Ideas uk 2014 conference presentation. mike allen of everything brilliant
1. Mike Allen
Everything Brilliant
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
2. “Felix, here’s
an idea. How
about we get
you to the
edge of space
and you jump.
What do you
think”?
3. About me…..
- Innovator
- Speak, blog about and help organisations innovate
- Partner in a idea management software business
- I ‘walk the talk’ and share all my ideas online
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
4. Why I share my ideas
- All things are difficult before they become easy
- While you can invent on your own, you can’t innovate on
your own
- The idea is first and easiest step
- People are significantly more likely to share their ideas with
you
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
6. MORE CONNECTIONS = MORE IDEAS
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
7. We can trigger more
connections with
- Questions / challenges
- Events
- Tools / training / inspirations
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
8. #IdeaHacks
Take something and hack it by changing or re-organising some of
the components to create new value
10. #Hacked Ideas
- Brilliant Idea #104. Run an idea-hack workshop in your
workplace
- #79. Hack the coffee stall. Mobile coffee stall with a stage for a
busker and the coffee comes free
- #69. The limited edition Mars Bar
- #182. Pizza sandwiches
- #172. Hack the TV talent show with the candid camera format
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
11. #PainStorming
Go looking for pain or problems and dare to imagine that just
because it hasn’t yet been solved, that it can be solved
14. #PainStorming ideas
- #218. Deodorant that is activated by sweat
- #149. Man-kit button repair
- #198. Re-using the heat from the dishwasher to dry the dishes
- #235. The comfy guitar
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
15. #Differentiation
Take existing products and change the value proposition by
changing the utility, configuration or customer experience
17. #BlueSky
Blue sky thinking, radical ideas that can make the World better
19. #BlueSky Ideas
- Brilliant Idea #221 The 4 day work week in the summer months
- #194. Charging restaurants for food waste
- #177. Rapidly degrading packaging for cigarettes
- #123. Turning abandoned buildings into urban forests
- #102. Don’t bring your cold to work
- #44. Care Share
- #175. London Underground station styled like the inside of the
Millennium Falcon
- #122. Potbot (a robot that fixes cracks and potholes)
- #99. Homes on decommissioned ships
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
23. #Disruptive Ideas
- #207. Disrupt the tattoo ink business by developing an ink
that deliberately fades
- #106. The Anti-Café
- #13. The web-store on the high-street
- #139. The 24 hour Radio Breakfast show
- #235. Green Lights for green vehicles
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
24. BUT remember,
innovation and ideas
are NOT the same
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
25. Innovation is simple:
it’s the implementation
of ideas
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
27. BUT it’s worth it.....
- Solves problems for individuals, organisations and communities
- Delights us and improves our lives
- Makes fortunes, generates value and drives growth
- Is the ultimate human resource
- Innovation has never had a greater currency (but the speed at which
innovation can become obsolete is faster than ever)
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
28. The innovator’s paradox
“Survival today requires coherence, co-ordination
and stability.
Survival tomorrow requires the
replacement of those erstwhile virtues”
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
31. Jocelyn Goldfein
“really innovative ideas are
roughly indistinguishable from
really dumb ideas”
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
32. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO
“if you are doing disruptive
innovation…expect to be
misunderstood for a very long
time”
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
33. Disrupting Innovation
Disrupting how you innovate (you might be doing it wrong)
Every organisation
innovates, but
although ideas
may come from
customer feedback
or listening to
employees, most
innovation comes
from the senior
team. You won’t
disrupt this way!
platform
networks
Open Innovation
platforms source ideas
and solutions from the
public – normally in
return for a prize
consultancy
Others hire a
consultant, R&D or
creative agency who
might then form a
network of people to
develop ideas, but of
course innovation
about the execution
so if this is a problem
then innovation will
remain a problem
Ideas Management
Ideas are sourced from
staff (and increasingly
customers). The
organisation then
decides which to keep
and progress and
which to store or
discard
networks
platform
?
This model brings networks of
innovators but inside the
organisation
34. Intrapreneurship
The pursuit of entrepreneurial behaviours in the corporate
setting
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
35. Engage the already
engaged
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
36. Who are your Intrapreneurs?
Inquisitive
Spice
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
High-risk
Spice
Disagreeable
Spice
Creative
Spice
Mover & Shaker
Spice
37. What’s essential
The conditions that are needed for intrapreneurship to work;
- Commitment from the Business Leaders
- Time for the intrapreneurs to develop their ideas
- Money to develop the best ideas
- Governance
- Guidance. …. which leads me to the Canvas
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
38. The Idea to Innovation
Business Model Canvas
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
39. i2i Business Model Canvas
Idea
Describe your idea in less than 140 characters. If
you are finding this simple task difficult, the rest
of this process will be difficult.
Function
What problem does your idea solve?
Solution
How does your idea solve the problem?
What are the key features?
How does it work?
How does it differentiate between other existing
solutions?
What makes your idea valuable and compelling?
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
Idea Owner:
______________________________
Date: __________
GO /
NO-GO
40. Idea
Commercial
Alignment
How does this idea align to
the organisation’s
commercial objectives?
Who is the target user?
How much money will it
make / save
Key Activities
How does this idea link to
the organisation’s strategic
objectives?
Key
Resources
Idea to Prototype
Strategic
Alignment Describe your idea in less than 140 characters. If
you are finding this simple task difficult, the rest
of this process will be difficult.
What are the key
activities that need to be
done to develop this idea
Other than you and your
team, what resources do
you need to develop this
idea
Function
What problem does your idea solve?
Solution
How does your idea solve the problem?
What are the key features?
How does it work?
How does it differentiate between other existing
solutions?
What makes your idea valuable and compelling?
Idea Owner:
______________________________
Date: __________
Help Help
Help Help
i2i Business Model Canvas
GO /
NO-GO
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
41. Idea
Commercial
Alignment
How does this idea align to
the organisation’s
commercial objectives?
Who is the target user?
How much money will it
make / save
Key Activities
How does this idea link to
the organisation’s strategic
objectives?
Key
Resources
Idea to Prototype
Strategic
Alignment Describe your idea in less than 140 characters. If
you are finding this simple task difficult, the rest
of this process will be difficult.
What are the key
activities that need to be
done to develop this idea
Other than you and your
team, what resources do
you need to develop this
idea
Function
What problem does your idea solve?
Solution
How does your idea solve the problem?
What are the key features?
How does it work?
How does it differentiate between other existing
solutions?
What makes your idea valuable and compelling?
Socialising your idea
Socialising your idea will prompt questions /
insights / improvements so this will be an
iterative process before submission for a go /
no-go decision
Some ideas will run out of steam and
never get socialised. The idea raiser is
better informed for next time
GO /
NO-GO
Idea Owner:
______________________________
Date: __________
Help Help
Help Help
i2i Business Model Canvas
GO /
NO-GO
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
42. Idea
Commercial
Alignment
How does this idea align to
the organisation’s
commercial objectives?
Who is the target user?
How much money will it
make / save
Key Activities
Prototype
Help
Business case
to prototype
How does this idea link to
the organisation’s strategic
objectives?
Key
Resources
Idea to Prototype
Commercialise
Strategic
Alignment Describe your idea in less than 140 characters. If
you are finding this simple task difficult, the rest
of this process will be difficult.
Do we have the right
distribution partners?
Our key Partners are:
What are the key
activities that need to be
done to develop this idea
Other than you and your
team, what resources do
you need to develop this
idea
Build
Build the innovation taking
into account the findings
from the prototype
Perform the prototype /
test and record the results.
Did it meet the
expectations in the
business case?
Do you need to recalculate
the business case?
Are your target users
involved in the testing?
What’s the business case to
prototype the idea?
What will it cost?
Who will sponsor it?
Do we have the appropriate
partners in place to test it?
Is the funding in place?
Function
What problem does your idea solve?
Solution
How does your idea solve the problem?
What are the key features?
How does it work?
How does it differentiate between other existing
solutions?
What makes your idea valuable and compelling?
Socialising your idea
Some ideas will run out of steam and
never get socialised. The idea raiser is
better informed for next time
Prototype to Innovation
Socialising your idea will prompt questions /
insights / improvements so this will be an
iterative process before submission for a go /
no-go decision
GO /
NO-GO
GO /
NO-GO
Idea Owner:
______________________________
Date: __________
Help Help
Help Help
i2i Business Model Canvas
Help
GO /
NO-GO
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
43. First steps
- Find your intrapreneurs
- Challenge them
- Support and mentor them
(or get them help and
support)
- Don’t stop. This takes time
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
44. Final thoughts
Connect to me if you want to know more @Brillianttideas
Take a copy of the canvas or follow my blog
everythingbrilliant.co.uk and download the canvas,
http://everythingbrilliant.co.uk/i-2-i-business-model-canvas/
Thank you
Copyright Michael Allen, EverythingBrilliant.co.uk 2014
1. All things are difficult before they become easy (Thomas Fuller). Sharing ideas is difficult. It requires you to discard a very natural instinct which is to protect and cosset something that is valuable and dear to you.
2. While you can invent on your own, you can’t innovate on your own. Innovation needs a crowd and when you share good ideas, a crowd will gather and the more that crowd invests in supporting and shaping the idea , the greater the odds of it gaining momentum and ultimately happening (and if there is a flaw you’ll discover it early)
3. The idea is the first and easiest step. Innovation is all about the execution and if you can take one of my ideas and execute, good luck to you. Can have all of my ideas!
4. People are significantly more likely to share their ideas with you. Which is a privilege, but like all privileges, it comes with responsibilities (so read my essential guide to listening to ideas here)
One of my favourite images and WOW, what an idea. It wouldn’t have been possible without a load of innovation, but Everything Brilliant starts with an idea!
- I’d consider myself an innovator. I have founded three businesses and numerous products
I blog, speak and help organisations to innovate which spans from innovation strategy to ideation training
I’m a Partner in an idea management software business which supports anything from free idea competition tool for social tools like facebook to crowdsourcing platforms for employees and consumers
I walk the talk and share ALL my ideas online, but more of that in a second
You can connect to me. My blog is called EverythingBrilliant as in Everything Brilliant started with an idea. You can follow me on twitter @BrillianttIdeas (note the double t) or on facebook.com/everythingbrilliant
1. All things are difficult before they become easy (Thomas Fuller). Sharing ideas is difficult. It requires you to discard a very natural instinct which is to protect and cosset something that is valuable and dear to you.
2. While you can invent on your own, you can’t innovate on your own. Innovation needs a crowd and when you share good ideas, a crowd will gather and the more that crowd invests in supporting and shaping the idea , the greater the odds of it gaining momentum and ultimately happening (and if there is a flaw you’ll discover it early)
3. The idea is the first and easiest step. Innovation is all about the execution and if you can take one of my ideas and execute, good luck to you. Can have all of my ideas!
4. People are significantly more likely to share their ideas with you. Which is a privilege, but like all privileges, it comes with responsibilities (so read my essential guide to listening to ideas here)
Let’s start with the simple stuff! What are ideas?
We all have knowledge and experience amassing in our brains (without exception)
Ideas happen when we make connections between those disparate elements of knowledge and experience
It’s as simple as that!
If you want more ideas, trigger more connections
Now I am going to show you some of my ideas, but rather than just starting at idea #1 and going through I am going to categorise and bunch them as innovation tools. Ideas need a trigger and there is a limit to how many times you can ask “does anyone have any ideas about x,y or z”?
Hands-up
I’m going to focus on TOOLs a) because there is a limit to how many times you can ASK for ideas and b) as a way to share some of my ideas
It’s always happened and it always will. The cross-bow disrupted the bow and arrow. Fridges disrupted the ice house. Desktop publishing disrupted traditional publishing.
Nothing has changed but the rate at which disruption is happening.
Just 5 years ago could you have imagined…
Your high-street with no banks?
Your landline telephone would become virtually redundant?
When you bought your first satnav that you proudly attached to the windscreen in your car would you have considered that within 10 years it would be virtually obsolete because your phone would do the same thing/
Could you have imagined a time when we didn’t need to buy a PC? (yet sales month on month are in decline?)
Easyjet disrupted the airline business…we all know that, but in reality they disrupted the large carriers ability to make money, they also changed the market – by making it more affordable they dramatically changed people’s ambitions to travel which in turn dramatically increased the size of the market. An established player could have done that, but they would have had to take the risk of cannibalising their revenues and profits to achieve it
Of course, innovation needs ideas, but having lots of ideas doesn’t mean you are innovating.
Remember, the idea is just the first and easiest step
So what is innovation then?
Innovation is simple, “it’s the implementation of ideas”,
BUT
It isn’t easy.
Innovation is simple, “it’s the commercialisation of ideas”,
BUT
It isn’t easy.
Innovation, what’s the big deal?
The last two bullet points I want to mention.
The ultimate human resource
The #1 reason an organisation might find it hard to innovate is probably the organisation!
Organisational structures and culture are built to support coherence, co-ordination and stability (and therefore guard against risk, failure, deviation and disruption.
All of those things are essential for innovation.
And I am going to focus on the more disruptive, radical ideas, let me explain what I mean by that
This is REALLY important for you
If you sometimes feel as though what you do isn’t appreciated or understood by your bosses, OR, if, despite the fact that there is a scheme, their ideas seem to follow a different process…this is perhaps why
Your colleagues are (probably) engaging in Horizon 1 and (perhaps) 2 but the Senior team of course are paid to think about Horizon 3 and
Idea schemes are NOT great at finding those Horizon 3 ideas, and here’s why
This is Jocelyn Goldfiein, was with Facebook now a VC
There’s arguably no better example that the serial disruptors, Amazon.
Not intent with just disrupting the business of selling books, they disrupted the business of reading books with the kindle, and indeed the business of publishing books, watching films, making films, streaming music which arguably disrupts the business THEIR business of selling music and that’s before we even start with the Amazon marketplace - arguably another example of where they are disrupting their own business by offering products from other vendors – a 2nd hand book rather than a new book
This is my management consultants slide!
Google 20%. Gmail is perhaps the most well done project
W.L. Gore (Goretex). 10% of employees time to work on idea and projects, one of which resulted in Elixor guitar strings
Texas Instruments. New technology that transformed the cost and performance of the digital projector
Sony. The Playstation was the result of intrapreneurship
An not spend any time on the harder to engage
Leave the engagement benefits on the table
BUT side-step the cultural and organisational barriers to engagement
AND
Intrapreneurs already exist in your organisation. They may not know it, but they are there. Innovators and intrapreneurs typically are:
hgaj
Disagreeability – the person that is seen to be crazy – the person that disagrees when people say “yeh, but the problem there is….”. The kind of people that possibly don’t get invited onto projects
Commitment from the Business Leaders
Money to develop the ideas
Governance
Guidance. …. Which leads me to the Canvas. Innovating is hard so at the very least let’s be sure t
What is it? It’s a description of how to innovate – to go from an idea to an innovation within a business
What it isn’t is.. a process, or bit of software – software can help, but first and foremost it’s an approach
Find you intrapreneurs. I can help you with a questionnaire that identifies the right profile of people
Give them a call to action, a challenge, something to get them started