Category Archives: innovation

June 13, 2013 · 9:11 am

Control vs. Creativity

ImageWe had an interesting discussion in the office the other day.  We were talking about creative people that each of us know, and some of the life-style choices that they make.  As is often the case around here, the conversation quickly turned to restaurants and food.  It turns out that we all know of people (or families for that matter) that have three or four restaurants that they will always choose if they are looking to dine out.  Conversely, we all know people that if given a choice would eat at a different restaurant every time if they could.  In our minds, we could all make a clear connection between our perception of a person’s level of creativity and their desire to experience something new.

The question arose, “Do creative people always seek out new experiences, or do people become more creative as they experience new things?”.  Seems like the classic “chicken or the egg” question, but is it really?  Is this really about the need many people have to be in complete control (or at least to have the illusion of being in complete control) of their lives?  Fundamentally speaking, can you be both a control-freak and a highly creative person, or are these in conflict with one another?

I fall into the camp of “these things are opposites”.  I can’t possibly get to a new place if I’m only going to consider going down a tried and true path.  Creativity demands that I be flexible and allow the outcome to evolve as I learn.  I must be open to new stimuli and willing to incorporate it into my life on a continuous basis.  While I can (and should) set goals and objectives for myself, these need to be directional in nature and not constraining.

I think everyone knows this at some level, but many are in denial.  There are a lot of pseudo-creatives out there that try to do different things to show how open they are to new experiences.  But look closely and you’ll see the truth.  One of the families that I referred to earlier orders fish and chips when they go out to eat.  They will order these from one of three different local restaurants when they dine out.  Upon returning from a recent vacation, they were talking about a great new place they ate, how local it felt and how well it represented the area they were visiting.  But when asked what they’d ordered… you guessed it; fish and chips!

So in answer to my chicken and egg question…  Do creative people seek out new experiences?  YES.  Are people more creative because they are exposed to new experiences? ALSO YES.  The lesson here is that we can all become more creative by the choices we make. While control and routine may provide us with comfort, they may hold us back if we are trying to grow and expand our ways of thinking.

Leave a Comment

Filed under innovation

Tagged as , , , ,

February 5, 2013 · 10:43 am

Overcoming Confirmation Bias

I’ve been in a couple of different meetings lately where I’ve been surprised at people’s reactions to new findings.  In both cases the results of a study were shared with a diverse group of people.   While I found the information shared to be highly insightful and illuminating, others in the group heard the same information and replied “there’s nothing new here… it’s exactly what I expected to see”.  The result?  I’m ready to go change everything, and others in the room are feeling confirmed that everything is okay exactly as is.  How can different people see the exact same results and come to such different conclusions?

There’s a psychological term called Confirmation Bias.   Simply stated “there  is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses”.  In the case of the above meetings, I (naturally looking to change things up) focus on the information that demonstrates dissatisfaction or problems.  The people in the meeting that are fine with the status quo focus on the comments that are more positive and  dismiss the negative comments as irrelevant.

I know there is a world of Brain Science research out there that explains this in great detail.  In a nutshell, our brains save countless time by looking for patterns and putting new found information into existing “buckets”.  Therefore, it is physically easier to apply new learning to an existing belief than to open up new storage areas for unique thoughts.  (I apologize to all of my neuro-science friends for this gross oversimplification). 

So what can we do about it?  Awareness is the key.  Don’t limit your understanding to the first glance of new findings.  Knowing your brain is filtering this information can allow you to look a second time and attempt to see the information as it truly is.  Listening (with an open mind) to others’ opinions on the same data can also benefit you.  

This is no different than physical exercise.  It’s hard at first and it makes you very fatigued.  But before long it becomes a habit and your body comes to appreciate it.

Watch for this in your next meeting.  Once you are aware of it, you’ll see it everywhere.  If you can learn to see past your own natural bias, you will be able to add value that is appreciated by everyone in your organization.

Leave a Comment

Filed under innovation

Tagged as , , , ,

January 29, 2013 · 11:02 am

Get out of your cocoon

I recently wrote a blog for a group in Indianapolis called Centric.  It’s a group focused on innovation and draws people from a diverse set of organizations.  Service providers, not-for-profit reps, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and corporate personnel all meet once a month to listen to a speaker and share lunch.     It has gotten a lot of play, so I wanted to repurpose it here.
—-
I spent the first half of my career at Whirlpool Corporation with all of the blessings and trappings that come with working at a huge company.  From a personal development standpoint, they provided everything I needed.  I would attend four or five company held training workshops every year ranging in topics from Brand Marketing to Leading Effective Teams.  I even took a full year of Italian Language Classes right at the corporate headquarters.  Every month we had a Management Club meeting, where a distinguished author or an internal executive would speak.  Every couple of years, I might break out to attend a national conference, but that was typically only when I was speaking.  I lived in a giant cocoon with all the life-sustaining nutrients I could ever need.  I honestly believed that whatever I could need to know, they would provide for me.
The second half of my career (so far), I’ve been a small business owner.  Without having the company provided resources that I was used to, I found that I had to get out and meet people and find alternative means of expanding my influence.  Networking (a concept it turns out that extends beyond meeting people down the hall) became a necessity to get my business up and going.  Now my business is established and I keep busy… But I still seek out opportunities to network and meet with thought leaders beyond my four walls.  Not so much for business sustainability, but more for personal enrichment (which by the way, leads to business growth).  Centric is a tremendous organization that serves this purpose.  Such a wealth of diversity exists at every meeting, I never come away without new learning.
What I wish I’d known then what I know now… Can a big-business person learn from a small service provider?  Yes!  In fact, they pay them for professional services on a regular basis.  But what about the invaluable, top of mind stuff?  What about the life experiences that get shared only over a shared meal?  You don’t get that in a typical consulting engagement.  Looking back, I wish I had had a Centric-type organization available to me during my corporate years.    Instead of just hearing what all of my colleagues were hearing, I could have gained unique perspectives and brought them back to my job. It would have given me an edge that others didn’t have.  Today, I firmly believe that the information shared readily at a Centric meeting could make the average corporate employee a  superstar within their own company.
Today, I find that most “corporate-types” continue to think like I once did.  ”Networking is for realtors, financial planners and small business owners, it’s not something I need in my life.  My company teaches me everything I need to know…”.  Yeah, keep drinking that Kool-Aid.
Kudos to the big company folks that have tried out Centric and have made it a home.  I’m sure it has benefited you in your careers.  But be careful… If word gets out, it might just catch on with other corporate employees.
—-
You may not be near Indianapolis, so attending a Centric event might not be an option for you.  But have you checked to see what might be available in your area?  When is the last time you had coffee with someone to share thoughts and ideas outside of your own company?  No one organization has a lock on innovation.  The wider you cast your net, the more likely you are to catch a great idea!

Leave a Comment

Filed under Business lessons, innovation, Insight2, Networking

Tagged as , , , , , ,

December 17, 2012 · 2:45 pm

Innovation is like exercise

I hate running.  I wish I didn’t but I do.  I try to run a couple of miles 2-3 mornings/week, but I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed it.  Saturday morning I woke up knowing that I should go for a run.  As I laid there thinking about it, everything in my body said “Don’t do it”.  I suddenly became aware of every minor ache / pain.  I thought about the work I had to do later that day and the physical resources that would require.  Surely running would exhaust that valuable energy and keep me from completion later in the day.  Finally I considered my time constraints.  With the holidays on top of us, I didn’t have the time to first go for a run, then cool down then shower and change.  After all, I had a jam packed morning scheduled.  Then, as I do most Saturdays, I put on my shoes and went for a run.  Sure I hated it, but it feels so good when it’s over and I know I’ve done something proactive and good for me in the long run.

It seems to me that this is how many organizations view innovation.  They love to talk about it and plan for it in the future.  But just like me, the inertia of not doing it is very tough to overcome.  Insufficient resources, lack of time, too many “pains” in the present to focus on the future.  Yep.  That’s all true.  But if you want to be around for the long haul, it’s time to lace up your shoes and start innovating.  Once you start, it may even become a habit!Image

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under innovation

Tagged as , ,

December 4, 2012 · 10:09 am

Is B2B a Myth?

I was talking with a guy the other day whose company makes commonly-used, consumer products.  I asked him how he goes about gaining insight and understanding about his consumers.  He looked at me with a somewhat puzzled expression and informed me that my question was really irrelevant, as he was a Business to Business (B2B) company, not a Business to Consumer (B2C) firm.  After all, he stated, all of his attention and focus was on the retail buyer at the big box stores, not on the Average Joe that shopped there.  I honestly waited to see if he was being sarcastic, or would crack a smile or something, but he did not.  This was his philosophy and he was sticking with it.

While this logic seems obviously flawed, I began thinking further about this.  What business actually buys anything?  Companies don’t buy things, people do.  Granted, they may work for companies, but ultimately it’s a person that is making the decision whether or not to purchase a product or a service.  Isn’t that person ultimately a consumer?  They make their choice based upon their personal experiences, opinions and biases.  It may not be in a retail setting, but just like Average Joe, they are considering their budget, their options, and their personal preferences as they make their decision.

So my question remains… Is there really such a thing as a business to business sale?  Or aren’t we all actually selling to consumers at some level?

Leave a Comment

Filed under innovation

Tagged as , , ,

October 19, 2012 · 11:29 am

Day of Innovation a Success!

 

My company, Insight2, was a major sponsor of the first annual Day of Innovation (#dayofinnovation).  The event was put on by Centric, a local Indy-based innovation organization.   It was an incredible day featuring keynote speakers, breakout sessions, experiential activities and networking.  Capping off the evening was the second annual Indiana Innovation Awards which recognized nine companies from around the state for their successful and unique new product offerings.

The beauty of this event was in its diversity.  There are several other innovation groups around Indianapolis, but they are all very focused on their segment (e.g. tech-sector, medical products, start-ups, non-profit).  This was the first event that really reached out to all segments and provided value from a variety of sources.  One panel discussion alone included a consumer products company, an alternative energy solution and a B2B branding company.  The topic was Effective Innovation.  It was fantastic to see both the similarities and the differences between these three groups in terms of what is effective and what drives effectiveness.

Each of us should continually expose ourselves to ideas and philosophies that fall outside of our normal circles.  We learned about a non-profit that went from losing money to triple-digit growth based upon ethnographic research.  We heard about the value of conflict in the innovation process and we heard 9 key steps to successful innovation form our keynote speaker Deborah C. Stephens.  No typical conference would have each of these types of speakers or presenters.  This was truly a great day.  And I for one, and extremely proud to have been a part of it.

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under innovation, Insight2, Indiana Innovation Awards, company culture, innovation conference

Tagged as , , , ,

August 16, 2012 · 9:04 am

Innovation is born of conflict

Today I have a true Shower Musing…  My shower at home has two shower heads on opposing walls.  While this will upset water conservationists, I admit to loving to use both at the same time.  It’s a wonderful feeling to have so much water coming from two directions and totally envelope me.   It’s impossible to tell where one starts and the other stops, and I love that.

This morning after my run I jumped in the shower (typically a cool shower to help me cool down).  But one shower was turned on hot and the other turned on cold.  My first reaction was to adjust them to be the same temperature, but then I decided not to.  I adjusted the angle of the heads so that the hot shower was running on my legs (relaxing my tired muscles) and the cold shower was running on my head and shoulders (helping me to stop sweating).  It was a very different feeling from my typical experience.  The showers didn’t blend together at all.  I was continually aware of each and the unique value that it provided.  It was if each stream of water was fighting with the other to get my attention.

The analogy that came to my mind was the teams that we surround ourselves with at work.  Our natural inclination is to hire a bunch of like-minded (warm water) people that fit our existing culture.  Just like the shower, it is often hard to see where one individual’s contribution starts and another person’s ends.  That is wonderful if quick unity is the primary goal.  But effective innovation is born from conflict and difference.  It is at the intersection of where the hot and cold water meet.

How diverse is your team?  Do you have different temperatures coming together in one setting?  Are you aware of the strengths and opinions that each person brings or have you settled for a comfortable environment where every situation and conversation feels the same?  If you want to be an innovative company, surround yourself with diversity, and value the unique opinions and perspectives that surface.  Avoid the temptation to achieve homogenization and the “simplicity” that brings.  Just like the shower, it will feel strange at first, but you can come to appreciate the value that each player brings.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Business lessons, company culture, innovation, Insight2

Tagged as , , , ,

June 27, 2012 · 1:40 pm

Is Corporate DNA Toxic to Innovation?

True innovation is hard work and takes time.  It needs to be a part of a strategic plan, developed and launched in a deliberate manner.  There’s nothing new in that, and few would disagree.  But let’s look at some corporate reality.   There are two key factors that can essentially kill effective innovation; corporate culture and employee reality.

First let’s look at the corporate culture.  Private and publicly held companies are both under extreme pressure to deliver financial returns for the short run.  It’s hard to convince shareholders (or banks, or holding companies) to wait two years for something great to occur.  Expectations are set on a quarterly basis.  With such intense pressure to deliver in the short term, it’s much easier pursue incremental change than to embark on a longer term innovation strategy.  Companies will begin innovation efforts with the big picture in mind, but often succumb to the pressure and pursue only those ideas that can be knocked out quickly.

From an individual employee standpoint, the pressure is very similar.  Who in corporate America expects to be in their current job two years from now?  Even if an individual doesn’t change jobs, the reality is the organization will most likely change around them shifting all priorities and efforts accordingly.  What motivates a person to embark on an effort that lasts a long time?  The person that delivers a project seems to get the credit, not the one that does the hard work on the front end.  Over the course of a typical, strategic innovation project it’s not uncommon to see multiple people at the helm, each adding their own opinion and wanting to put their mark on the effort in case it happens to be successful.

It’s not lack of interest, its lack of vision beyond the immediate future.  Companies spend considerable time and effort creating one, three and five year plans.  But the initiatives that get pursued are those that can be delivered quickly to show an immediate impact on the bottom line.  Can anything be done to shift this mindset?  Or are we doomed to a culture of incrementalism?

8 Comments

Filed under Business lessons, company culture, innovation

Tagged as , , , , ,

June 19, 2012 · 9:59 am

The Chasm Between Perception and Reality

I’m continually amazed when I do interviews with consumers just how mis-informed they are.  Yesterday, we conducted four, in-home interviews with very affluent, well educated families.  Each of the four began telling us with absolute certainty about products that have been launched by brands (but not the right brands), and features that they’ve seen that are highly desirable (features that don’t exist on products in the market today).  They point to a product in their home and talk about the miserable experience they’ve had with it, vowing to never buy that brand again.  Ask them what brand it is, and they tell you the wrong one.

Contrast this with product and brand managers at big corporations.  They spend their time “fine-tuning’ their messages and focusing on minutia.  Because they live and breathe their products and brands, they mistakenly assume that their target customers are doing the same.  They spend countless resources on research that often serves only to validate their own opinions.  Once surrounded with these “statistics” they are ready to further tweak and refine their already complex messages and offerings.  This is especially true for products with long life cycles.  As an example, if a typical consumer replaces their refrigerator every 10 years, they are realistically not paying attention to changes in these products between buying cycles.  They’re certainly not stressed that this years model is too similar to last years.  They only care about what is different when they buy their new versus the last time they were in the market.  Unless an innovation really changes the way people live (and gets the necessary buzz to let the world know it), it will typically go unnoticed until people are in the position of buying.

Maybe it’s time to “dumb it down” a bit.  I’m not saying that your consumer base is not comprised of intelligent people.  But I am saying that no one lives and breathes your products and your brands like the corporate insiders do.  What can you do to innovate your brand or your image?  A huge step would be to ensure consumers know that they buy into your company when they buy their next product.  Obviously some companies do this very well.  No one drives a Harley without knowing exactly what it is, and no one buys an i-phone without getting caught up in the Apple mystique.  These companies didn’t get there overnight, and neither will you.  But maybe its time to start listening to your customers and hearing what they really say as opposed to generating reports in support of what you assume.

1 Comment

Filed under Business lessons, innovation, observational research

Tagged as , , , ,

June 11, 2012 · 3:00 pm

It’s Easier not to Innovate

I’m reading a great book called “Snap Selling” by Jill Konrath.  It is an intriguing sales strategy book that provides tactics on “getting through” to busy executives.  One of the points she makes (that I certainly find true in selling my business) is that harried professionals prefer to stay in their comfort zones whenever possible.  They may appreciate what you have to sell, but if it complicates their lives in the near term, the odds are you will be put off until “later”.

Wow.  How true is this in the world of innovation?  While an executive may be able to imagine the benefits that could be had by pursuing an innovation strategy, doing so will cause them a significant amount of stress and turmoil.    Even when led by a competent, external professional there are individuals to coordinate, other duties to re-prioritize and other personal objectives that still have to be accomplished.  Innovation becomes just another item on an already crowded plate.   Human nature dictates that we simplify today even at the expense of tomorrow.

What causes some companies to consistently innovate new products and services?

  • They overcome the inertia of inactivity and force themselves to move forward (even in chaotic, challenging times)
  • They are hyper-aware of the true cost of doing nothing (in terms of lost market share and eroding margins)
  • They establish a corporate culture where comfort zones are discouraged, and risk-taking is rewarded
  • They look past this quarters financial returns and focus on a 1-3 year strategy
  • They prioritize innovation in their schedules and eliminate less strategic initiatives instead

These things don’t just happen.  They are the result of an innovation-driven vision.  But let’s be honest.  That’s not for most companies, or for most individuals.  It really is just easier not to innovate at all.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Business lessons, company culture, innovation

Tagged as , , ,