Archive for: July, 2014

Everything is ripe for innovation

The titles of this post might seem a little simplistic, and to a certain degree it is because it isn’t that easy. But, let’s consider the following story:

Ten years ago, Diane Brown found herself in a dreary hospital room, shocked that this kind of bleak environment was supposed to help her get well. Using her art-world connections, she persuaded a few friends to liven up some of these walls. A decade later, RxART is a thriving nonprofit that brings the work of world-class artists to patients whose spirits are lifted by the presence of colorful, inspirational contemporary art in their daily lives. Since then, artists like Jeff Koons, Matthew Ritchie, Alexis Rockman and William Wegman have lent their expertise to hospitals across the country.

A hospital room designed to heal kids. How cool is that?!

Why do we fall prey to theories of success?

Why do we fall prey to theories of success?

Theories of success intrigue us because they provide a shortcut. But in following the herd, we deprive ourselves from developing and expressing our originality.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how people and businesses aren’t really obsessed with disruption per se, rather they are in love with theories of success. Silver bullet ideas that you can use to shortcut your way to “success”, theories that become hardened after “supposedly” observing them in the environment.

Recently, another success theory has been shot down: Malcolm Gladwell’s famous 10,000 hour rule.

Use deprivation tests to uncover insights for innovation

English: An anxious person

An anxious person (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”- Joni Mitchell

What happens when you get a bunch of people to turn off autocorrect for a week? You get some insight!

I found this story about depriving oneself of a “perceived” valuable function we’ve come used to having with us everyday very interesting: