles all creativity and innovation, promotes tentative behaviour, encourages lack lustre performance, disengages employees, destroys confidence, splits teams, promotes an environment of anger and distrust - need I go on?
Why would you micromanage if these are results of micromanagement? If you are Richard Branson or Steve Jobs and you have the ability to see both the big picture (otherwise known as macro management) and take notes to improve the detail but get the balance of delivery right and therefore your employees don't feel like you are hovering over their every call, their every email, their every move - then it might be OK to micromanage. And unless you want to go from Productive to Disempowering in 5 seconds - make sure you can do both!
Innovation requires risk taking! It means taking an existing rule and bending it to create a new one. It means support and trust and empowerment and fun and achievement and nurturing. It's a no brainer that this won't happen under micromanagement.
To those of you who experience positives at work - go forth and innovate and make sensational contributions to your world. To those at the mercy of micromanagers - somethings gotta give - make sure it's not your sanity or your health...
Friday 20 July 2012
Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
Bread has been a staple part of the human diet since the Neolithic era...so it's been around for a long time. Bread has been used in religious ceremonies and festivals and culturally, countries can be identified by the type of bread they serve. And once bartering and then monetary exchange began - bread was baked, sold and served in loaves. This continued for many many years until...
In the 1900's an inventor and jeweller (you need to be creative in order to be innovative), Otto Frederick Rohwedder, started toying with the idea of a bread slicing machine. Up until this time, bread was sometimes sliced at the place of purchase, but usually by the lady of the house when the bread made it home. Actually it was also very common for bread to baked by the lady of the house in the house!
Back to the jeweller - Rohwedder owned three jewellery stores, which he sold to raise the capitol to develop his idea of a bread slicer. According to sources, his first prototype failed - it may have had something to do with the fact that the bread was held together by metal pins!
In 1917 he had another set back - the factory that was to produce the first bread slicing machine was burnt down along with the blue prints and the prototype. For the next ten years Otto worked as an investment agent and gathered a few of his own investors along the way.
By 1927 Rohwedder had developed a prototype that not only sliced bread but wrapped it as well, ensuring the bread was kept fresh. He managed to convince a baker friend of his to use the machine and on July 7 1928 bread was sliced and wrapped commercially for the first time. By the way - it was called Sliced Kleen Maid Bread...
I must admit to quietly giggling when I read some of the promotion used at the time;
the housewife can well experience a thrill of pleasure when she first sees a loaf of this bread, with each slice the exact couterpart of its fellows
Priceless! Of course sliced bread then gave a much needed boost to the sales of the pop up toaster which had been invented a couple of years earlier by Charles Strite. I suppose that could be described as the best thing since sliced bread...
In the 1900's an inventor and jeweller (you need to be creative in order to be innovative), Otto Frederick Rohwedder, started toying with the idea of a bread slicing machine. Up until this time, bread was sometimes sliced at the place of purchase, but usually by the lady of the house when the bread made it home. Actually it was also very common for bread to baked by the lady of the house in the house!
Back to the jeweller - Rohwedder owned three jewellery stores, which he sold to raise the capitol to develop his idea of a bread slicer. According to sources, his first prototype failed - it may have had something to do with the fact that the bread was held together by metal pins!
In 1917 he had another set back - the factory that was to produce the first bread slicing machine was burnt down along with the blue prints and the prototype. For the next ten years Otto worked as an investment agent and gathered a few of his own investors along the way.
By 1927 Rohwedder had developed a prototype that not only sliced bread but wrapped it as well, ensuring the bread was kept fresh. He managed to convince a baker friend of his to use the machine and on July 7 1928 bread was sliced and wrapped commercially for the first time. By the way - it was called Sliced Kleen Maid Bread...
I must admit to quietly giggling when I read some of the promotion used at the time;
the housewife can well experience a thrill of pleasure when she first sees a loaf of this bread, with each slice the exact couterpart of its fellows
Priceless! Of course sliced bread then gave a much needed boost to the sales of the pop up toaster which had been invented a couple of years earlier by Charles Strite. I suppose that could be described as the best thing since sliced bread...
The Root of the Problem
It's a no brainer really - isn't this what we all want - to get to the root of a problem? Makes me wonder why then, there is such avoidance at times to doing just that. Amantha Imber from Inventium spoke about this during a webinar a couple of weeks ago. LOVED her examples so I am going to share one of them here - but all credit there - to Amantha. Check out the Inventium Website - they are doing awesome work in the creativity arena. They are after all based in Melbourne!!!
So take the Washington Monument. It's the world's tallest obelisk, built to commemorate General George Washington. It also lines up with the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol and the Whitehouse...
Problem: The Washington Memorial was attracting too many pigeons, who were pooping too much on the monument which meant that harsh chemicals were needed to clean the monument because you can't have a US monument with poop all over it! Instead of investigating another, less abrasive cleaner, someone had a light bulb moment and decided to investigate what it was that attracted the pigeons to the monument in the first place. Imagine an obelisk, a really tall needle type structure...not exactly an ideal place for a pigeon to rest or nest - not when compared with an abandoned building or even a used one for that matter.
The root problem investigators discovered the birds were in fact attracted by spiders - lots of spiders - that also liked to chill around the Washington Monument. But why I hear you ask were there lots of spiders there? Because of the moths of course - a gourmet dining delicacy (to a spider at least) that turned up every evening when the monument was lit up for the benefit of all the tourists. SO - at the root of the problem were the lights!
Solution: Turn the lights on a few hours later. Benefits: Less attracting light = less moths = less spiders = les pigeons = less poop! Reminds of the old lady who swallowed the bird to catch the spider to catch the fly...
This theory can be applied to all aspects of life - workplace scenarios, relationships and health - as a matter of fact, there are many people now who believe in treating the root of the health problem and not just the symptom...
So take the Washington Monument. It's the world's tallest obelisk, built to commemorate General George Washington. It also lines up with the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol and the Whitehouse...
Problem: The Washington Memorial was attracting too many pigeons, who were pooping too much on the monument which meant that harsh chemicals were needed to clean the monument because you can't have a US monument with poop all over it! Instead of investigating another, less abrasive cleaner, someone had a light bulb moment and decided to investigate what it was that attracted the pigeons to the monument in the first place. Imagine an obelisk, a really tall needle type structure...not exactly an ideal place for a pigeon to rest or nest - not when compared with an abandoned building or even a used one for that matter.
The root problem investigators discovered the birds were in fact attracted by spiders - lots of spiders - that also liked to chill around the Washington Monument. But why I hear you ask were there lots of spiders there? Because of the moths of course - a gourmet dining delicacy (to a spider at least) that turned up every evening when the monument was lit up for the benefit of all the tourists. SO - at the root of the problem were the lights!
Solution: Turn the lights on a few hours later. Benefits: Less attracting light = less moths = less spiders = les pigeons = less poop! Reminds of the old lady who swallowed the bird to catch the spider to catch the fly...
This theory can be applied to all aspects of life - workplace scenarios, relationships and health - as a matter of fact, there are many people now who believe in treating the root of the health problem and not just the symptom...
Monday 16 July 2012
The consumption of assumptions
Creativity can be consumed by assumptions.
Took part in a great webinar a week or so ago. Amantha Imber from Melbourne based company Inventium was talking about innovation and the topic swung around to assumptions. Amantha believes that assumptions can actually toll the death bell for creativity. Why? Because assumptions have the ability to "fence in thinking". At that point I had a eureka moment. Everyone from big business operators to solo operators "assume" outcomes one way or another when attempting to create. The discussion continued with some sound advice - "one way to beat the assumption monster is to identify just what (the assumptions) are and crush them".
Took part in a great webinar a week or so ago. Amantha Imber from Melbourne based company Inventium was talking about innovation and the topic swung around to assumptions. Amantha believes that assumptions can actually toll the death bell for creativity. Why? Because assumptions have the ability to "fence in thinking". At that point I had a eureka moment. Everyone from big business operators to solo operators "assume" outcomes one way or another when attempting to create. The discussion continued with some sound advice - "one way to beat the assumption monster is to identify just what (the assumptions) are and crush them".
And how is this for a great example of how assumptions limit us? Think toilet paper. Think cardboard roll in every single brand of toilet paper that has come out for the last umpteen years...got it? Assume that cardboard roll has to be there right? Makes it easy to put the toilet paper on the toilet holder yeah? WRONG. The Scotts brand have just crushed the assumption. There now exists a toilet paper without a cardboard roll. Just imagine how many trees have just been saved!
Want another example? Think mobile phone pre iPhone. It had been assumed that a phone had to have a certain number of buttons in order to function effectively and dial numbers. Apple killed that assumption in a big way...
But - How do I stop making assumptions? I hear you ask. Amantha suggests that a good way of stopping assumptions from getting in the way of a great innovation would be to list them - as many as possible - and then ask - What if the opposite was true? The suggestions is that this question is enough to stimulate creative thinking and put the focussing on making the innovation possible, rather than impossible.
Common negative assumptions that get in the way could be centred around budget, staff, fear of change, risk aversion supervisors, micro management - I am sure you can come up with several more to add to the list. When they are brought up at meetings simply combat them - bring out the armour - come out swinging, tackle them head on, say them out loud, repeat them - THEN ask - What if the opposite is true? Well - what if it is?
Friday 13 July 2012
When I grow up I wanna be a Futurist...
Funny how you think about what you want to be when you grow up. At 55 you think I might know.
How dull would that be? I am supposed to be thinking about retirement…spare me!
So…sorry Mum I still don’t know.
But one of these would be fun.
Enjoy…
http://worldfuturetrends.tumblr.com/post/26977197756/futuristlab-the-role-of-futurists
How dull would that be? I am supposed to be thinking about retirement…spare me!
So…sorry Mum I still don’t know.
But one of these would be fun.
Enjoy…
http://worldfuturetrends.tumblr.com/post/26977197756/futuristlab-the-role-of-futurists
Sunday 1 July 2012
Customer Service - Solutions or Outcomes
I have noticed a huge shift in the customer service being rolled out at Coles. Not that I want this to be an advertisement for a large supermarket chain (I try to support the independents whenever I can) - but they have very much lifted their customer service game.
Which reminded me, in a very round about sort of way, about a chapter I had read in the book (hardcopy not e-book) Managing Creativity and Innovation, Practical Strategies to Encourage Creativity published by Harvard Business Press.
We spend a lot of time surveying customers, asking for feedback about satisfaction levels, what they would like to see improved, customer service, product suggestions etc.etc.etc. I have been asked to complete so many on-line surveys that the whole idea has become quite passe to me (but I still fill them in - you just never know). I often wonder what they will actually do with the results and whether my time has been appreciated. And I have read so many stats that have been interpreted so many different ways that I wonder at their interpretation and validity anyway. The truth is always in the pudding as they say - what are the resulting changes?
And I wonder if we spend time truly listening to what people say. Indulge me for yet another moment while I go on about the difference between hearing and listening. You see hearing is a physical process involving sound waves, auditory canals, villi in the ear canals, brain pathways - I am sure you get the picture. Listening on the other hand is paying attention to, heeding.
And another thing, do we really want to ask our potential clients/customers what products or services they want? A common retort here is that had the inventor of the automobile asked people of that time what they wanted at the time in terms of transport, the reply would have been a faster horse!
The above mentioned chapter suggests instead that we should be asking our customers/clients about the outcomes they desire. What is it that we can offer that would make life better for them?
Tony Ulwick is the founder of Strategyn, a company formed around the principle of Outcome Driven Innovation. He talks in terms of outcomes. He uses as his example the case of music storage. Had you asked music lovers how they wanted to store their music, just a few short years ago, their replies would have included larger CD racks, alphabetical systems, cases that don't crack or break and so on. These are all solutions...
An outcomes approach on the other hand would include suggestions such as access to a lot of songs, a system that resisted damage to the source of the music, something that took up minimal storage space and other similar ideas. Ulwick suggests that this is the difference between outcome and solution based thinking.
Of course, the task doesn't end with the collection of the desired outcomes...the next step could involve prioritising the outcomes according to their importance to customers, and then realising those outcomes into the business or organisation.
BUT - and there is always a but - we also have to beware of remaining too close/loyal to the thinking and ideas of current clients/customers. The risk indicated is the potential to limit innovative options. It's a balancing act really. Thanks goodness the research is out about Trusting Your Gut Instincts...
Which reminded me, in a very round about sort of way, about a chapter I had read in the book (hardcopy not e-book) Managing Creativity and Innovation, Practical Strategies to Encourage Creativity published by Harvard Business Press.
We spend a lot of time surveying customers, asking for feedback about satisfaction levels, what they would like to see improved, customer service, product suggestions etc.etc.etc. I have been asked to complete so many on-line surveys that the whole idea has become quite passe to me (but I still fill them in - you just never know). I often wonder what they will actually do with the results and whether my time has been appreciated. And I have read so many stats that have been interpreted so many different ways that I wonder at their interpretation and validity anyway. The truth is always in the pudding as they say - what are the resulting changes?
And I wonder if we spend time truly listening to what people say. Indulge me for yet another moment while I go on about the difference between hearing and listening. You see hearing is a physical process involving sound waves, auditory canals, villi in the ear canals, brain pathways - I am sure you get the picture. Listening on the other hand is paying attention to, heeding.
And another thing, do we really want to ask our potential clients/customers what products or services they want? A common retort here is that had the inventor of the automobile asked people of that time what they wanted at the time in terms of transport, the reply would have been a faster horse!
The above mentioned chapter suggests instead that we should be asking our customers/clients about the outcomes they desire. What is it that we can offer that would make life better for them?
Tony Ulwick is the founder of Strategyn, a company formed around the principle of Outcome Driven Innovation. He talks in terms of outcomes. He uses as his example the case of music storage. Had you asked music lovers how they wanted to store their music, just a few short years ago, their replies would have included larger CD racks, alphabetical systems, cases that don't crack or break and so on. These are all solutions...
An outcomes approach on the other hand would include suggestions such as access to a lot of songs, a system that resisted damage to the source of the music, something that took up minimal storage space and other similar ideas. Ulwick suggests that this is the difference between outcome and solution based thinking.
Of course, the task doesn't end with the collection of the desired outcomes...the next step could involve prioritising the outcomes according to their importance to customers, and then realising those outcomes into the business or organisation.
BUT - and there is always a but - we also have to beware of remaining too close/loyal to the thinking and ideas of current clients/customers. The risk indicated is the potential to limit innovative options. It's a balancing act really. Thanks goodness the research is out about Trusting Your Gut Instincts...
Wednesday 27 June 2012
Mystery's a Fact...man
Apologies for the title...let me explain. I have written many songs in my life, as I know, has my fellow Create and Innovate Musketeer Christina. I have only one that I will claim is any good (quite prolific eh?) It's titled 'Hi and Low' and has as it's bridge the following...
"Said goodbye to some I loved
Did I love em strong enough
Only they'll ever know.
We gotta celebrate the act man
Cause Mystery's a fact man
Hi and Low..."
If I could upload the mp3 file I'd let you have a listen.
Anyway the point I am slowly getting to is that Change is Certain.
As Innovators and Creators we should all embrace the space. Indeed we must inhabit the space.
We can not prove an Innovation will work.
We can only sense that we or something needs to Change. And no more intensely than now.
And we don't know at what point in the cycle we are at any given time (that's hindsights job)
That's why I believe Innovation and it's friends Imagination, Creativity and Collaboration have to be incorporated into our lives, both public and private.
I stumbled across this quantum physics definition that took my fancy today after reading a post by Create and Innovate on the facebook page (go and like it now) about Uncertainty.
https://www.facebook.com/createninnovate
" The Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that the more one knows about where a particle (person;sic) is right now, the less one knows about how fast it is going and the direction that it is going. This also works the other way around: the more one knows about how fast the particle is going and the direction it is going, the less one knows about where it is right now".
So I don't know what you make of that definition (I would love to hear).
It somehow appealed to my sense of Mystery that surrounds all of our existence.
Ommmmm.
Kevin Coffey
"Said goodbye to some I loved
Did I love em strong enough
Only they'll ever know.
We gotta celebrate the act man
Cause Mystery's a fact man
Hi and Low..."
If I could upload the mp3 file I'd let you have a listen.
Anyway the point I am slowly getting to is that Change is Certain.
As Innovators and Creators we should all embrace the space. Indeed we must inhabit the space.
We can not prove an Innovation will work.
We can only sense that we or something needs to Change. And no more intensely than now.
And we don't know at what point in the cycle we are at any given time (that's hindsights job)
That's why I believe Innovation and it's friends Imagination, Creativity and Collaboration have to be incorporated into our lives, both public and private.
I stumbled across this quantum physics definition that took my fancy today after reading a post by Create and Innovate on the facebook page (go and like it now) about Uncertainty.
https://www.facebook.com/createninnovate
" The Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that the more one knows about where a particle (person;sic) is right now, the less one knows about how fast it is going and the direction that it is going. This also works the other way around: the more one knows about how fast the particle is going and the direction it is going, the less one knows about where it is right now".
So I don't know what you make of that definition (I would love to hear).
It somehow appealed to my sense of Mystery that surrounds all of our existence.
Ommmmm.
Kevin Coffey
Monday 25 June 2012
A Faster Horse
Gotta love Steve...
Don’t be a focus- group slave
When Jobs took his original Macintosh team on its first retreat, one member asked whether they should do some market research to see what customers wanted. “No,” Jobs replied, “because customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.” He invoked Henry Ford’s line: “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’”
Read this on the plane to India...see the whole Fin Review article here...
A Faster Horse
Kevin Coffey
Don’t be a focus- group slave
When Jobs took his original Macintosh team on its first retreat, one member asked whether they should do some market research to see what customers wanted. “No,” Jobs replied, “because customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.” He invoked Henry Ford’s line: “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’”
Read this on the plane to India...see the whole Fin Review article here...
A Faster Horse
Kevin Coffey
Friday 22 June 2012
Dear Retail - Your Sales Just Aren't Enough
And I don't mean - increase the percentage off or give me more for less...I mean as consumers, we aren't duped by the term SALE anymore. Myer have had 30% off footwear for months now but every time they advertise they make it sound like a bigger and better sale than the one that came before. We won't be duped I hear consumers cry! Translation - we're not idiots so stop treating us like idiots!
So let's talk about the Retail Experience. I don't mean the internet retail experience and I don't want to talk about the damage that online is doing to stores. For the record, I am no fan of closing stores in favour of internet retail. In my book all that's going to do is make for less social contact, less part time work for students (read how on earth will they develop a good work ethic) and the flow on from all that is still unknown - really. I want to talk about Bricks and Mortar retail.
Walk into a shopping centre. Talk about same old same old. Oh they have been renovated, expanded, updated, onlined...but fundamentally what has really changed? Walk into a Westfield or a GPT centre and you see the same brands in the same shops and sometimes they have a different shell. I was completely dumfounded/gobsmacked/horrified, when at the International Airport in Sydney I found myself confronted with the SAME STORES. Had I been beamed up to Westfield or GPT? Was this a nightmare? Where were the niche, quality, artistic, UNIQUE stores I had fantasised about?
Thank goodness for centres like the Junction Village, Darby Street, the little shopping village at Lambton and others like them - at least they offer consumers that something different! Unfortunately many of the operators are having to close the doors because they can't compete and they're not being supported.
I am tired - tired of having my senses offended by the over stimulation provided by too much product in a small space - make that too much of the SAME product in a small space. It might work in Singapore, where there are endless malls, with endless shops, with endless product but it doesn't do it for me. I know - all you true shopaholics are now gasping and in a state of shock - but this is my blog and you are free to comment!
Renew Newcastle (thanks Marcus, Marnie, Siobhan and others) are an example of how innovative ideas can create and revitalise a retail experience. Renew Newcastle supports and encourages niche stores with niche, quality, handmade, artistic local product.
Another change in retail is becoming evident with the focus returning (brace yourselves) to where it should be - back to the customer, read customer service and customer experience. I caught a glimpse of an Are You Being Served rerun on free to air TV(my children love it) the other day and it was remarkable. What goes around certainly does come around! Full circle back to customer service. I mentioned to someone on the counter at Coles that I had had trouble with a product and she informed me that part of the new training was to make it up to customers when they weren't happy. She replaced my product! Dumbfounded/gobsmacked and pleasantly surprised this time! I remember when you had to have a receipt, a signed affidavit and a witness to get a replacement, and you had to be extremely brave, prepped and well prepared to venture in for a refund...
Westfield and Sportsgirl are all about adding to the customer experience. Walk into their domains and you are likely to find a stylist who will help you put it all together. Clever and effective. Apple have been all about the customer experience for quite some time, from greeting you at the door to ensuring that you can close a purchase from anywhere in the store and not just at a point of sale register.
In store innovations are being implemented all over the world. Theatre, sound, new technology, digital media and the integration of sustainable retailing are being used to improve or simply change the customer experience. If you want to read more try this article http://www.popai.com.au/news/june-2010/marketing-at-retail-innovations-set-to-transform-how-australians-shop.aspx
or simply google innovations in retail. You can only wonder what's next...
So let's talk about the Retail Experience. I don't mean the internet retail experience and I don't want to talk about the damage that online is doing to stores. For the record, I am no fan of closing stores in favour of internet retail. In my book all that's going to do is make for less social contact, less part time work for students (read how on earth will they develop a good work ethic) and the flow on from all that is still unknown - really. I want to talk about Bricks and Mortar retail.
Walk into a shopping centre. Talk about same old same old. Oh they have been renovated, expanded, updated, onlined...but fundamentally what has really changed? Walk into a Westfield or a GPT centre and you see the same brands in the same shops and sometimes they have a different shell. I was completely dumfounded/gobsmacked/horrified, when at the International Airport in Sydney I found myself confronted with the SAME STORES. Had I been beamed up to Westfield or GPT? Was this a nightmare? Where were the niche, quality, artistic, UNIQUE stores I had fantasised about?
Thank goodness for centres like the Junction Village, Darby Street, the little shopping village at Lambton and others like them - at least they offer consumers that something different! Unfortunately many of the operators are having to close the doors because they can't compete and they're not being supported.
I am tired - tired of having my senses offended by the over stimulation provided by too much product in a small space - make that too much of the SAME product in a small space. It might work in Singapore, where there are endless malls, with endless shops, with endless product but it doesn't do it for me. I know - all you true shopaholics are now gasping and in a state of shock - but this is my blog and you are free to comment!
Renew Newcastle (thanks Marcus, Marnie, Siobhan and others) are an example of how innovative ideas can create and revitalise a retail experience. Renew Newcastle supports and encourages niche stores with niche, quality, handmade, artistic local product.
Another change in retail is becoming evident with the focus returning (brace yourselves) to where it should be - back to the customer, read customer service and customer experience. I caught a glimpse of an Are You Being Served rerun on free to air TV(my children love it) the other day and it was remarkable. What goes around certainly does come around! Full circle back to customer service. I mentioned to someone on the counter at Coles that I had had trouble with a product and she informed me that part of the new training was to make it up to customers when they weren't happy. She replaced my product! Dumbfounded/gobsmacked and pleasantly surprised this time! I remember when you had to have a receipt, a signed affidavit and a witness to get a replacement, and you had to be extremely brave, prepped and well prepared to venture in for a refund...
Westfield and Sportsgirl are all about adding to the customer experience. Walk into their domains and you are likely to find a stylist who will help you put it all together. Clever and effective. Apple have been all about the customer experience for quite some time, from greeting you at the door to ensuring that you can close a purchase from anywhere in the store and not just at a point of sale register.
In store innovations are being implemented all over the world. Theatre, sound, new technology, digital media and the integration of sustainable retailing are being used to improve or simply change the customer experience. If you want to read more try this article http://www.popai.com.au/news/june-2010/marketing-at-retail-innovations-set-to-transform-how-australians-shop.aspx
or simply google innovations in retail. You can only wonder what's next...
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Look Outside Your Industry For Ideas
It has been written that Steve Jobs knew how to make connections...the magnetic ac adaptor for the macs were actually a connection he made between his products and the magnetic power chords that accompanied woks selling in Japan as a safety precaution. The magnetic ac power adaptor was an impressive innovation.
Picture a wok simmering away and a child running through, tripping on the chord, knocking the wok over, contents going everywhere, 3rd degree burns...Enter the magnetic ac adaptor - wok is simmering away, child runs through, trips on the chord, chord comes away...Jobs made a connection, adopted the idea - and adapted it for the Macs. If you tripped on the chord, the computer wouldn't come crshing down...
Human beings are adaptable creatures. Maybe we should ask more often how we can adopt and adapt ideas from one industry into another industry. A great example of this being accomplished successfully is the use of sensors. Sensors are used in homes and in businesses as triggers for security systems. Sensors trigger the alarm if anyone breaks into your home or business - or in my case if a spider crawls over them. The auto industry adopted the use of senors for other security reasons - to prevent accidents. The technology of sensors has been adapted to assist people with sight impairments - same concept - adopted into different industries.
And look at how the mobile phone has evolved. From the early days when it was simply a way of making a mobile call, to its modern day morphises of call maker, txt sender, email receiver, music source, picture taker, film producer, game source - one idea - so many different applications - oh applications!
Which brings us to the collaboration of ideas and that opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Richard Branson's space shuttle, when it takes off, will be an historic occasion bringing together space travel and tourism. Can you think of two more remotely connected industries coming together to create a new possibility...
Picture a wok simmering away and a child running through, tripping on the chord, knocking the wok over, contents going everywhere, 3rd degree burns...Enter the magnetic ac adaptor - wok is simmering away, child runs through, trips on the chord, chord comes away...Jobs made a connection, adopted the idea - and adapted it for the Macs. If you tripped on the chord, the computer wouldn't come crshing down...
Human beings are adaptable creatures. Maybe we should ask more often how we can adopt and adapt ideas from one industry into another industry. A great example of this being accomplished successfully is the use of sensors. Sensors are used in homes and in businesses as triggers for security systems. Sensors trigger the alarm if anyone breaks into your home or business - or in my case if a spider crawls over them. The auto industry adopted the use of senors for other security reasons - to prevent accidents. The technology of sensors has been adapted to assist people with sight impairments - same concept - adopted into different industries.
And look at how the mobile phone has evolved. From the early days when it was simply a way of making a mobile call, to its modern day morphises of call maker, txt sender, email receiver, music source, picture taker, film producer, game source - one idea - so many different applications - oh applications!
Which brings us to the collaboration of ideas and that opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Richard Branson's space shuttle, when it takes off, will be an historic occasion bringing together space travel and tourism. Can you think of two more remotely connected industries coming together to create a new possibility...
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Words Words Words
Just finished reading a great book - Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. One of the themes that stood out for me was that of Perception. How we perceive things is really coloured by the sum of our life's experiences.
When LEAN Management was discussed at an event Create and Innovate presented at last week, I thought "great concept but why give it such a negative name". LEAN to me has connections with job cuts, budget cuts, doing more with less and so on and so forth. In its true form, all LEAN means is getting rid of the waste, and that usually refers to wasteful practices. There is definitley no harm in that!
In an ideal world though I would call it something like LEAP - Learn Easier Alternate Practices. DEAP would be better - Develop Easier Alternate Practices but it doesn't conjure up the same light images as the word LEAP. Am I making any sense at all? Can you see the leprechaun taking off?
BAE Systems at Williamtown have achieved remarkable things through the introduction of LEAN Management - I wish Create and Innovate had been involved. That's real results for a real company in real time. When I google LEAN Management and see the fluff written by way of definition of the practice, you have to wonder how the principles of LEAN ever took off. Except that it started not as LEAN but as the Toyota Production System. And that's my point. The term grew out of an action.
Most of the terms we use, or even overuse to the point of cliche, came from somewhere. Creativity has existed through time immemorial. But if you look for a definition opf creativity, you get everything from the occurrence of a new novel, to a special class of problem solving. Truth is you need creativity in every facet of a business. To come up with a new concept you require creativity, to produce a new product you require creativity, to market a product you require creativity, to commercialise a new product you need to do it creatively. We act Creatively all the time...
Innovation has yet to become a part of the business culture in most companies and organisations in Australia and yet the word is already almost cliche. It is thrown around with much abandon and some individuals and organisations even hide behind it. There is an article worth reading You Call That Innovation? Companies say they love to Innovate but the term has begun to lose it's meaning. It's in the Wall Street Journal and written by Leslie Kwoh. Google it (a name that has become an action and has it's own definition - like Band-Aid or Apple).
Before I go, I also like the term Disruptive Innovation.
Disruptive innovation can be defined as an improvement or advancement that enhances a service or a product in a manner that has never been expected by the market. Jonathon Pitts
But isn't that what any Innovation is? I get the emphasis is on enhancement here, but any change for us at Create and Innovate is an Innovation - whether it be space travel or the use of tweezers and a hammer to remove a broken key from a door. In someone's perception both acts were essential, both innovative.
Words are words. In business these days you need your actions to be as loud if not louder than your words. Rhetoric can buy you short term. Action buys you respect and long term survival. Ideas are great but flutter into the ether unless followed by action.
When LEAN Management was discussed at an event Create and Innovate presented at last week, I thought "great concept but why give it such a negative name". LEAN to me has connections with job cuts, budget cuts, doing more with less and so on and so forth. In its true form, all LEAN means is getting rid of the waste, and that usually refers to wasteful practices. There is definitley no harm in that!
In an ideal world though I would call it something like LEAP - Learn Easier Alternate Practices. DEAP would be better - Develop Easier Alternate Practices but it doesn't conjure up the same light images as the word LEAP. Am I making any sense at all? Can you see the leprechaun taking off?
BAE Systems at Williamtown have achieved remarkable things through the introduction of LEAN Management - I wish Create and Innovate had been involved. That's real results for a real company in real time. When I google LEAN Management and see the fluff written by way of definition of the practice, you have to wonder how the principles of LEAN ever took off. Except that it started not as LEAN but as the Toyota Production System. And that's my point. The term grew out of an action.
Most of the terms we use, or even overuse to the point of cliche, came from somewhere. Creativity has existed through time immemorial. But if you look for a definition opf creativity, you get everything from the occurrence of a new novel, to a special class of problem solving. Truth is you need creativity in every facet of a business. To come up with a new concept you require creativity, to produce a new product you require creativity, to market a product you require creativity, to commercialise a new product you need to do it creatively. We act Creatively all the time...
Innovation has yet to become a part of the business culture in most companies and organisations in Australia and yet the word is already almost cliche. It is thrown around with much abandon and some individuals and organisations even hide behind it. There is an article worth reading You Call That Innovation? Companies say they love to Innovate but the term has begun to lose it's meaning. It's in the Wall Street Journal and written by Leslie Kwoh. Google it (a name that has become an action and has it's own definition - like Band-Aid or Apple).
Before I go, I also like the term Disruptive Innovation.
Disruptive innovation can be defined as an improvement or advancement that enhances a service or a product in a manner that has never been expected by the market. Jonathon Pitts
But isn't that what any Innovation is? I get the emphasis is on enhancement here, but any change for us at Create and Innovate is an Innovation - whether it be space travel or the use of tweezers and a hammer to remove a broken key from a door. In someone's perception both acts were essential, both innovative.
Words are words. In business these days you need your actions to be as loud if not louder than your words. Rhetoric can buy you short term. Action buys you respect and long term survival. Ideas are great but flutter into the ether unless followed by action.
Friday 18 May 2012
Who Should Be Involved in Innovation?
It's a strange question really. One that really shouldn't have to be asked. Innovation should be like those other "in" words - innate, intuitive, indefinite - it should be a "given" that everyone should be involved.
So ideally, we need to convince everyone that there is no such things as a bad IDEA and that one IDEA can grow and evolve into another IDEA. The practice of innovation needs champions, people to push the cause, people who are passionate. The practice of innovation needs the ideas people - the innovators. It needs supporters - those who can help get the ideas over the line. It needs people to action ideas and it needs people to promote the innovation.
Children innovate all the time! They change the rules of games and the games parameters to suit the new kid that wants to join in. My second son was Bionicle mad when he was younger but he never once built to the picture on the cylinder. His Bionicles always had seven heads, four bodies and eight arms - reminds me of me this morning trying to get everyone out of bed and out of the house on time!
We innovate all the time. I love the Dyson vacuum story. I may be biased because the character at the centre of the tale is a male obsessed with vacuuming! Picture this - James Dyson is vacuuming his house but he becomes frustrated because his top of the line vacuum cleaner gets clogged, loses suction and stops sucking up dirt. He has a solution - drop the bag - that would be a bagless vacuum cleaner. Literally 5,126 prototypes later the problem is solved. Some display of resilience. To top it off, he had to back his own company to manufacture it.
Educators need to encourage innovative and creative thinking.
Managers need to champion innovation in their organisations and businesses.
Governments need to support innovation.
If only we could turn things upside down and instead of the easy cost cutting options to improve profits, we would promote innovative practices instead?
Finally a sensible innovative thought about the Greek crises - instead of austerity measures, outrightly rejected by the Greek people (well do you blame them - what if you were told your wages were going to be halved and taxes would be imposed) the new approach is to stimulate the economy...
There is a post on the createninnovate Facebook page Why are we so Afraid of Failure Worth a read! http://www.smh.com.au/
So ideally, we need to convince everyone that there is no such things as a bad IDEA and that one IDEA can grow and evolve into another IDEA. The practice of innovation needs champions, people to push the cause, people who are passionate. The practice of innovation needs the ideas people - the innovators. It needs supporters - those who can help get the ideas over the line. It needs people to action ideas and it needs people to promote the innovation.
Children innovate all the time! They change the rules of games and the games parameters to suit the new kid that wants to join in. My second son was Bionicle mad when he was younger but he never once built to the picture on the cylinder. His Bionicles always had seven heads, four bodies and eight arms - reminds me of me this morning trying to get everyone out of bed and out of the house on time!
We innovate all the time. I love the Dyson vacuum story. I may be biased because the character at the centre of the tale is a male obsessed with vacuuming! Picture this - James Dyson is vacuuming his house but he becomes frustrated because his top of the line vacuum cleaner gets clogged, loses suction and stops sucking up dirt. He has a solution - drop the bag - that would be a bagless vacuum cleaner. Literally 5,126 prototypes later the problem is solved. Some display of resilience. To top it off, he had to back his own company to manufacture it.
Educators need to encourage innovative and creative thinking.
Managers need to champion innovation in their organisations and businesses.
Governments need to support innovation.
If only we could turn things upside down and instead of the easy cost cutting options to improve profits, we would promote innovative practices instead?
Finally a sensible innovative thought about the Greek crises - instead of austerity measures, outrightly rejected by the Greek people (well do you blame them - what if you were told your wages were going to be halved and taxes would be imposed) the new approach is to stimulate the economy...
There is a post on the createninnovate Facebook page Why are we so Afraid of Failure Worth a read! http://www.smh.com.au/
Monday 7 May 2012
Innovation in the USA
I have just returned from the USA in awe of the role that Creativity and Innovation play in businesses, companies and organisations. Everywhere I turned I saw the words Creativity, Innovation, Imagination – or a wonderful variation – Imaginate! These words were written across billboards, in all forms of advertising, on the front cover of the Harvard Business Review, in the subway/met/bart. The concepts of Creativity and Innovation are embedded in the business psyche as “givens”.
There is an interesting article in the May 2012 edition of the Harvard Business Review titled Managing Your Innovation Portfolio. It's worth a read if you can get your hands on it. (On-line taster at http://hbr.org/2012/05/managing-your-innovation-portfolio/ar/1). It begins:
There is an interesting article in the May 2012 edition of the Harvard Business Review titled Managing Your Innovation Portfolio. It's worth a read if you can get your hands on it. (On-line taster at http://hbr.org/2012/05/managing-your-innovation-portfolio/ar/1). It begins:
Management knows it and so does Wall Street.
The year to year viability of a company depends on its ability to be innovative
The article discusses transformational rather than incremental innovation - that is - developing break throughs and inventing things for markets that don't yet exist. This doesn't necessarily happen however at the expense or detriment of your core market, where existing products are optimised for existing customers.
I loved Berkeley College in San Francisco...Sorority houses with Greek letters on them DO exist - they are not just a Hollywood myth! And there were lunch time parties happening at each of them on this particular Saturday. Right at the peak of the mountain is the St Lawrence Science Centre. Parents take their children there for playgroup, birthday parties and general "hanging out". The place is full of playgrounds and interactive science activities - what a way to develop a young mind! It was also full of posters with the words...
Imaginate - Turn Imagination into Innovation
(see it at https://www.facebook.com/createninnovate).
I spoke to several students of Middle School, equivalent to our years 6 to 9 and I was struck by their ability to problem solve. This skill (threatening to become extinct in certain tribes), appears to be encouraged and rewarded in the USA - both at school and at home. The students also seem to enjoy a higher sense of self confidence and a "can do" attitude - an optimism. Surprisingly, I didn't find this attitude specific to any particular socio-economic group either.
The themes we've been talking about on Julian Campbell's radio show on 2NUR FM - Business, The Law and You - appear to be universal! Innovation needs to be managed, coordinated and integrated into business culture.
The Harvard article concludes simply with,
When it's done efficiently, innovation is a driver of growth.
Simple and true...
Saturday 5 May 2012
Rules are Meant to Broken - or at the Very Least Bent
I was listening to Bill Gates talk about philanthropy, education and innovation the other night on Radio National and was delighted by the announcer's closing statement, "To draw more people into thinking big and outside the square, we must change how we teach". Well, for my money that means teaching EVERYONE - from school children to the elderly - that it's OK to MAKE MISTAKES and it's OK TAKE A CHANCE (no my keyboard isn't stuck on caps lock - yes I am shouting).
Of course, the best risk takers are the ones who have nothing to lose...
Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur, opens her May editor's note with "Rules - I never met one I liked" (see full article http://entrepreneur.coverleaf.com/entrepreneur/201205?folio=16#pg18). I couldn't resist - I instantly fell in love with her thinking. A few years ago we went with several other families to a camping site for a long weekend. This holiday location was full of signs that started with DON'T!
Don't Run
Don't Ride Bikes
Don't Disturb Other Guests
Don't Leave Your Rubbish...
Get the picture? We were on the lookout for the "Don't Have Fun" sign. As you could perhaps imagine, there were several comments made about the Nazi sound and strict operations of the park. We couldn't contain our laughter when the Park Supervisor appeared on a small moped with a helmet like Schultz used to wear in Hogan's Heroes.
There are a couple of entrepreneurs with colourful "Oops I think I broke the Rules" stories. Sara Blakely is the founding CEO of Spanx, a hosiery brand.She launched the brand from her home and it's now worth more than $1Billion. The story goes that Nieman Marcus, a department store in the USA, agreed to stock Spanx (well the buyers did) and try the range out with its customers. They tucked the product up the back of the store and let the big names occupy the point of sale positions.
Sara Blakely took herself off to Target and visited the hardware section where she purchased a quantity of metal shelving. Somehow this metal shelving found itself at Nieman Marcus, near the front of the registers. Miraculously, the shelves were soon occupied by Spanx hosiery. The only reason the "ghost who installs shelves and stocks them with Spanx" was identified, was because Sara Blakely was caught on CCTV.
Richard Branson talks about the intrapraneur - entrepreneurs little brother. An intrapraneur is an employee given freedom and financial support to create new products and systems without having to follow company protocols and routines.
Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (Apple) were all risk takers and they all broke Rules. They challenged the status quo and jumped (at times leapt) outside the square. Happy crawling, hopping, jumping, leaping...
Come along to our workshop, May 16, at Fort Scratchley Historic Site, Newcastle and we'll show you how to take the first leap forward. www.createandinnovate.com.au for more details.
Of course, the best risk takers are the ones who have nothing to lose...
Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur, opens her May editor's note with "Rules - I never met one I liked" (see full article http://entrepreneur.coverleaf.com/entrepreneur/201205?folio=16#pg18). I couldn't resist - I instantly fell in love with her thinking. A few years ago we went with several other families to a camping site for a long weekend. This holiday location was full of signs that started with DON'T!
Don't Run
Don't Ride Bikes
Don't Disturb Other Guests
Don't Leave Your Rubbish...
Get the picture? We were on the lookout for the "Don't Have Fun" sign. As you could perhaps imagine, there were several comments made about the Nazi sound and strict operations of the park. We couldn't contain our laughter when the Park Supervisor appeared on a small moped with a helmet like Schultz used to wear in Hogan's Heroes.
There are a couple of entrepreneurs with colourful "Oops I think I broke the Rules" stories. Sara Blakely is the founding CEO of Spanx, a hosiery brand.She launched the brand from her home and it's now worth more than $1Billion. The story goes that Nieman Marcus, a department store in the USA, agreed to stock Spanx (well the buyers did) and try the range out with its customers. They tucked the product up the back of the store and let the big names occupy the point of sale positions.
Sara Blakely took herself off to Target and visited the hardware section where she purchased a quantity of metal shelving. Somehow this metal shelving found itself at Nieman Marcus, near the front of the registers. Miraculously, the shelves were soon occupied by Spanx hosiery. The only reason the "ghost who installs shelves and stocks them with Spanx" was identified, was because Sara Blakely was caught on CCTV.
Richard Branson talks about the intrapraneur - entrepreneurs little brother. An intrapraneur is an employee given freedom and financial support to create new products and systems without having to follow company protocols and routines.
Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (Apple) were all risk takers and they all broke Rules. They challenged the status quo and jumped (at times leapt) outside the square. Happy crawling, hopping, jumping, leaping...
Come along to our workshop, May 16, at Fort Scratchley Historic Site, Newcastle and we'll show you how to take the first leap forward. www.createandinnovate.com.au for more details.
Sunday 26 February 2012
How Do We Measure Innovation OR Why Do We Measure?
My maternal grandmother was a great cook (she was a Greek grandmother so it really goes without saying). She expressed her love for us all through the wonderful things she cooked - spinach pie, honey cake, spaghetti Greek style and lots more. My father shared her love of cooking and was determined he would record her recipes so that they could be shared for generations to come.
So, there they were, in the tiny kitchen at her house in Rainbow St, Randwick, Yiayia cooking and dad, with pen and paper in hand, ready to capture and record ingredients and processes for future use. Yiayia would pick up eggs, flour, bunches of spinach (which she grew in her garden), whatever she needed and throw them in. Dad was constantly asking, "how much flour...how many eggs...how much spinach?". She eventually turned to him and said (in Greek, but that won't help here) "for goodness sakes Nick - as much as it takes - when it looks right - when it feels right!" You see, it was a matter of feel and of being intimate with your product and processes that counted, not the measurement in mls or grams (or ounces).
Some companies and organisations measure innovation against their bottom line, by assessing which innovative ideas that progressed through to the production stage, improved profits. Innovation has also been measured by an increase in productivity (can also affect bottom line), by assessing the introduction of better ways of doing things, by employee satisfaction or by other numerous benchmarks. Consider also the innovation or discovery of fire and the wheel? Could the measure for innovation then be if it makes life better?
Others (me included - sometimes) question why we need to measure innovation at all. There is a case for acknowledging that we have become too fixated on outputs and measurements and benchmarks, and we are in fact stifling innovation and creativity. Numerous studies have been conducted, articles written and talks given, that suggest that some generations have few problem solving skills. Everything is set out and explained, and there is no need to overly engage the brain. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/10/teaching-sats http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youre-hired/201111/does-education-stifle-creativity/comments)
My son who is in year 9 brought home an assessment task last week. It was full of instructions and had a marking table; To get an A you will...to get a B you will... etc. The question was clear cut, the presentation style was written in, and he knows what he has to do to either score well or just pass. What wasn't written into the assignment was an opportunity to think, create or innovate. Is measuring, benchmarking and over informing stifling and crippling innovation and creativity? There is a great TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on this topic - enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
We know we're not being innovative when we are in a rut and when we continue to do the "same old same old". We know that we are being innovative when we feel that buzz of excitement, when our adrenaline surges put us in a state of optimum stress, when we are contributing, and we are pushed out of our comfort zone.
Before we go measuring, I believe we need to decide what it is we are trying to quantify or qualify. Are we measuring how innovative we are, or the results of our innovative endeavours?
HunterNet have an Innovation Assessment Tool on their website developed by Lee Bains, a Business Advisors at Enterprise Connect. This tool is free and measures innovation from a business perspective.
http://www.hunternet.com.au/
Create and Innovate have the Creative Aptitude Test, that assesses and predicts an individual's ability to think creatively at work. Thinking creatively is a precursor to innovation.
Email create@createandinnovate.com.au for info.
The European Innovation Scoreboard is worth a read, as they "attempt to benchmark...the innovation performance of member states".
www.proinno-europe.eu/metrics
According to research conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, Innovation is considered to be one of the top strategic imperatives of over 90% of organisations globally.
Companies under measure, measure the wrong things, or, in some cases, don't measure at all, because they are under the mistaken impressions that innovation is somehow different from other business processes and can't or shouldn't be measured...The potential cost of this error - in terms of poorly allocated resources, squandered opportunities and bad decision making generally - is substantial.
http://www.bcg.com/expertise_impact/capabilities/innovation/
Beware though - sometimes when we measure we also label. Ever failed a maths test then convinced yourself you were hopeless? Often if we go back and measure again we get a different result.
I leave you with a thought - Steve Jobs, it has been said, killed more patents than he let live. He supposedly had 313 patents to his name. How would you measure the innovative spirit of Steve Jobs?
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