Innovation Myths: Post #8--Five Challenges

Five Challenges to Innovation  1) Life of Ideas (treated well, ideas flourish—the opposite is also very true); 2) Environment (make it a safe place, full of laughter); 3) Protection (managers have to spend political capital to keep the heat off inventors); 4) Execution (this is the hardest part of innovation); 5) Persuasion (the fuel of innovation at every point and level of the process).

Innovatioin Myths: Post #7--Finding Ideas

Finding Ideas It’s hard to find great new ideas because they’re not born fully formed. Rather they come as half-baked, unattractive starts and stops. What’s more, schools reward compliance, not off-the-trail exploration. Creation is a sloppy process. Often, 70% of innovators get their best ideas when exploring areas where they’re not the experts. Indeed, their new perspectives changed how they saw problems.

Innovation Myths: Post #6--Origins of Innovation

Origins of Innovation We think of Ed
ison as the inventor of electricity; Apple the inventor of the digital music player; and Google the inventor of the search engine. But they were not; rather, they came after a long chain of “connections.” It makes a better story for us to remember—that’s it simple and straight. The author suggests: Ask any kid who invented pancakes, and she’ll say, “My Mom!” What’s more, inventors often make discoveries simultaneously, whether it’s in fashion, sports or physics. For instance Newton and Leibniz each came up with the notion of calculus simultaneously and used different versions as a matter of national and personal pride.

Innovation Myths: Post #5--New Ideas

New Ideas Whether it was from Alexander Graham Bell, the Google guys, or George Lucas, every great idea has battle scars of people who rejected it early on. We don’t love new ideas; we love them only when others have tested them. Inventors often try to save a world that doesn’t want to be saved until others approve the solution: “…an unfortunate paradox: the greater the idea, the harder it is to find anyone willing to try it (Kindle, loc 1032).”  Most often inventors have heard these words: This will never work. No one will want this. This is a solution in search of a problem.

Innovation Myths: Post #4--Paths of Innovation

Paths of Innovation
Survival manual for innovators: 1) Gain self-knowledge (find out what inspires you); 2) Reward interesting failures (reward people for experimenting, especially when they fail); 3) Be intense but step back (intensity tempered with reconsideration); 4) Grow to size (start small and let it grow with time); 5) Honor luck and the past (the harder you work, the luckier you get).

Innovation Myths: Post #3--Challenges

Challenges for Innovation The author lists eight challenges: 1) Finding the idea; 2) Developing a solution (execution is tougher than good ideas); 3) Sponsorship and funding (getting someone to fork over money for an idea isn’t easy); 4) Reproduction (scaling up for profitability takes work);  5) Reaching customers (an idea becomes innovation only when people buy it); 6) Beating competitors (see how you can collaborate or compete); 7) Timing (is the world ready for your idea?); 8) Keeping the lights on (can you pay the bills while waiting for success?). Tough odds. If you’re still willing to read on, here’s a quote from Hans Solo that the author offers: “Never tell me the odds.”

Innovation Myths: Post #2--Innovation Mehtod

The Innovation Method: The myth is that there’s some sort of playbook for innovation. And because fantasy, not reality, sells, we often make up eureka-type stories to explain the arduous task of evolving innovations. We all want to find the magical moment—the place and time a big idea started. That’s why people read biographies of guys like Steve Jobs. They hope to find the magic or secret to the next big thing. But that’s not how it happens. Innovators are humans, warts and all. Romanticizing them takes you down a rabbit hole. Innovation is more of a personal odyssey.

Innovation Myths:; Post #1--Overview

Overview: Though you may admire the brain power of Newton, Edison, Jobs, or Gates, it’s clear that discovery comes from hard work, risk and sacrifice, not some divine epiphany. Furthermore, innovation does not have a straight-line trajectory, nor does it happen overnight. In fact, many inventors aren’t seen as geniuses until after they die. Reporters try to find the “eureka” magical moment that is never really there. The inventions of the radio, the TV, the laser, and the computer were an accumulation of ideas and efforts. Small insights lead to big breakthroughs. The epiphany is really much more like putting a puzzle together. When you put the last piece in place, it just “feels” like magic.
The Myths of Innovation (O’Reilly, 2010) by Scott Berkun, reviewed by Steve Gladis, PhD, July 2013...Steve Gladis Leadership Partners. (Twitter: @SteveGladis)

WriteType: Post #5--NTs--Strategic Writers

NT's (iNtuitive Thinkers) or Strategic Writers are good structuring ideas in a cohesive manner. They lead with ideas, then data...all well structured with logic.
Watch the video about NT's on YouTube

WriteType: Post #4--NFs--Creative Writers

NF (iNtuitive Feelers) or Creative Writers like to lead with big ideas and concepts--then support them with data. They connect,synthesize, and develop new concepts from the combination of established ideas/data.
Watch the video about NF's on YouTube

WriteType: Post #3--SF's--Correspondents

SFs--(Sensor-Feelers) or Correspondents like to correspond and communicate with people. They write often and well using clear, concise writing, good research and are rooted in the values, mores and customs of their audience.
Check out the video about SFs on YouTube

WriteType: Post #2--STs--Technical Writers

ST's (Sensor-Thinkers) or Technical Writers are very good with data and logic. Their writing is clear, concise and to the point. It also lacks a certain emotional appeal...making the writing great for certain audiences, and not as appealing for others.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube

WriteType: Video Post #1--Introduction to Personality Types and Writing Styles

Click Here for Video of WriteType (Intro)
How we write is strongly influenced by our personality styles. This video introduces a book--WriteType that explains how personality makes such a difference in our writing, how we get along with bosses, and how we express our ideas,

Saving the Farm: Post #6--Evaluating

Evaluate Experiments
Evaluate the leader on how well s/he conducts the experiments. “The innovation leader’s job is to execute a disciplined experiment and learn quickly from experiments to make smarter decisions. How to evaluate an innovative leader? 1. Have a clear hypothesis; 2. Identify critical unknowns; 3. Invest time in planning, analysis, lessons learned; 4. Make sure the entire team knows the assumptions; 5. Make evidence-based decisions and changes; 6. Update your plans as you learn. 4.    Final Words:  Remember that every company started as an experiment, and every company will have to continue to experiment to make it in the future.

Saving the Farm: Post #5--Collect Evidence

Collect Evidence
 And validate actions.  Often core business employees won’t help the new upstart business—not because they are lazy or stubborn, but because they’re compensated on the performance of the core, not on helping the new hypothetical venture. The trick with innovation is that you have to do both—sustain the core business and build a new business. Here is a disciplined innovative process: state hypothesis, predict possible outcomes, measure results, and learn and compare results to original hypothesis. Moreover, collect evidence and measure every major expenditure. Don’t spend a million dollars on a 100 dollar experiment. Also, remember the “worse-before-better” concept: You have to plow money and time into an experiment before it bears fruit.

Saving the Farm: Post #4--Go Lean

Go Lean
Experiment and LEARN. “Doing nothing is the riskiest choice…,” Bull tells us. Stella comes up with a great new idea to help save the farm. But the idea is only the beginning for any innovation. It’s a hypothesis. Then comes much more, starting first with experimentation. A hypothesis is just your assumption(s) about how you expect the business to succeed and prosper. Sometimes you’re right, other times you’re wrong. Growth comes through experimenting, succeeding some, and failing some. “Learning first, profits second!”(Einstein, the bespectacled rooster). So, put learning first and watch profits grow.