Kevin Minne
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Innovator Decision Making

4/24/2015

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When we are under intense pressure to produce more and more for less and less it is hard to even think about innovating (being effective) because we are too busy thinking about producing (being efficient).  From a business perspective it seems great to have more demand for your products and services than you can produce.  But being busy can lead to complacency and a false sense of security because we tend to assume that the demand for our products and services will always be there and the secret of success is to just keep doing what you are doing.  Unfortunately, this pressure to meet the pent up demand can trick us into thinking that all we have to focus our decisions on is production issues and not about the next generation products or process innovation.  This is where what’s urgent overpowers what’s important and our decisions and our decision making processes get real sloppy.  Sloppy decision making is not a recipe for success.  

Think of the enormous product demand at Kodak and the pressure to produce and preserve their product dominance rather than understand the pressures their customers were or would be experiencing.  Not understanding the pressures influencing their decisions cost them their company and over a hundred years of photography dominance.  After all most managers are paid for production not some possibility of profits from a new product in the future, especially if it might make their current revenue stream obsolete!

For many businesses just creating or adopting an effective decision making template would be a ground breaking innovation in itself and most likely lead to more innovation.

Having a thorough decision making process is essential if your organization is going to remain relevant and it must include:
  1. Focus on future customer needs.
  2. Evaluating possible future technology changes.
  3. Looking for innovation opportunities inside and outside your business.
  4. Understanding and evaluating the numerous influences, goals and objectives of decision making.

This kind of thorough process will produce far better outcomes than any snap decision that is made to reduce some of our pressure and ease our pain.  Sometimes the pain we think we need to solve is only a symptom and we can expend an enormous amount of energy and frustration before we find out our efforts are not working.  Having a disciplined decision making process can help to avoid that waste.  Innovators need to take more time to pause and reflect and evaluate than traditional producers because producers have not focused on changing the game whereas innovators do and in the future producers need to adopt an innovator mindset.  

Great innovators don’t wing it!  They create decision making processes that help keep them calm under pressure so they can uncover as many options as possible and ensure that their decisions are the result of deep understanding. 


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Irreverent Innovator

4/17/2015

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Some of us like to have things go smooth and certainly a routine is somewhat relaxing and comfortable.  However, the world owes a lot to those who are a little bit irreverent about the status quo.  It is not the "don't rock the boaters" or the "if it ain't broke don't fix it's" that change the world but it is those who don't have any loyalty to the way things are or the way they have always been.  That annoying trait, that many of us had when we were 4 or 5 years old, to ask why over and over about everything is actually essential to finding innovative opportunities.  It isn't easy to ask lots of questions because many people don't think of you as an innovator but as an irritator.  Building a culture that welcomes questioners and is innovator friendly is hard because most people in authority don't like their authority (decisions and processes) questioned.  Nations and organizations will have a leg up on innovation if they actually do protect the individuals right to question authority, whereas others who revere those who conform and comply to the central plan and authority may have more difficulty with innovation.  Better questions are always more intriguing than answers.  Albert Einstein believed it was spending the majority of his time on asking the right questions before looking for answers that made all the difference.  In fact the much touted and very familiar "brain storming" technique used to generate ideas is being upended by a new and innovative use of the technique called "question storming".  Same technique but different focus.  You might be amazed by how much deeper your understanding of the problem will be and how much more valuable you solutions when using this technique.  (Some recommend generating as many as 50 questions before moving to solutions.)
        Taiichi Ohno, the brilliant Japanese Engineer of Toyota, who is largely responsible for the creation of the world class Toyota Production System (TPS), included a questioning system known as the 5 Why's.  Toyota requires that deep probing questions be asked when a problem surfaces in an attempt to ensure that solutions are not addressing symptoms but in fact actual root causes.  So, irreverence can be a really good thing when in search of innovation and can be done with respect and acknowledgment of previous breakthroughs that have become obsolete, even if those obsolete breakthroughs are your own!  Remember not to take yourself too seriously because most of us continue to see things differently and hopefully more clearly with more experience.

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Innovator's Imaginary Edge

4/10/2015

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There is always a drive to gain a competitive edge over the competition in business, sports politics and war.  More and more the competitive edge comes from thinking better, and by better I mean more focused and creative and effective.  If you think better you perform better, communicate better inspire better and the list goes on and on.  I love that Albert Einstein, one of the most iconic scientists of the 20th century, said that imagination is more important than facts!  Whoever has an active and productive imagination can see new doors of opportunity that were previously unimaginable.  You just can't go through a door you can't see.  So, the goal is to see more and seeing more comes from experiencing more and having more influences and experiences to draw from when you are creating and imagining.  In Jonathan Littman and Tom Kelly's book "The Ten Faces of Innovation" they talk about the cross pollinator.  The cross pollinator is that person who brings the ideas from another industry or culture or discipline and pollinates and helps merge those ideas into your own and helps us see and create something completely new. 

If imagination is such a vital piece of gaining competitive advantage, then having a more productive imagination would accelerate the cycle of success.

A more productive imagination......  what is that?  Is it something you are just born with and only the gifted have?  Are the origins of a productive imagination just an unknowable mystery?  Or is it something you can systematically create?  The good news?  You can actually create a more productive imagination and gain the innovators edge!  Here are some suggestion on how to start making your imagination more productive and how to use the results.

Start by learning to be eclectic.  Read books on obscure inventions, read marvel comic books, psychology books and books on manufacturing etc.  Cultivate diverse interests and I don't mean just casual ones, although those help.  Go get a pilot license, you will be amazed how aerodynamics theory and emergency training will change the way you look at the world, not to mention all the fun you will have.  The more detail you get from a deep experience the more complete your storehouse of pictures and images will be.  A great mental photo album is what productive imaginations and great ideas are made of.  Try sending a message with pictures only.  With all the texting and word processing capabilities in the world we often forget that we think in pictures.  The problem with words is that they all have pictures attached (ie call up pictures in our mind) but usually not the same pictures for anyone of us.  So, its the pictures that count and the more we share pictures the more accurate our communications will be.  When someone produces an original and totally unique idea so often it doesn't catch on because no one else has the same picture available for communication and understanding.  What happens is that everyone elses brain brings up a picture from their own available database of pictures and experiences and none of them match the original idea and the idea goes no where because it doesn't make sense with the pictures everyone has available. But, if we attempt to produce the picture even if it is a sloppy drawing or from a metaphor everyone is familiar with, it can go a long way toward sharing the idea and improves the accuracy of communication tremendously.   Its like prototyping. 

Now, when you have more pictures you have an edge, plain and simple.  You have an edge on creating and solving and communicating.  That my friend is a true earth shaking, razor sharp, competitive edge.  The Innovator's edge.


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Creativity Flows

4/3/2015

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Organizations across the globe are in search of better and faster everything.  The need for creative problem solving has never been stronger but “can we get it done quicker” is usually the question?  As a matter of fact there are ways to get creative quicker.  The best problem solving comes when blood is flowing to the brain and when energy is high and the mind is flexible.  The good news is that we know how to induce all three of those things.  We don’t just have to wait and hope they will happen.  Studies have shown that the brain responds (i.e. operates more effectively with clearer thought) to some foods better than others and it operates more efficiently when blood is freely flowing.  So, just like your mother told you, it does pay to eat right.  We also know that our bodies naturally restrict blood flow in stressful situations and therefore the most optimum environment for creative problem solving is relatively stress free, happy and at ease.  We can create that kind of environment with something as simple as some light hearted humor and certainly laughter even if it’s forced.  (It is really hard to fake laughter very long without it being a little funny.)  Unfortunately, not all board rooms in corporate America are light hearted and stress free.  So, any effort in the direction of comfortable camaraderie and light hearted humor will contribute to the free flow of blood and consequently free flow of ideas and solutions.  You can try jump starting things by talking about your favorite funny movie or comedian just to get your brain connected to humorous images and thought patterns.  Actually the surprise and the unexpected you find in humor are exactly what creativity and innovative problem solving are made of.  It helps make the mind more flexible and open.  Once you learn how productive and fun creative problem solving can be you won’t want to try to work without it.


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Building blocks for uncovering the hidden opportunities for  business growth and performance.  
  • If you ever wanted more than the daily work routine out of your job or business.  
  • If you have had a measure of success but still feel like you are falling behind personally, professionally or financially. 
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Then this book will provide tools to unlock the hidden explorer in you so you can discover and conquer new worlds of opportunity.


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