4. We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence. Charles Darwin - The Origin of Species
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7. Are you a Mac or PC? iPod, iTunes, Apple Stores, AppExchange, iPad Windows Vista, Windows 7, Zune, Media Player
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9. In early 2000, Apple was 1/10th the size of IBM and Microsoft. As of 5/24/2010 - Apple’s Market Cap was $227.74 billion - Microsoft was $233.1 billion Yahoo Finance
10. “ Every organization - not just business - needs one core competence: innovation .” Peter F. Drucker 1909 - 2005
12. The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift . - Albert Einstein
18. Characteristics of Innovative Organizations Embrace new things Decisive & forward looking Collaborative Right people & Systems Leadership
19. Half of the great innovations in the world happened from great insights, the other half happened by accident, and none of them have been on the schedule. - Roger McNamee
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21. I didn’t fail. I just found 1000 ways not to make a light bulb. - Thomas Edison
From IBM’s international conference on Innovation held in Italy in 2006.
Do we accept the proposition that the organizations that are most prepared to innovate have the best chance of success in this economic environment? Are you willing to take that one step farther? Organizations - in order to survive - must learn to be innovative.
Has anyone heard of WANG in 10 or 15 years? It’s doubtful you have, and that’s for a very good reason. The company doesn’t exist anymore. Wang represents a fundamental failure to innovate. The organization was plagued by poor leadership, adherence to dogma, if failure to question direction, inpatients, a lack of trust and openness on the part of senior management and a resistance to risk. All of these factors blended together to do what was a very successful organization.
“ Don't be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other people's thinking.” Steve Jobs commencement address address to Stanford University in 2005.
The "we're on the face of the earth to make great products" Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook during a 2009 earnings conference call. The success magazine.com May 19, 2010.
Hard to top Albert Einstein for statements about creativity. Here’s a man who failed mathematics classes as a student. So how did he make the impact he did upon all of us? In a word - curiosity. His innate curiosity about how the world around him worked led him to develop novel and creative explanations for what he observed.
The top competency sought by CEO’s in leaders today - creativity. From a Bloomberg Business week survey, May 18, 2010
Hard to top Albert Einstein for statements about creativity. Here’s a man who failed mathematics classes as a student. So how did he make the impact he did upon all of us? In a word - curiosity. His innate curiosity about how the world around him worked led him to develop novel and creative explanations for what he observed.
If we define creativity as the discovery of a new idea or connection, it’s something we all do everyday in a variety of ways. Every time we speak, we are making new connections between our observations and our expression. Now - admittedly, some of us are more creative than others, but each of us has some capacity for creativity. Some people (and by extension, some organizations) seem more predisposed to be creative than others. So - in the end, this is really all about people.
1. The seeds of creative thinking include bleeding and creativity being curious and discovering new connections was the creative ideas and identify there must be developed into a strategic idea so they can bring value to the organization into the marketplace. 2. The seeds of strategic thinking include seeing the big picture understanding the present but looking to the future and doing the extraordinary. Now how’s this for a tired and worn out “buzz” term? But as tired as it is, strategic thinking is important. The problem is there is so much static, poor writing and poor training on the subject the concept has gotten a bad rap - in some cases deservedly so based upon some of the truly awful training session or strategic planning sessions I’ve observed. Most of the the issues with the concept stem from the fact that too much work in the area is too theoretical and can’t be effectively applied to the situations most of us actually face in our organizations. So - let me offer a more practical way of viewing the concept. Strategic thinking is about linking creativity with value. Think of the “dot com” frenzy of the 1990’s. There was a lot of creativity out there, but very few organizations effectively linked creative concepts to real value. 3. The seeds of transformational thinking involve the human side of innovation and include seeking greater awareness in dealing with the resistance to change, building the collaborative networks needed support needed to support new ideas, developing courage and igniting passion, and, above all, taking action. After all - if we can’t implement, what’s the point?
That brings us to this definition of innovation. Innovation is the profitable implementation of strategic creativity. If we accept this as a working definition, we can remove some of the mysticism and fuzziness that can accompany the concept. As you can see, innovation - if you approach it this way - has a definite bottom-line oriented outcome as its goal or objective.
There are three fundamental types of innovation - efficiency, evolutionary and revolutionary or disruptive. Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen (read excerpt). (Explain differences.) So let’s talk about a few things innovation is not: technology sector specific (telecommunications, etc.) only for R&D for special teams creative playrooms one-off event just creativity training just applicable to new products Innovation CAN be: process improvement, new event, event planning, etc.
Flip sides of the same coin. But these are important questions.
We could just as easily title this slide “Characteristics of Innovative People.” Whether it’s at the organizational level or individual level, innovation does not occur unless: Top 10 characteristics of innovative organizations are: 1. Empower all employees, partners, and suppliers to take an active role in innovation. 2. They welcome new ideas and new approaches. 3. Look to the future to anticipate a customer's future needs. 4. They redefine the rules of the game and challenge complacent competitors. 5. They empower their customers with information and more control over the purchasing process. 6. They embrace new technology distinction strengthen their competitive advantage. 7. They employ internal processes that support innovation. 8. They allocate resources to find, develop, and implement new ideas. 9. They reward innovative efforts. 10. They move quickly. The seeds of innovation. Elaine Dundon, page 141 An interesting element here is the quality of staff. According to Peter Drucker, Innovation MUST be a core competency for successful organizations . If true, that means PEOPLE who can innovate are crucial to future success. Anyone disagree with that? It does make sense. Seven months ago, what was the economic landscape like? Will we see more or less change going forward? If change is the one constant, won’t the best and most successful organizations prepare their culture and locate the talent necessary to move towards the future? So - if innovation is a critical core competency for organizations, organizations need people who posses the core competencies that will allow them to innovate. So - again - what can we do on a day-to-day basis. Obviously, make sure we have the right people around us, but - be ready to try new things, forget about the “right” or tried and true way of doing things, and let go! Chaos can be very liberating - to a point. But don’t worry about controlling everything. People need space, room and time to be innovative and creative. But most importantly, you need people who are curious and not afraid to question things.
He's Mark Zuckerberg's coach, Bill Gates' editor, Bono's business partner, and an owner of Forbes. Portfolio.com - Rock Stars of Tech
But even before creative solutions can be developed, you MUST have a great question. Here’s a great illustration of HOW the question being addressed impacts the answer. (Tell Post-It story.)
This is my favorite quote on the subject of innovation. Edison is telling us something extremely important. Creativity and innovation is more about failure than success. But - do we remember any of the ways Edison found to NOT make a light bulb? No - we remember the great idea.
As we said before - innovation always starts with good questions. As you brainstorm to set the stage for innovation, break an issue down into its smallest bit - or lowest common denominators. Ask “why” until you can’t ask anymore.
After you’ve gotten through the “why” questions, now frame a challenge to address one of the elements, pieces or fundamental parts of a problem. Phrase the discussion to generate ideas as “how might we . . . .” Keep the challenges simple, direct and unambiguous. Also, don’t add qualifiers at this stage. The prupose of this type of conversation is simply get ideas out there!
Not every idea will be a good one. So? You need to develop lots of ideas in order to find one or two that can really work.
A change in perspective can frequently yield amazing results as you develop ideas or examine issues and problems. It’s one of the great reasons the best brainstorming groups are built from a wide variety teams, disciplines, ages, etc. Sometimes the worst people to try and develop creative ideas about something are the very people who’ve been dealing with the issue. There really is substantial value in diversity of points of view.
We don’t all have to have the courage to stand in front of tanks to express our dissatisfaction with the status quo. But sometimes it feels like that in organizations, doesn’t it? One of the common traits that great innovators have all shared is a deep-seated distrust of the status quo. Bobby Kennedy once said, “Others see things as they are and ask why, and I see things as they might be and ask why not.” It’s this type of push against the status quo which helps all of us better. These types of questions and this attitude help us see things in a different way, and frequently see brighter and more prosperous future.
Four things WE can do as professionals to foster our own sense of creativity and innovation. Also - get a coach and find a reverse mentor
HR is the critical place within an organization for ensuring that the right people are in the right places. We talked about many of the competencies that and it native people share. Except human resources to recruit The key competencies required to be innovative or not always easy to identify and we certainly don’t always think of them as valuable within organizations. For instance how many of us really value people who question the status quo relentlessly? While this characteristic in behavior may not always be constructive or appropriate, it is exactly this characteristic can be a type of behavior that helps foster innovation.
Tel IBM story and how collaboration through world wide social media is driving innovation at the grass roots level of the company.