Tag Archives: breakthrough thinking
The importance of workplace diversity for innovation
Click for larger image
My friend and business partner Christian Laborin created the above illustration for someone very special to him. He put it on his Facebook cover and very shortly the comments came in. Including Jose Zelaya, a friend from Disney Studios, stopped by to give his two cents: There is so much love in this illustration!
Bingo!
Everyone notices different things.
What do you notice?
For breakthrough ideas read the unreadable
Chaos, where brilliant dreams are born.
Do you ever get this feeling that when you read the same stuff over and over again and then you try to read something completely unrelated you become bored very easily? Well that’s a very bad problem to have if you want to get into the business of ‘doing innovation’ because breakthrough ideas rarely come from looking in the same place.
You want some new ideas everyday? Read stuff that’s unrelated to your field. John Jantsch calls this ‘the single best way to discover innovation’ and he’s right, the best ideas come from the intersection between ideas from different domains.
Recent research says that the ability to associate between different ideas is one of the key skills of innovators, so you would do well to cultivate a habit of coming up with ideas by combining them not just in different ways but from different domains. For example if you’re into science (like me) then read art and if you’re into art then read science. If you’re a wine lover and know how wine is made, learn how milk is made.
After you’ve done this for awhile and get used to tasting something new, go farther. As in go crazy and push your minds associative abilities farther for example: Let’s say you want to design a very sturdy looking chair, go to your backyard and search for a strange insect like a Praying Mantis and then examine it closely with a magnifying glass and look at how it’s legs are very thick looking. Take pictures of this and then do some in depth research on it and see how you can apply some of it’s mechanics to your chair design.
This example might not land you a breakthrough but I think you get the point. With so much information out there, the ability to filter and then make sense of it can and will land breakthrough ideas at some point and by practicing your associative abilities you’ll be much more ready to spot unrelated connections that may make sense.
This phenomenon is explored deeply in The Medici Effect from Frans Johansson, a book that shows us how breakthrough ideas most often occur when we bring concepts from one field into a new, unfamiliar territory. If you haven’t read it here it is free for download.
Onwards then to practice breakthrough thinking.
The elegantly simple way to turn ideas into brilliance
I just finished reading The Genius Machine by Gary Sindell. This is the shortest, most simple, useful book on creative thinking that I’ve ever read!
As Gary puts it, his work is to help people think.
This is not a book with yet another creative thinking technique to add to your arsenal, you can get those elsewhere. What this book gives you is an 11 step process to help you think through your ideas and turn them into reality.
A process he calls the Endleofon.
According to Gary, in order to develop our innovations to their highest possible level and to facilitate their acceptance by the people who would benefit most from our creations we need to answer The Endleofon questions which I share with you here.
11 steps that turn raw ideas into brilliance
1. Distinctions.
What do I see? New ideas are the result of perceiving new distinctions.
2. Identity
Who am I? Why are these ideas important to me, and why am I driven to share them with the world? Have I made my identity clear to my audience so they know where I am coming from?
3. Implications
Reverb move When the Wind Blows dvdrip
Where do my ideas lead? If what I am saying is true, then what are all the consequences I can imagine?
4. Testing
What am I blind to? Have I imagined how my ideas might impact a variety of situations, places and people? Have I questioned everything about my assumptions? What would prove me wrong? Can I create a model of my work and find precise analogues?
5. Precedent
Who else has seen something like this? By asserting that I have something to say, I am entering into the great conversation of ideas that stretches back through the centuries. We cannot know everything that has been said about our area of focus before we began our work, but we must try to be aware of important, precedent thought.
6. Need
Who needs this knowledge? If what I am saying is so, for whom would this knowledge be valuable? This question forces us out of focusing solely on our own area and may lead us to find the universals in our thinking. Understanding who needs us most will also help us in crafting what we say.
7. Foundation
Are there underlying principles? What is the world I’m working in? What are the underlying values expressed here? What are the applicable rules or structures that obtain here? Can I pull these together into a coherent group or body of law?
8. Completion
Is everything here? If the idea or product is valuable for someone, am I giving my audience everything they need for it to be useful? If everything they need is not here, have I explained what other information they will need in order to know enough to take action or teach others?
9. Connecting
Who am I addressing? Do I understand my audience’s frame of reference? Am I writing for my readers, speaking to my listener, carefully guiding the experience of my user?
10. Impact
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot hd Where do I want to go? In creating this work I have launched an alter ego that will eventually take on a life of its own. If this development or body of knowledge succeeds in the marketplace of ideas, will it help me fulfill my goals for my life? Are the identities of creators, the creation and the users aligned?
11. Advocacy
Am I supporting the adoption of my ideas? My thinking stands for me. Now I must stand for what I have created.
Help yourself in developing your breakthrough thinking by reading this book, it’s easy to read and simple to put to use.
You can follow Gary at his blog where he continues the exploration of the Endleofon innovation process.
UPDATE: Listen to this Businessweek podcast with an interview with Gary talking about his book.
