Innovation blueprints #101

InnovationBlueprintsmarch 2016 issue #101
WWW.INNOVATIONBLUEPRINT.COM.AU
SPECIALFEATURE:IsKimJong-unthemostinnovativemarketerintheworld?
RegrettableInnovations:theinnovationswewanttoforget
NewInnovations: Theinnovationsmakingwavesintheworld
ReverseBrainstorming:Innovationtoolsfor reluctantinnovators
innovation strategies & satire
INNOVATION
ARCHETYPES

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Nils Vesk, Chief editor
elcome to our first
edition of Innova-
tion Blueprints.
So why a quarterly magazine on
innovation? Well to be honest,
not too many have the passion
or time to read newsletters and
blogs these days. We hope an eye
catching magazine’s going to be
a different story.
That’s why we’ve reinvented the
way to share our content. You’ll
find some of our usual awesome
tips and techniques for innovat-
ing, as well as some satire to help
you digest it all.
It’s been proven that humour
helps us to learn more and keep
us entertained. So watch out
as we throw some stones at as
many people and topics that we
have time to think of.
For many of us in the Southern
Hemisphere the end of summer
seems to be accompanied by
fuzzy hangovers, hot weather
and desire to do nothing but sit
on a beach and swim the day
away.
I’m sure this magazine will bring
back a little bit of mental stimula-
tion to get you thinking fresh for
the year ahead.
To keep you up to speed on
what’s happening we profile
some new mover and shaker in-
novations - be they new products
or services.
Our team of experts from Innova-
tion Blueprint share their latest
findings and we share what’s
happening in the wider world
beyond fantastic, money making,
innovative ideas.
So get set for some fun and some
innovation insights that can help
to drive you and your organisa-
tions thinking higher than ever
before.
Keep on innovating!
Cheers,
Nils
Nils Vesk
Chief Editor &
Founder of Innovation Blueprint
nils@InnovationBlueprint.com.au
www.InnovationBlueprint.com.au
“it’s been proven
that humour
helps us learn
more
W

TABLE OF CONTENTSQTR 1. 2016
WHAT’S INSIDE
Reverse Brainstorming - innovation tips 04
New innovations 06
The Innovation Force - mindsets 07
Epic Innovators 08
D.I.Y Innovation - innovation tips 10
Collaboration tools 12
Counter Intuitive Innovation 15
10 ways to help unlock million dollar ideas 16
Book Insider - innovation book excerpts 19
Innovation Biases - Innovation tips 20
Regrettable moments of innovation 21
Opening up to Innovation - innovation tips 22
Disruption & Agitation - innovation tips 24
Film review by George Clooney 27
Innovation Partnerships - innovation tips 28
Innovation coach Q&A’s 30
Social Innovation 32

04
INNOVATION BLUEPRINTS
e ran an innovation workshop
the other day and knowing
that Valentines day was just
around the corner I thought it would
be a good idea to combine the Valen-
tines day theme with some customer
relationship innovation.
A simple but effective ideation (idea
generating) technique that I like work-
ing with is called reverse brainstorm-
ing. What makes reverse brainstorm-
ing so effective is that it’s a technique
that tricks the brain so that you can’t
help but find opportunities for new
ideas.
Simply asking a person to come up for
a great idea is a recipe for disaster, yet
asking someone to think of some-
thing really easy like“what’s the worst
thing you could do to …………?”is
relatively easy and becomes a gold-
field for new ideas.
This is how I briefly framed up the
activity.
“We all know that valentines day is
coming up. Our clients in many ways
are kind of like a‘lover’in a relation-
ship. We would hope that we can
maintain a relationship with them for
a long time to come, not just have
a one night stand. Let’s see how we
can apply the reverse brainstorming
technique to the customer as a‘lover’.”

“We all know that no one really likes
being lonely on Valentines day, but
what would be all the things you
could do to lose a lover?”
After framing up the activity you can
imagine there were some laughs and
a good time had as the participants
looked at a myriad of ways to loose a
lover. Now I’m not going to share all of
them right here (some were a little bit
to risque) but here’s a list of some of
the suggestions below.
St Valentines day - Ways to lose a lover
• ignore them
• only talk to them when you want some-
thing
• sleep with someone else
• never tell them you care
• forget about them
• always take and never give
• farting in bed
• telling them they look too fat
• continually telling them that they’re not
good enough
• not giving them constructive criticism
• putting yourself first every time
• forgetting their birthday
• forgetting your anniversary
• not taking the time to just listen
• not taking the time to just be with them
• not connecting with them on a deeper
level
• resenting their success
• not going shopping with them
• not giving them a surprise from time to
time
• not inviting them out with your friends
• checking out other people when they’re
around
• not getting them flowers
• eating all of their Tim tams without replac-
ing them
INNOVATION TIPS
REVERSE
BRAINSTORMING WITH NILS VESK
W
“All we had to do was think
of what wouldn’t enable us
to innovate. all the things
that would stop us from
innovating”
WHEN YOU HAVE A TEAM WHO GIVE YOU EVERY REASON THEY CAN THINK
OF AS TO WHY THEY’RE NOT INNOVATIVE. THIS METHOD CAN WORK
WONDERS.

05
“It’s always
easier to come
up with
reasons why
we can’t
innovate
Now that we’ve got a list we can start forcing our brain to reverse these ideas for our application. Reverse
brainstorming involves looking at the worst case scenario or the opposite of what we want so that our
mind is free of our usual limitations to enable us to join new possibilities and combinations to our focus
area.
Now I’m not going to share every idea that came from the list but here’s a few that caught my eye.
Ignoring them - having a ‘keep in touch’ list (K.I.T) that reminds you of your client, their industry, their
needs and their interests. Actively look for something that would be of interest to them that you can send
to them.
Always take and never give - Sending them chocolates when you invoice them.
Forgetting their anniversary - Sending a note to remind them of the good times you had working with
them on that special date.
Not inviting them out with your friends - if you’re ever going out to celebrate, invite some of your clients
too so that they can be a part of the celebration. Alternatively if you’re going to a professional develop-
ment conference invite a client along as a guest.
Not giving them a surprise from time to time - if you’re buying yourself a good business book to read, buy
a few copies and send one to your lover/s.
There was a stack of other great ideas in the activity that I’m not a liberty to share, yet I’m sure you get the
gist of it. If you’re looking to apply the reverse brainstorming technique simply ask your team to think of
all the things that you need to do to make something fail or not work.
For example:
• All the ways to waste time
• All the ways to stop innovating
• All the ways to lose a client
• All the ways to confuse a customer
• All the ways to waste money
Give it a go, this is a fail safe technique that’s lots of fun.
Author:NilsVesk

6
ardboard standing
desk
Following on from
the all the latest research
that sitting down for 8
hours a day is bad for us,
there’s been all kinds of
solutions for‘stand up’
workstations. Most of
them to expensive and
cumbersome. Now there’s
a new mover and shaker.
Oristand - a new cardboard
‘standing desk’for around
$35 AU. Compact and
neat, it’s a foldable simple
flat pack extension (with
no screws or assembly
required) that enables you
to pop it on your existing
table. Meaning when you
feel you’ve been sitting
down too long, you can
pop the desk on top of
your usual desk and then
you have a standing work-
station. www.oristand.co
loating bonsai
tree garden
Yes you read
correctly a floating bonsai
tree. Capitalising on the
need to make remarkable
products, Hoshinchu a
japanese small business re-
alised that making a bonsai
tree float would be as im-
pressive as could be. Their
resulting innovation the
‘Air bonsai’uses a magnet
in both the garden base
and a growing medium
(either a magnetic moss
ball or magnetic lava rock).
The bonsai plant will float
roughly 6 cm above an
elegant base. The customer
simply plants their bonsai
plant in the sponge which
comes with the moss ball
or lava rock and places it
above the base where it
floats majestically in space.
For more info check out
www.Hoshinchu.com
WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME NEW INNOVATIONS MAKING WAVES IN THE WORLD
C
NEW INNOVATIONS
F TB
urning pollution
into jewellery
Environmentalist
are always looking for bet-
ter ways to minimise waste
or to better recycle or treat
our waste products. We’ve
seen human waste used for
fertilisers, and refuse used
for power generators and
now we see air pollutants
being captured and used
to create jewellery.
Studio Roosegarde is a
studio based in the Neth-
erlands and they have in-
vented a smog free tower
that captures air pollutant
particles that are then used
to create jewellery. Similar
to the concept of a vacuum
machine, the Tower uses
ions to trap the pollut-
ant particles. Powered by
wind energy sucks in over
30 cubic meters of air per
hour. The tower needs just
1000 cubic metres of pol-
lutant air to process into
jewellery.
The first tower was in-
stalled in Rotterdam and
was funded by a crowd
funding campaign. Studio
Roosegarde see the
towers being placed in
public spaces and parks to
improve air quality around
the country. www.Studio-
Roosegaarde.net
https://www.studioroose-
gaarde.net
ehavioural bio-
metrics
So we’ve all hear
about biometric scan-
ners for security, and eye
trackers for analysing user
experience on websites
etcetera. Now we have a
spike of biometrics being
used to help behavioural
analysis of emotional
responses to commercials
and even movies. www.
Lightwave.io was recently
involved in assessing the
emotional responses of
fans to the Leonardo Di-
Caprio film‘The revenant’.
Their biometrics system
is providing producers
and also marketers with
valuable insights to what
people really feel and how
they react to messages.
www.Lightwave.io
Author:NilsVesk

07
he force is strong in successful
innovators. The force to think
differently and create new out-
comes. Some of us may even wear a
cape, an extravagant helmet and experi-
ence breathing difficulties.
However, there are two sides of the force.
There is good innovation, where we turn
problems into opportunities, we think out-
side the box and connecting new streams
of thought.
Then there is bad innovation: finding ways
around a problem by pretending that
there isn’t a problem - by re-imagining the
problem. Now this type of innovation can
be very successful... in the short-term. How-
ever, it usually comes back to bite us.
Let’s have a look at how a successful
European automobile company deals with
a problem. Well, actually an opportunity.
Let’s call this company Achtung Cars.
So Achtung Cars saw an opportunity to
exploit an underdeveloped market with a
successful product.
Their diesel cars were market leaders in
Europe, however they had been unable to
transfer this technology to an enormous
market, and entire country with very little
competition in diesel cars - let’s call this
country Trumpland.
In Trumpland, the emissions standards on
diesel cars are extremely restrictive, with
no manufacturer successfully able to get
around these standards to develop a sus-
tainable market for diesel cars. So here is a
huge opportunity to innovate - it’s barriers
such as this that provide the fuel for inno-
vation. Successfully overcome this barrier,
and the market is all yours.
So what would you do? Invest heavily in
new engine technologies? Or is there an
alternative? Well, what Achtung Cars did
was to re-imagine the question. A good
innovator would ask how can we develop
a new technology to meet the emissions
standards. A bad innovator asks more sim-
ply‘how can we pass the test?’
And in asking a different question, Achtung
Cars was able to develop a new solution: a
method to pass the test. Not to meet the
standards. Some of us may call this cheat-
ing, but at the time for Achtung Cars, this
was innovation. A much more simple tech-
nological innovation than developing new
engines - simply a way of learning when
a car was under test to allow it to perform
differently, and therefore pass the test.
Innovation? Yes. Good innovation? No. In
the short-term, it led to huge exploitation
of a new market (and huge bonuses for a
few individuals). But this is where the dark
side shows it’s, well, it’s dark side. Achtung
Cars eventually were rumbled, and the cost
to reputation was, and still is massive.
Use the force! But we should think whether
short-term gain is better than long-term,
responsible, thinking. Unless you manage
to find a way to build a cool Death Star -
that kind of bad innovation pretty much
kills the opposition. Just remember to inno-
vate on the defences - perhaps make those
exhaust vents a bit more secure. Hang on!!
Exhausts? I know a car manufacturer who
knows all about exhaust emissions...
THE INNOVATION FORCE
WHICH SIDE OF THE FORCE ARE YOU ON? GOOD OR BAD INNOVATION?
T
“Think differently to create
new outcomes
BY ANDREW POPE
Andrew Pope flies the Innovation flag in Europe. Despite being a native of the UK he’s spent much of his innovation career in the southern hemisphere. He
specialises on innovation collaboration on a number of innovation projects. +44 (0)7508 906 504 andrew@innosis.eu

08
25 million fans who do
what ever you say. Now
that’s influential.
MAVERICK
MARKETERS
ailing from a long fam-
ily line of marketers. Kim
Jong-un (KJ to his fans) has
followed in his fathers footsteps to
become a maverick marketer of epic
proportions.
With a natural talent for generating
nonsensical propaganda, spin, rheto-
ric and pure lies, KJ follows it up with
his zero tolerance strategy.
An avid fan of Seth Godin’s interna-
tional best selling book‘Tribes’, KJ
has found a unique way to build his
market by excluding those who don’t
follow his line of thinking - simply kill-
ing off the dissenters.
Rumoured to be able to speak to dol-
phins, KJ furthers his communication
skills through the art of story telling.
KJ has an uncanny ability to share his
remarkable feats through stories that
engage his nation to believe almost
anything. Correction, his people will
actually really believe everything!
Miraculously, Kim Jong-un succeeded
in his ascent of North Korea’s high-
est mountain, Mount Paktu located
near the chinese border. Despite Mt.
Paktu towering over 9,000 ft and
being covered in snow, KJ managed
to make the killer climb in nothing
but an overcoat and sensible black
leather shoes. With such remarkable
feats such as this, it’s no surprise that
Kin Jong-un has an unlimited wealth
of remarkable stories to share with his
his tribe of followers.
Kim Jong-un oozes influence in a way
that any other marketer would dream
about. His uncanny fashion sense has
led to him creating a cult like hair style
trend for men. North korean men just
can’t help but want to get the same
haircut as their hip leader. Students,
who see males with hair not similar to
their leaders have been known to snip
off the offending extra hair to make
sure they look just like KJ.
With the ability to bend the minds
and will of a nation, Kim Jong-un
takes out the crown of‘worlds most
innovative influential‘marketer’.
EPIC INNOVATORS
KIM JONG-UN
WE SCOUT THE WORLD FOR THE MOST IMPRESSIVE INNOVATORS. FROM ANALYSTS TO ENTREPRENEURS, NO STONE IS
LEFT UNTURNED AS WE AIM TO FIND THE SECRETS OF SERIAL INNOVATORS. THIS TIME WE TAKE TIME OUT TO RE-
SEARCH ONE MARKETING MAVERICK MAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS CONSISTENTLY AT HOME AND ABROAD.
“Every man should have
the same haircut as me
H

09
We were blessed with
the good fortune of being
able to interview Vladamir Putin
about his commercial innovative
business successes.
Here he shares his ground breaking 7
step strategy for innovative corporate
growth.
INNOVATION
STRATEGISTS
INNOVATION STRATEGIST
VLADAMIR PUTIN’S - TOP TIPS
1.
3.
2.
4.
5. 6.
7.
Step 1. Find an organisation that
has a massive Earnings Before
Income Tax (EBIT) and has been
profiled in a‘Fastest Growing
Company’list in any publication.
Step 2. Identify their
Unique Selling Point (USP)
Step 3. Plan your USP, and en-
sure it includes the KGB, FSB and
plenty of Uzi’s.
Step 4. Create a‘win-win’strate-
gic agreement. For example -‘We
take 51% at no cost to us, you
keep 49% and you get to live’.
Step 5. Execute the plan and
execute any resisting parties to
the agreement.
Step 6. Share the spoils with your
co-investors (enforcers, mafia,
etcetera)
Step 7. Review your expanded
business portfolio and return to
step 1.

10
So are you looking for the
next big innovation trend
that just keeps getting bigger
in business?
‘Do it yourself’(D.I.Y) is the next big
innovation trend. D.I.Y just gets bigger
and bigger every day, and the exciting
thing is that D.I.Y is being applied not
just for home improvements but also
for business.
‘How so?’You might be asking.
Do it yourself (D.I.Y) has been around
for centuries. Growing up as a son of
east european migrants to Australia,
my life has revolved around the D.I.Y
projects that my family had. A D.I.Y
home extension, D.I.Y build a sailing
boat, D.I.Y make your own wine, D.I.Y
build your own house…… the list
goes on and on.
What drives so many people to think
of D.I.Y can be summarised in the fol-
lowing principles.
• Ability (giving someone the abil-
ity to create something usually
reserved for technically trained/
experienced people)
• Free (or a massive cost reduction)
• Control (ability to do it as you like)
• Creative self esteem (the reward
of having created something by
your own)
Innovative organisations are realis-
ing that this D.I.Y trend can not only
create a new market opportunity, in
some instances it can totally redefine
an industry.
In the past I have written about how
website design is now in the realms
of the D.I.Y market with major players
Word Press and Square Space giving
customers total content control, de-
sign ability and freedom without be-
ing tied to an expensive web designer.
Another favourite example of D.I.Y
applied to an unusual industry for me
is GoAnimate. Creating computer ani-
mation for cartoons is a difficult task
- it takes incredible artistic drawing
skills, computer skills, storyboard skills
and anything else you can think of to
create a small animation.
HOW D.I.Y IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION
D.I.Y
S

11
oAnimate thought that if they
could deal with the difficulty
there would be countless
people who would absolutely love to
be able to create an animation. That’s
what this small team of animators set
out to achieve‘let’s allow our clients
to make their own animations rather
than us making it for them’.
GoAnimate is a D.I.Y animation web-
site that enables a user to make their
own animation videos for free. Sure
if you want to pay some money for
the tricked up version you can (and
you probably will if you’re like me),
be warned this is an addictive activ-
ity and it’s hard to stop once you get
started.
I’ll let you discover what can be done
on it in your own spare time. The main
point is that their product is a great
example of applying D.I.Y thinking to
business.
Innovating through D.I.Y thinking
can be made easier with some simple
guidelines. Before you go out and cre-
ate a D.I.Y for your business/ industry
consider some of the following:
Functionality - make sure it enables
the user to do what they want, deal-
ing with the highly technical aspects
whilst making it simple (simple so-
phistication that eliminates the most
technically difficult activities possible)
Control - give your customers as much
control as possible
Design - give customisation options,
yet also give them standard sugges-
tions
Price - when possible give a free
version, have a standard version and
have premium versions for sale
Share/ community - give your users/
customers a platform so that they can
share their creation with the world.
Remember that’s part of why they do
D.I.Y, let them show off their project
and they’ll promote your product too.
Enjoy your D.I.Y
Nils
BE AT THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATING BY CONSIDERING WAYS THAT YOU
CAN LET YOUR CLIENTS OR CUSTOMERS DO YOUR WORK. FROM WEB DESIGN,
STOCK TRADING, MOVIE MAKING - D.I.Y IS MAKING IT ALL POSSIBLE AND
PROFITABLE.
“More & more
people want
to do it
themselves
g
Author:NilsVesk

012
hether we want them or
not, social collaboration
tools are now standard
issue in most enterprises. We’ve heard
promises of instant collaboration,
rivers of knowledge suddenly flowing
through the organization, processes
running 10 to 20 percent faster, an in-
stantly transformed workplace which
requires little ramp-up — people are
already familiar with Facebook, right?
Yet both experience and research
show that collaboration tools of-
ten produce disappointment and
frustration. We know that they can
work — anecdotally we hear success
stories, and in our own personal lives
we often have“eureka”moments via
social network feeds or tapping into
forums.
So why is it that so often in organi-
zations they become unloved and,
worse still, ignored and under-uti-
lised? What happened to all that po-
tential and promise? Why do people
not fall in love with such an obvious
opportunity to work more effectively?
The warning signs your collabora-
tion efforts are going south include a
proliferation of groups formed with
no management, initial posts being
made with no further participation,
and conversations with little or no
participation from management.
Here are five sequential steps to
revitalize and reinvigorate your social
platform.
1. Revisit the Purpose
Many people regard the purpose of
a social collaboration platform as a
no-brainer. To be more efficient. To
be more productive. To collaborate.
These are fluffy and are not state-
ments of business purpose.
Revisit your original business purpose.
Remind yourself of the problem that
needed solving.
Or simply put a stake in the sand and
define the purpose of your social
platform as innovation rather than
just efficiency. This gives it a dynamic
purpose. A clear strategic vision. Its
ultimate goal is to effect simple every-
day improvements and innovations in
the way your people work.
It is crucial however, to understand
why you need to be innovative and
set a goal around this. Something tan-
gible that provides a direction, noth-
ing more. Why should your customers
adore you? How should they feel?
Think long distance, even fanciful. Aim
for the moon and use it to get off the
ground.
4. Trust
BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO
COLLABORATION TOOLS
COLLABORATION
INNOVATION EXPERT
ANDREW POPE SHARES
THE LATEST ON
COLLABORATION TOOLS.
W
2. Integrate Your Processes
Ensure that your collaboration tools
are woven into the fabric of business
process flows. This is crucial. Giv-
ing people the opportunity to have
conversations that expose hiccups or
suggest improvements will not only
energize the process but will give you
a platform for innovation focused
around that process. Aggregating
conversations around specific busi-
ness processes is far more effective
than asking people to just innovate or
come up with new ideas in a vacuum.
Start with simple, everyday processes
like customer feedback loops in
which content needs to be shared
and addressed in some manner. Push
out messages explaining the value of
everyone’s input into improving the
process. Create a social group focused
around a specific process, making sure
that the business process owner is
properly involved.
Still sounds like you can’t find a suit-
able process? All we actually need
are processes that require three basic
steps: creating content, sharing the
content and an action or resolution —
this action can be as straightforward
as learning something or making a
decision. These types of processes are
perfect partners for social collabora-
tion tools, and you probably have
more of them than you think.
“Aim for the
moon and
get it off the
ground
WITH ANDREW POPE

013
A cornerstone of any attempt to
collaborate is trust. Trusting and
encouraging people to participate
as they wish allows them to feel safe
(loosely following Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs) which in turn releases the
inhibitions, exposing the good ideas
you never thought you had.
Here are some guidelines for gener-
ating trust on your social platform.
Ignore them at your peril!
Don’ts:
Don’t reward people with money for
posting, commenting and liking
Don’t encourage people to use the
system but at the same time not tell
their line managers to adjust their
expectations accordingly
Don’t describe your social platform to
your staff as“Facebook for business”
— it’s not. It’s what you define your
purpose as If you’re going to create
KPIs around participation (which is a
good thing), don’t base them on raw
numbers of posts, comments and
likes. This will fill your social platform
with rubbish and will turn people off.
It’s harder to win disaffected users
back than win initial acceptance
Do’s:
Recognize staff whose posts are useful
to others (e.g. high number of likes).
Give recognition to posts that lead to
change
Set up notifications that tell you
whenever one of your staff have
posted anything. Not to check up on
them, but to look for opportunities to
contribute, or to praise them
Articulate to staff that responding to
bona fide business questions from
anywhere in the organization is not
only an acceptable use of their time
but is seen as valuable
Capture any examples you come
across of highly valuable business
outcomes from conversations
Help staff manage the groups they
belong to, so any ideas they have can
be posted in the right place
3. Senior Managers: Know Your Place
Or more accurately, be visible without
controlling the space. Social platforms
should never be used as a channel for
telling people what to do.
Following these three golden rules
will ensure that leaders provide help,
not management.
Open up: Say what’s keeping you
awake at night; what you’ve learned in
the last week; what’s exciting you. Be
honest. For true innovation to flourish,
we need to know what are the oppor-
tunities, what are the problems, what
is being done well elsewhere, what is
holding us back.
Listen: Leaders should not judge and
not influence when inappropriate,
just listen. When in doubt, do NOT
participate. You have other levers to
address issues. Allowing sometimes
uncomfortable conversations to take
place will give you one of the clearest
windows into how your organization
is actually operating and what issues
need fixing.
Provide momentum: Once a conversa-
tion moves to a point that something
needs to be done — a promising idea
arises, a problem is uncovered or a
question has been asked — ensure
that this is acted upon. Nothing puts
people off using social tools more
than the sense of pointlessness: why
should I suggest something if no one
does anything about it? And it might
not come off, but showing that an
idea progresses beyond first base is
crucial.
5. Work Out Loud
Now that you have a trusting envi-
ronment, get your people talking.
Connecting. Liking. Commenting.
Understanding the value of an on-
line business conversation. This kind
of energy generates innovation.
Working out loud becomes your
ideas laboratory: where thoughts, is-
sues and occurrences intersect with
insights, learning and ideas. And the
medium for this? Conversations.
Deutsche Bank developed the
“Working out Loud”concept as a
way of changing behaviors from
one-to-one (or one-to-very-few)
conversations to one-to-all, in the
open on the social platform, where
it becomes part of the organization’s
“knowledge ambiance.”
Community managers play a
major part in this. Case studies and
research confirm that a community
manager is a vital role, critical to the
success of internal communities.
They give it energy, they keep it on
course, they broker and curate high
value discussions. So if your express
business purpose is innovation, then
community managers will work
their magic with this in mind.
Remember: innovation involves
input from diverse people, diverse
minds, and the diverse experience
and knowledge they bring. We need
to make sure everyone is brought
along on the journey. When your
workplace is a place where every-
one embraces, even enjoys, working
out loud, magic happens.
Andrew Pope flies the Innovation flag in Europe. Despite being a native of the UK he’s spent much of his innovation career in the southern hemisphere. He
specialises on innovation collaboration and works on a number of innovation projects. +44 (0)7508 906 504 andrew@innosis.eu

14
Thank you
for not
innovating.
Smith & Co. Insolvency Experts
www.smithcoinsolvency.com

15
nnovation doesn’t happen by
thinking the same way every-
day. Innovation happens when
we think different. The challenge
however is that thinking different is
counter intuitive. A good way to get
your mind thinking in a counter intui-
tive style is to think of the opposites.
To get you in the mind-set I’d like you
to think of the opposites to each word
I give you.
Black..............., Up..................
Big.................., North...............
Love................, Peace...............War
Fast................., Start................
Now what we want to do is to think of
an industry and something that’s to-
tally opposite. For example if we work
in Finance what ideas could we create
if we started to think of Romance?
If we work in the Education indus-
try what ideas could we prompt by
thinking of Aviation?
If we work in the Mining industry how
would our approach change if we
started to think as those in Advertis-
ing?
Innovation is counter-intuitive. If
you’ve got competitors nipping at
your heels or your trying to chase
down a competitor, then the level of
thinking you’ve been using isn’t work-
ing anymore.
We need to think different, the only
challenge is thinking different is
counter intuitive and being counter
intuitive can be scary. To get over the
fear start with something small like a
team meeting. What could be counter
intuitive in this fundamental business
process? Trust the science and that
innovation is counter intuitive, your
ideas will come.
INNOVATION IS
COUNTER INTUITIVE
THINK THE OPPOSITE AND WATCH THE RESULTS HAPPEN
I
I love it when you see a smart busi-
ness innovating by doing something
that is counter intuitive. There was
a great surf shop on the Northern
Beaches of Sydney, Australia called
The Sugarmill.
The counter intuitive thinking they
did was look at adding something
you would never consider, say a
coffee shop or a flower shop. Totally
unrelated elements of the surf in-
dustry and yet it works.
On an average day when a surf store
would be empty, this store had
people hanging out drinking coffee,
enjoying a smoothie, buying some
flowers and surprise surprise buying
some surf gear.
What counter intuitive elements
could you combine in your industry
to create some new commercial
ideas?
Nils Vesk is the author of numerous books including Ideas with Legs & Innovation Archetypes. Nils consults and speaks at conferences and work-
shops around the world on innovation.

16
Change your environment
- the best ideas don’t come
from sitting in the same
place you always work from. Find
a space that you can lay out some
paper, have a flip chart, use coloured
post it notes, do some juggling, have a
bean bag chair, sit it in a cafe. Any-
where but in front of your computer.
10 WAYS TO HELP UNLOCK
THOSE MILLION DOLLAR IDEAS
1.
Give yourself permission
to innovate and have
fun. Having an idea gen-
eration session isn’t an
exam. There is no test. This is a labora-
tory for your ideas and a playground
for your creativity. There are no such
things as bad ideas, all ideas help to
prompt better ideas. The brain is a
weak editor. We can’t edit what isn’t
written down.
2.
Bend time to bend the
mind. Use a time limit to
help you bypass any lim-
iting beliefs or procrasti-
nation. When the clock’s ticking things
start happening. Use something like
a countdown clock on an Ipad - I use
PClock and I give myself small time
frames such as 5 minutes to gener-
ate as many ideas as I can in the time
allowed.
3.
Be counter intuitive
by doing the opposite
to what everyone else
does.
If your competitor charges by the
hour, what if you charged a fixed fee?
If all your competitors are serious, why
not have a fun tone to what you do?
Identify the hates,
dislikes and aversions of
your customers. Noth-
ing beats creating an
idea that relates to what
a customers pain points might be.
List every dislike - ie. the things your
customer dislikes or hates doing. Then
list all the things that theory would
like to avoid as well. Once this list is
created force yourself to try and solve
them. How would you have to change
your business or service to deal with
those dislikes. What would need to
add or rearrange or eliminate to make
it more possible?
5.
4.

17
“Make
mistakes
What could you maxi-
mise or turn up in your
business, service or
product? This could be exaggerating
something, emphasising something,
increasing the size or impact etcetera.
6.
What could you mini-
mise and make smaller?
Could you make the
paper work less complex
by minimising the fine print, could
you make the time it takes to onboard
a new client less cumbersome by re-
ducing the background info required?
7.
What could you add
or combine to what
you are already doing
to improve the value,
efficiency or effectiveness of what
you offer? Could you add something
to improve the visibility, advisability,
usability, efficiency, automation, reli-
ability, automation etcetera?
8.
Adapt an idea. What’s a
super cool idea you’ve
come across from a
completely different
world to your own? What made it so
compelling? The components of what
make this gadget, invention, service
or experience so compelling is what
we call attributes. Identify these at-
tributes and then challenge yourself
to apply them to your business.
Make mistakes.
Become a User
experience designer
to minimise the
complexity and mistakes that are
made. User Experience Designers list
the intentions that are made by the
creator of a new idea/ product or ser-
vice. They then create a list of the as-
sumptions that a customer/ user may
have in how the product or service
should be used. They then identify
the potential mistakes that are likely
to happen and work to eliminate
them from happening by designing
and recommending improvements.
10.
9.
“Do the
opposite
Author:NilsVesk

MAKINGINNOVATION
ACCESSIBLETOEVERYONE
AT LAST. THE NEW INNOVATION BOOK FROM NILS VESK
Is it possible there is one way to innovate that creates more commercial
success than any other?
Innovation Architect Nils Vesk knows there is just one such way.
Determined to discover why so many organisations were suffering from
too few innovations, he started researching, testing and applying the
principles of innovating through professional archetypes.
His research was startling, as he discovered that professional biases had
led to the creation of an obstructive innovation paradigm. This book has
set out to change that. The old paradigm was that innovation was only for
the privileged few. The new paradigm is that innovation be accessible to
everyone, so everyone has the opportunity and knowledge to innovate.
The new paradigm means revealing the limiting biases and perceptions
that have been thwarting innovation potential. This book counters
these obstructions by utilising key principles from the worlds best
professional innovation archetypes, allowing you to generate commercial
innovation day in day out.
To find out more about the book head to www.innovationblueprint.com.au/products/

19
nticipate to innovate
When we can anticipate
the future, we can innovate for the fu-
ture. We anticipate through scanning
for trends and selecting key drivers
and uncertainties. This is then brought
to life by constructing future worlds
and designing innovative contingen-
cies and plans for the future.
Without a doubt, some of the most ex-
citing innovators I have encountered
professionally are the futurists I work
with on projects. If you’re not familiar
with the term, a futurist is someone
whose key role is to identify emerging
trends, flag key uncertainties and help
formulate strategies that anticipate
future scenarios. Organisations as
diverse as Qantas and Alliance have
full-time futurists working for their
organisation to give them foresight
into the future.
The reason futurists can be so exciting
is that they paint a picture of how the
world is going to be. Sometimes, what
they anticipate is not far removed
from science fiction. The reality is
there is a strong correlation between
science fiction stories and the inven-
tions that become a reality in our
world. You only need to look at au-
thors such as Orson Wells, Jules Verne
and Arthur C. Clarke to see how many
of their stories have become reality.
Most of the organisations that I work
with when teaming up with a futurist
are interested in the future scenarios
that will exist in a 2-to-5 year time
frame even though their key methods
can be used for time frames as small
as 12 months. Futurists’key value is to
help formulate commercial insights
that lead to contingency and develop-
ment strategies.
When we have a clear view of the
future, it is much easier to make deci-
sions, anticipate market changes and,
most of all, respond so that we can
best capitalise on the situation.
One of the challenges that many of
us have is the reluctance to embrace
change. Yet when we know change
is coming, it’s much easier to get on
board. Option one is to wait until
the inevitable changes are happen-
ing and tell the organisation that we
have to change immediately as new
competitors have entered the market.
This is likely to result in creating fear
and resistivity. Option two is to think
like a futurist and anticipate changes
beforehand and brief the organisation
well ahead of time to begin prepara-
tions.
Futurists do not predict the future; in-
stead, they anticipate possible future
scenarios. Futurists scan a number of
environments for information to sense
existing or developing trends that
may affect the future. They do this by
scanning through media, industry,
government reporting and the social
sphere.
From these scans, they then move
onto identifying and selecting key
drivers and uncertainties that may
affect their organisation.
This is the precursor to constructing
fictional worlds based on these uncer-
tainties and drivers. Finally, futurists
help facilitate the design of future
contingencies and strategic plans.
The four key innovation principles a
futurist uses are:
1. SCAN – scanning for emerging
trends
2. PLOT – determining and plotting
future key drivers and uncertainties
3. IMAGINE –imagining what future
worlds will look like
4. DESIGN – designing strategies and
contingencies for future scenarios
WE HAVE A SNEAK PEEK AT SOME OF THE LATEST THINKING ABOUT WHY US-
ING ARCHETYPES CAN HELP YOU INNOVATE BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE IN
AN ORGANISATION. IN THIS QUARTERLY EDITION WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE
GAINS FROM INNOVATING LIKE A FUTURIST.
EXCERPTS FROM ‘INNOVATION ARCHETYPES’ BY NILS VESK
Author:NilsVesk
“ Futurists do not pre-
dict the future they
anticipate future
scenarios
A

20
ou and I and everyone
else in this world live in
a world of professional
biases. Our professional
biases have helped us thrive and
survive in our day to day working
world. The career you have had
has created biases on your under-
standing of Innovation.
Even innovation experts like
myself headlining conferences
around the world have biases.
Each expert has their unique niche
and innovation methodology. The
only problem is that they are all
biased.
Whilst biases are what can experts
such a fresh unique perspective on
innovation, for most of us trying
to apply their unique innovation
approach rarely works.
What’s been missing in Innova-
tion models, methodologies and
training is understanding the
innovative strengths of innovative
professional biases. By taking the
best innovative strengths from
professional innovators across a
wide range of professional indus-
tries and understanding the keys
phases of innovation, we can use
these strengths to apply in our day
to day innovation.
What’s important is to think of the
four main levels of innovation and
what role a professional innovator
excels at in each of these levels.
When it comes to commercial in-
novation there are four key phases
of innovation.
1. Investigation
2. Ideation
3. Iteration
4. Commercialisation
Here’s the fast facts on each of
these phases:
Investigation
This is the research phase of in-
novation, it can be both statistical
and behavioural.
In many ways you are simply look-
ing for data, insights, trends and
behaviours that reveal opportuni-
ties to innovate around.
Ideation
Give me ideas, lots of ideas! Ide-
ation is all about idea generation.
There are linear and logical ide-
ation skills and there are also radi-
cal brainstorming thinking styles
that we can learn from profession-
als who really dominate this space
day in day out.
Iteration
Build and test your ideas through
prototypes, pilots and simulations.
Iteration experts aren’t as well
known as others, yet when you
can tap into just a smidgen of their
skill set, the results are incredible.
Commercialisation
“Show me the money”and a“make
the most of my money”mind-set
is what drives this critical phase of
innovation. It’s about executing,
decision making, sharing and sell-
ing your innovation to the world.
Different professionals will all have
a particular phase that they think
is more important than the other,
and interestingly you will find that
they are rarely the same. What you
will also find is that different pro-
fessionals excel at different levels.
For example a marketer excels
in the commercialisation stage,
an R&D engineer totally nails the
Ideation stage, a scientist will excel
in the iteration stage whilst an
analyst can dominate the investi-
gation stage.
If you are keen to improve you per-
sonal and organisational innova-
tion then consider what biases you
may have, what strengths you can
work with, and what weaknesses
you may need to to work on. Do
you need to incorporate more re-
search and investigation, perhaps
it’s more brainstorming, more pi-
loting or simply better marketing?
Good luck finding you biases.
INNOVATION EXPERTISE IS LIMITED
TO ONES EXPOSURE
BIASES CAN EITHER PREVENT US OR EMPOWER US TO IN-
NOVATE. WE EXPLORE HOW UNDERSTANDING BIASES IS
KEY TO INNOVATIVE SUCCESS
“Your career
has created
biases
Y
Author:NilsVesk

21
he Parking Meter
Lets be honest,
this innovation
has made millions of dol-
lars around the world, yet
99.9% of the population
have come to dread them.
Paying for the privilege to
park your car isn’t high on
the list of desires or needs
of customers yet it really
does generate commercial
returns day in day out.
uzzy dice for the
rear view mirror
Not found in every
car around the world, yet
the inventor of fuzzy dice
has a lot to answer for. Part
of a cultural statement,
where would we be with-
out them? A more cultured
world, most probably.
et Rocks
Whatever hap-
pened to the
craze of pet rocks in the
1970’s? For those who had
the misfortune of missing
out on this fashionable
home decoration - Pet
rocks essentially were small
rocks decorated with eyes
and some tufts of hair.
Around the world there
was a decimation of small
gravel stock piles which
was followed by a massive
increase of landfill refuse
tips 12 months later. A fad
of epic proportions.
rish Corporate Tax
Havens
Tax Havens aren’t
necessarily new, just look
at the Bahamas and Monte
Carlo for some great ex-
amples. Ireland however,
knowing that they hadn’t
really had any commercial
success since Bono and U2
were around, realised that
making their country open
to business for next to free
was better than having no
business at all. As Corpo-
rations from around the
world flock to set up HQ’s
in Ireland, all the other
countries now have no
corporate taxes to collect
to help fund hospitals, in-
frastructure and everything
else is useful to a nation.
THERE ARE MANY MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF INNOVATION THAT ARE REGRETTABLE AND SHOULD
BE FORGOTTEN. THIS SERIES KICKS OFF WITH A REVIEW OF SOME INNOVATIONS MOST OF US WISH
NEVER EXISTED.
T
REGRETTABLE MOMENTS OF
INNOVATION
nline betting
In Australia where
we have the high-
est levels of problem gam-
bling in the world, online
betting (of which Australia
is the market leader) just
made it that much easier
and faster for someone to
lose their life’s fortunes.
Not the best for society
in any means. The english
language and everyday
phrases being used have
an ever increasing use of
gambling terms to use as
metaphors to describe
everyday events.“All bets
are off”is one such phrase,
if only that was the case.
attery powered
battery charger
Created to help
recharge batteries us-
ing batteries to power it.
Might make sense to the
0.000001% of the popu-
lation who might use it,
but then again when the
recharge batteries run low
you need to use the bat-
teries you just recharged
to charge up the charging
batteries. Sounds like an
inescapable dilemma of
perpetual energy drain.
Company sources say their
engineers are looking at
re-engineering it possibly
create a perpetual form of
energy!
iet water
Spotted in Japan, a
country of bur-
geoning health addicts.
Diet water promises all the
benefits of no fat, no calo-
ries and promises rejuve-
nating rehydration quali-
ties. Sounds like they’re
onto a winner there!
ouch screen finger
gloves
With the advent of
touch screen technology, it
was only a matter of time
that innovative entre-
preneurs could see the
lucrative market for those
unwilling to sully their
fingers with dirty screens.
Hence the touch screen
finger glove was created.
Now users could place a
little glove over their finger
to prevent it and the screen
from getting dirty. Makers
of these gloves were also
the brains behind‘Hander
pants’a tailor set of finger-
less gloves fashioned from
the same material and style
of Calvin Klein boxer short
underwear. For what pur-
pose? To keep the hands
dry and clean of course.
Stay tuned for an in-depth
interview with their head
of innovation.
F
P
B
T
D
I
O
diet
Author:NilsVesk

22
For months after noticing her little quirk,
I kept thinking about it. Then I started
to experiment doing it myself? Did it
change the way I would breathe? Would
it change the way I felt or think?
The more I started experimenting the
more I realised that opening my mouth
(slightly so as not to scare other people)
would interrupt the way I would nor-
mally listen and therefore process the
information being shared.
I started to realise that I was less likely
to make a judgement on what someone
was talking about, or a judgement on the
person themselves. So with continued
experimentation I would use this open
mouth technique when listening to other
peoples points of view and differing
perspectives.
If I found myself started to judge before
letting people complete, I’d realise that
my mouth was closed.
Months later I bumped in to my col-
league, and not being shy of asking
unusual questions I asked her about my
observation. Did you know that when
you listen you have your mouth slightly
open? No she wasn’t aware of her quirk.
As I started to share my theory with her
she could start to see some of the merits
in it.
One of the interesting things about this
colleague is that she is one of Australia’s
best business coaches. A job that re-
quires dedicated listening without jump-
ing to conclusions or giving opinions at
the first instant.
just finished running an innova-
tion workshop for a world class
educational organisation. What I
love about working with educators, is
that they manage to drop all of their
high level teaching expectations in
order to improve their learning.
There’s something to be said about
this approach. In many ways it’s sim-
ply being willing to unlearn in order
to learn. What gets in the way of us
learning is our previous experiences
which can cloud the opportunities in
front of us.
Being open to learning, whether that
be listening to someone else’s point of
view, not judging and allowing people
to communicate their messages in its
entirety takes patience but increases
our learning experience.
OPENING UP TO
INNOVATION
COULD PREMATURELY JUDGING AN IDEA OR THOUGHT BE PREVENTING
YOU FROM THAT NEXT BIG COMMERCIAL INNOVATION?
WE INVESTIGATE A METHOD THAT HELPS TO THWART PREMATURE
EVALUATION.
I
I’ve got a technique that I’ve
been testing for years on a way
that to be open to different
views.
Years ago I noticed that a col-
league would always have her
mouth open when she was
listening to someone talk to
her in a conversation. When I
originally started to watch her,
I was fascinated. Was it because
her jaw was tired? Did she like
to let the air cool her mouth
down? Was she waiting to say

23
‘Breaking the circuit’disrupts the
thinking process and automatic habits
you have in place. Thereby opening
yourself to new information without a
previous automatic response.
Innovation is primarily about inter-
rupting our habits. Opening the
mouth can help create this disruption
and open you up to new possibilities,
combinations and ultimately new
innovation.
Have fun trying out an open mouth
technique.
“Break the
pre-
judgement
circuit
Upon sharing the theory with my chiropractor, he described this as
‘breaking a circuit’. We all have habits and reflexes for various situ-
ations. If a reflex for making a judgement is closing the jaw and we
interrupt this, then effectively we have broken the circuit that would
normally be in place.
Author:NilsVesk

24
nnovation requires thinking and
behaving differently. From time
to time it’s apt to go out and cre-
ate some disruption.
Disrupting the habits and behaviours
that we normally exhibit will help to
create the right environment for cre-
ative and innovative thinking. If you’re
looking for more innovation what
disruptions can you create in order to
stimulate innovation?
Think of disrupting some of the fol-
lowing:
The space where you have your regu-
lar meetings - meet somewhere new
or change the meeting space.
The habits you take in approaching
your work - force yourself to approach
a project differently.
The questions you raise - ask challeng-
ing questions to prompt innovative
thinking - such as“what if we were to
get rid of_________ what would hap-
pen then?”
The mix of people you normally have
in a brainstorming session - invite
people from different departments to
give a fresh totally outside perspec-
tive.
Some of the greatest innovations
simply come from looking at what
activities annoy or agitate people.
Let’s face it most businesses are built
around providing a service or prod-
uct that does something that most
people don’t want to or can’t do.
Quite often the more difficult the
activity the more successful the busi-
ness. An innovation can be all the
more successful by looking at turning
a difficult action or situation in to a
better one.
Here’s two unique innovative service
and product solutions to give you an
example.
Now I’m not a woman but from what
I’ve heard not all women enjoy riding
in taxis alone. Whether it’s because of
the drivers sometimes lewd behaviour
or something else the fact is a lot of
women don’t like travelling alone in a
cab with a male driver.
You might expect a western cab
company to look at this problem, yet
the refreshing solution has come from
Cairo. Cairo Cabs, now have women
only cabs.
A simple solution for an obvious
problem.
What about an innovation for the
wedding and marriage market? As
positive as some people are about
how long and strong an upcoming
marriage will be it’s an unfortunate
fact that one in three marriages end
up in divorce.
While it may not seem the most
positive of solutions for a long term
marriage, an American insurance firm
has created a product called WedLock
insurance - to protect against future
expenses encountered in the unfortu-
nate event of a divorce.
My challenge to you is to ask what are
some of the elements that annoy you
about a service, product or process.
Whether it’s your own or someone
else’s challenges, if you can identify
them then you can start to look for
some innovative solutions.
I
DISRUPTION & AGITATION
GET THINGS MOVING IN YOUR ORGANISATION WITH SOME
PRODUCTIVE DISRUPTION &AGITATION TECHNIQUES.
“Agitate your
thinking for
fresh ideas
Author:NilsVesk

25
get
your
brain
switching
to
create
jaw
dropping
ideas

SCREENAUSTRALIA;BADTASTESTUDIOS PRODUCTIONINASSOCIATION WITH INNOVATIONENTERTAINMENT*BARACKOBAMA
JACKNICHOLSON HELENMIRRAM VLADAMIRPUTIN LUCYLIU/TOMHANKScTALYORSWIFTdJEANPAULGAULTIER
tKENDONEeGONSKIfBAZLUHRMANgTOMFORDpDONALDTRUMPaJ.K.ROWLINGjEMINEMkRONHOWARD
NAYSAYERS
good ideas don't
live long
IN CINEMAS MARCH 14
J ACK
NICHOL SON
HEL EN
MIRRAM
VL ADAMIR
PUT IN
TOM
HANKS
L UCY
L IU

027
• Fast pace, seat gripping action
scenes
• Vladamir’s a born actor - I guess
as Russian president he’s been
good at acting for a long time.
• Jack Nicholosn back to his best.
Not since the Shining have I seen
him so scary. This CFO is one
mean character.
• Lucy Liu uses stationary like a
ninja. Watch out for the stapler
scene, you’ll be thinking of using
glue for a long time to come.
• Taylor Swifts sound track has
been ground breaking. Gone are
the teenage angst themes and
in comes Taylor doing her best
interpretation of‘Rage against the
Machine’.
ladimir Putin debuts his acting career as
the villain CEO in“Naysayers”. Among his
evil entourage the famous faces of Jack
Nicholson, Helen Mirram and Lucy Liu will
appear. The movie follows Tom Hanks a low ranking
office worker that is determined to have his custom-
er centric ideas realised.
Think‘Nightmare on Elm street’meets‘the office’
and you’ll know what to expect. The paper shredder
eats more than just paper, and corridor conversa-
tions can lead to an early disappearance from work.
In this carefully crafted script, Putin gets to flex his
muscles in a completely new way. Shockingly brutal
and honest, Putin does his best to convey the focus
that so many scared corporate executives face today
- the fear of new ideas.
WHAT GEORGE LOVED ABOUT IT:
NAYSAYERSgood ideas don't live
long
FILM REVIEW
NAYSAYERS DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD
THINK ‘NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET’ MEETS ‘THE OFFICE’ AND
YOU’LL KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS LATEST SUSPENSE
THRILLER MOVIE FROM RON HOWARD
V
WITH GEORGE CLOONEY
Supported by an all star cast, the viewer is taken on a journey
where all that exists is black and white. Our familiar hero actor
Tom Hanks does a stirling job bringing his character of‘Norman
the unconventional thinker’to life. Smart yet socially awkward
with a dash of Asperger’s syndrome thrown in, Norman is
undaunted by the powers at be and quietly leads a revolt of the
risk averse and anti-change establishment.
Unexpected, gratuitous, and gripping this cinematic master-
piece by Ron Howard hits the mark. You won’t be disappointed.
4 and a half stars.

Even Picasso would meet up regularly with
like-minded artists to discuss art, politics and
ideas. Your‘catch ups’don’t have to be‘formal’
or‘structured’get-togethers. A Sunday after-
noon barbie or a drink at the pub with peers
are perfect ways to chat about your project
and look for advice.
Encouragement works. The more mates you
have encouraging you to make your idea a re-
ality the easier it becomes. Just as my favourite
international best selling action writer Mat-
thew Reilly says in all his book acknowledge-
ments“Never underestimate the power of your
encouragement”.
If you don’t think a friend will provide enough
motivation for you then consider a mentor.
Even great creators have had mentors. Sig-
mund Freud had a number of mentors in a
number of disciplines who challenged him
with problems and offered strategies to deal
with them, as did Igor Stravinsky, perhaps the
most creative musical composer in the 20th
Century.
Many creators who did not have face-to-face
mentors found solace in inspirational books.
Yet while books can be inspirational, they’re
unwilling to give you feedback and advice on
your ideas!
Whether you’re on the verge of a big break-
through or simply need some guidance the
power of a mentor is the ability to bounce an
idea off them. Someone who can tell us with
credibility that an idea is right on track or chal-
lenge us to refine the idea.
“EVEN EINSTEIN
HAD CREATIVE
PARTNERSHIPS
thought I’d share some ways on how to
keep motivated about your ideas.
Creating and realising ideas on your
own can at times be a difficult job. This can be
made all that much easier if you have a creative
partnership. A creative partnership can be as
simple as bouncing things off a mate. Here’s
some things worth considering to help create a
motivating partnership for your ideas.’
Creative partnerships work best if you meet
regularly to catch up and discuss the projects
that you’re working on.
Many of the greatest creators in the past have
had peer groups they were involved in. Sigmund
Freud had a club where fellow psychiatrists, doc-
tors, musicologists, publishers and invited guests
would meet weekly to discuss papers that they
had written.
Albert Einstein was part of a group called the
Olympiads, and as a group they’d go hiking and
camping together and discuss theories, ideas
and articles they’d been working on. They would
share reading lists and articles to work through
and discuss, all from a range of topics including
mathematics, physics, philosophy and science.
They would discuss both their professional and
personal lives.
INNOVATIONPARTNERSHIPS
DO YOU HAVE A PARTNER TO HELP YOU REALISE YOUR INNOVATION? TEAMING
UP WITH A PARTNER CAN SAVE YOU TIME, HELP YOU THROUGH TOUGH TIMES,
AND PUSH YOU TO COMPLETE YOUR COMMERCIAL INNOVATION
i
INNOVATION PARTNERSHIPS
Author:NilsVesk

It’s never to late to learn how to innovate.
“We leave all of
our innovation to
R&D”.
Trainee Manager. Aged 49

30
UESTION
In a corporate culture where the sub-
sidiary company places“value”only on
the opinions of its leaders, how do you recom-
mend we can start meaningful and constructive
conversation around collaboration and innova-
tion? The global parent company very much
values and is planning on investing a significant
amount on innovation – what conversation
should be had to show my value to them in help-
ing in this space?
NSWER
Part of the challenge of starting the
conversation on innovation when
perhaps you aren’t the top dog is‘why should
they listen to me?’and‘who am I to talk about
innovation?’
While a smart leader will listen to anyone who
wants to contribute, sometimes for other leaders
we need to have some persuasive tools up our
sleeves. I think there’s a few ways to meet this
challenge:
• Earning Trust
• Demonstrating Value
• Initiating Thought leadership
I recall a great analogy that Vanessa Hall shared
about trust years ago (Vanessa Hall runs a trust
institute and does all kinds of great things). If
you can imagine two pillars with a big beam that
spans the two pillars.
One pillar represents Expectation and the other
pillar Experience. The beam on top is Trust. If
someone has an expectation from us and then
the experience is below our expectation then
the trust beam on top is unstable and likely to
fall down.
When someone is not buying into our conversa-
tions it is usually because they have a certain
number of assumptions about you and perhaps
a limited no. of experiences. What we need to
do is start creating a number of positive experi-
ences. With this comes trust in your expertise,
opinions and ideas.
While this might seem a bit unnecessary espe-
cially when they should be able to just‘buy in’
to the innovation drive, it’s a must have piece
of anyone who wants to sell something, and in
your case you are selling the innovation piece to
them.
A suggestion in how to do this is to start look at
creating valuable content for the organisation.
As a knowledge manager it could be simply
capturing the success of a recent engineering
project - asking the team involved some how to
questions, what they learnt etc and then shar-
ing it with the organisation. It could be sharing
an innovation that you or someone else has
seen around outside of the firm either within or
outside of the industry. Formats for this content,
could be a blog, newsletter or simple old school
pin board.
This not only starts demonstrating value, it also
demonstrates thought leadership - ie. the cap-
turing and sharing of IP. We can talk more about
other versions of this in the future eg. ebooks,
white papers and the sort.
The key is to not make it so big that you don’t
start. Also try to involve others through the in-
terview process so that it’s not just the Veronica
show. After a while with some simple processes
you can get people doing all the work for you
and you simple collate and edit and bring it all
together.
Bottom line, people start talking about it (the in-
novation) and start listening to more people.
Go get em!
WE ALL GET INNOVATION CHALLENGES FROM TIME TO
TIME. IN OUR COACHING SECTION WE SHARE SOME OF
THE QUESTIONS WE HELP TO SOLVE FOR OUR CLIENTS.
“Start creating
valuable content
Q
A
coach@InnovationBlueprint.com.au
INNOVATION COACH

31
INNOVATION COACH
UESTION
This may sound like a simple question
but, once small wins are made with in-
novation – what are some of your suggestions
to publicise these without creating an over-
whelming response, so we can keep delivering
in a timely successful manner (with limited
resources)?
NSWER
Nice question. Here’s some sugges-
tions:
1. Think of a way of being clever with the
marketing/ catch phrase of what you are doing.
Think back to our session to needs desires and
aversions etc.
Your average knowledge worker may be look-
ing for assistance in their own project, perhaps
they want to be more innovative, maybe they
want some recognition?
List out some of these needs, desires aversions
etc and then think of a title or catch phrase that
may evoke their interest.
Some quick examples of catch phrases include:
Innovation Sneak Peek
Innovation Secrets revealed
Innovation success
Innovation success steps
Project Innovation Success
These type of catch phrases can appeal to the
people who want to improve their own success
and career progress
2. Now that you have a catch phrase think of all
the ways you could distribute or communicate
it.
Some suggestions include:
poster
postcard
intranet story
internal newsletter
E-zine
internal blog
team/ leaders memo
mgmt. update
I hope this helps you to get that message out
there!
Q
A

032
Global Sisters is helping to build businesses to support
financially excluded woman to create a profitable business,
becoming financially independent – creating a ripple ef-
fect of change in their family and community.
Far beyond standard micro finance offerings, Global Sisters
believe a much more sophisticated, market led and tech-
nology based solution is required and that’s why they have
been developing their business school.
The innovative thinking behind this involves a unique on-
line platform and face-to-face support for businesswomen.
They partner with local community organisations to reach
welfare dependant women wanting to start a small busi-
ness.
“MICRO FINANCE
ALONE IS NOT
ENOUGH TO CREATE
SUSTAINABLE,
PROFITABLE BUSINESS
n this series we investigate the non for profits of
the world who are creating change through in-
novative thinking. While too many charities simply
put out there hand and ask for more, there are some non
for profits who are bucking the trend and going beyond
band aid solutions by creating real innovative solutions to
big social problems.
In this edition we profile Global Sisters.
Interviewing Mandy Richards founder and CEO of Global
Sisters, I was honoured to find out more about how their
organisation is focusing their support on women growing
up in lower socio-economic areas of Australia. They see
themselves as being a business school rather than a charity.
“ Their ultimate goal - to be able to help women become
financially independent and exit welfare dependency by
providing them with access to everything they need to
start a small business. They are also tackling the welfare
disincentives of the current system with the Government -
which make business startups for the women they support
virtually impossible”
IN THIS SERIES WE INVESTIGATE THE NON FOR PROFITS OF THE WORLD WHO ARE CREATING CHANGE THROUGH
INNOVATIVE THINKING.
i
SOCIAL INNOVATION
According to Richards“Many women in Australia want
to work, but are unable to access mainstream employ-
ment, they are dependent upon Government income
support. Some of the barriers to mainstream employ-
ment include:
• carer responsibilities
• disability
• lack of viable childcare alternatives – especially
for single mums
• culture, language, mental illness/trauma from past
experiences
They are trapped in the welfare dependency cycle
leading to entrenched generational poverty, further
financial exclusion and severe social isolation.”
Global Sisters are supporting an increasing number of
women from diverse backgrounds including the inspi-
rational and talented Cleonie Quayle who produces an
incredible range of aboriginal jewellery using native
plants and hand printed fabrics.
“Supporting women to
support themselves cre-
ates real social change.
Through promoting my
culture and doing what I
love, I gain freedom and
financial independence
to support my children,
grandchildren, my com-
munity”
Cleonie Quayle Aboriginal Necklaces
To find out more about this innovative non for profit
organisation, look out for their new re-brand, new web-
site and launching Curation With A Conscience retail
program coming soon. Head to GlobalSisters.org.

www.InnovationBlueprintJobs.com.au
Aimed at innovative tax evasion specialists who want to advance their career in global tax evasion manage-
ment and strategy in business. Work for one of the worlds leading FMCG’s in our financial strategies centre
and be involved in some of the fastest growing dynamic tax evasion strategies being implemented in the
world.
Based just outside of Dublin, Ireland, our organisation offers the opportunity to take part in pioneering the
commercial development of global tax evasion.
The company has an inventive and collaborative culture, where employees are valued and inspired as well
as rewarded for their ideas and contributions. The organisation’s current research in global tax evasion has
created an environment where it is possible to make both individual and team contributions towards tax eva-
sion excellence whilst sharing in the profits.
BENEFITS:
Benefits include a pension superannuation scheme, life insurance, private health care insurance and dental
plan, subsidised gym membership and a flourishing social scene.
TO APPLY:
Applicants will need to submit a proposal on effective strategies they would consider using for immediate tax
evasion. Proposals will be judged primarily on the basis of strategic merit, track record of the applicant and
potential for development of application.
To be involved in cutting edge evasion research and strategy programmes, within a friendly, dynamic envi-
ronment, please visit our careers page for more details and to apply online”
http://www.taxevasionnow.com/careers-all/careers-international/
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATION:
12 JUNE
GLOBAL TAX EVASION
INNOVATION MANAGER
ORGANISATION: GLOBAL FMCG
LOCATION: IRELAND
REMUNERATION: HIGH SIX FIGURES + EXPAT RELOCATION PACKAGE
CONTRACT TYPE: SUCCESS BASED ANNUAL REVIEW
Innovation Blueprint Jobs INTERNATIONAL
To advertise your job vacancies contact:
National Sales Manager
+612 80948482
jobs@InnovationBlueprint.com.au

innovationblueprints
Changing how we look at innovation
PUBLISHING DETAILS
Innovation Blueprints is published by Innovation Blueprint (an enterprise of Nils Vesk Pty Ltd - ACN 26 127 162
592) PO Box 252 Collaroy NSW 2097 Australia. Editor in Chief is Nils Vesk.
While every effort has been made to verify any facts contained within this publication, no responsibility
will be taken for errors or omissions contained herein by Innovation Blueprint, its officers, employees or
their agents.
Readers should rely on their own enquiries when making business decisions. Satirical articles discuss pub-
lic figures for the purposes of humour do not purport to give truthful accounts of these public figure. We ex-
pect readers to use their own common sense in determining the truth or otherwise of any statement in this
publication.
C 2016 Innovation Blueprint
The Innovation Quarterly is available from www.InnovationBlueprint.com.au and various affiliated
distributors.

Innovation blueprints #101

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to Innovation blueprints #101

Similar to Innovation blueprints #101 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Innovation blueprints #101