Archive for: August, 2011

Creative thinking is not a one time activity

Late last year, in response to an article that stated that you need to stifle your creativity in order to get promoted, I argued that you needed to become a credible innovator to cut through the smoke and keep those objections at bay.

Now, new research further indicates that people are biased against creative ideas. Among the findings:

Innovation Posts of the week: Move with the speed of disruption

The top 10 ways to get your team to contribute the best ideas – Front End Innovation Blog

Five Lessons to Boost Your Innovation Practices – Innovation Management

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity – HBS Working Knowledge

Why You May Be Blind to a Good Idea (and What to Do About It) – HBR

Creativity Paradox: Uncertainty drives search for creativty, but builds bias against it – Physorg

Move With the Speed of Disruption – Inc.com

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The new logic of innovation

Apparently there is a food truck trend happening in the U.S. and everybody is talking about it.

To me what’s funny is that in Mexico, food trucks are a street corner staple. We like to say that for every Starbucks that exists we have 20 times more food trucks on every other corner of every street. I’m exaggerating a little bit but it’s true, in Mexico they’re part of our daily routine.

They type of food these trucks serve varies wildly, from tacos to tortas to sandwiches and even breakfast. These trucks serve people wherever they are, even in the the border crossing from Tijuana to San Diego. People who live in Tijuana but work in San Diego or Los Angeles, depend on these trucks for their breakfast.

So, why hasn’t anybody else thought about this and why is it becoming a trend now?

How Leaders can set the tone for innovation

Remember last month I told you about a client who told his staff that they needed to start thinking about what they’ve never thought about? Well this past week I went back to check up on them and see exactly what had happened since our last conversation.

Absolutely nothing.

I wasn’t surprised. The predictable ‘I haven’t had time to think about it’ came up. Sure, they definitely have some ideas like focusing on not just businesses but also consumers and creating a brand for that. Though that’s just an idea and they know they have to do it but again nothing has happened.

The President of the company understands that they need to make time to ‘think about what they’ve never thought about’ but hasn’t really made the decision to do so. Well let me tell you something:

For things to change, somebody somewhere has to start acting differently.

Innovation posts of the week: The 3 Types of innovators

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How diversity helps break linear thinking in your innovation team

I’m not so sure if I should write this post. It contains an email with some info that is best to keep private. But I just can’t contain myself as it’s a visceral example of why having a diverse set of people with different backgrounds, education and mental models makes your team more likely to innovate.

Below is an email from a colleague, from our Creative Generalist venture, where she explains very vividly her on-site visit with a client (nanes were erased to protect identities):

How Happy Accidents Happen through serendipity

Two weeks ago we had a serendipitous event. A happy accident. We had a scheduled meeting with a partner at 8 am on Wednesday morning and our partner didn’t make it because of family issues. What’s interesting is that our partners office is on an adjacent street to an office building that is the first of it’s kind in Latin America. It’s the first sustainable building in the region.

It is a monument to innovation in my opinion because it is designed to be environmental friendly. Owned by VIA Corporativo, the building looks unlike anything out there but the most prominent feature it has is on the inside.

It has this hole in the middle. This serves a purpose, as this is what keeps the building cool and lets in natural light. The interior decoration is made up of recycled wood and concrete that are locally sourced.