Taking the No Out of Innovation Mike Brown W A R M - U P Q U E S T I O N S What are three challenges related to international credit issues that you and others in the audience are facing? 1. 2. 3. What are three additional challenges related to your job that you and others in the audience are facing? 1. 2. 3. Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 1 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Taking the No Out of Innovation Mike Brown Google Search (on your own): innovation creativity techniques brainstorming tools P E R S P E C T I V E Say NO to: Stifling Refusing to Punishing Introspection Look for, listen to, & introduce different points of view. Identify your strengths & weaknesses & AREAS of CREATIVITY. My Strengths My Best Creative Areas My Weaknesses Who is YOUR CREATIVE TEAM? How do they complement your creativity? Which individuals do I know that best display each of these traits? Artistic Risk Taker Enthusiastic Diverse Funny Quirky Inventive Playful Stylish Spontaneous Adventurous Curious Well-Read Pop Cultural Serve the members of your creative team what do they need help with where you can play a role in contributing to their successes? Do I ever ask for any SPIRITUAL HELP? Yes (Great!) No (Try it!) Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 1 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Forget To GET BEYOND YOUR EXPERTISE in your field, identify the pieces of conventional wisdom that you KNOW about your business: For each item of conventional wisdom above, imagine that you DON T KNOW IT. What are TEN NEW APPROACHES to your innovation challenges that are DIFFERENT BECAUSE of what you now DON T KNOW? What is your personal MENTAL LEMON SORBET? Possibilities Do you live in BECKY S WORLD? NO (Good for you!) YES (How are you CHANGING THE WORLD?) Get OKAY with TOO MANY & apparently UNWORKABLE ideas - they re BUILDING BLOCKS!!! The THINGS that you think can t be changed didn t exist at some point in time. What was that time like? If you were put back at that time, how might you SOLVE THE CHALLENGES DIFFERENTLY? What if you took your current situation and LET SOMEBODY ELSE SOLVE IT? How might a CARTOON or TV CHARACTER address the challenge? Which character? How does that character address challenges? What are 10 approaches they d take to your challenge? (Use Post- notes to record your answers.) CHECK OUT: The Art of Possibility -www.benjaminzander.com/book/ Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 2 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Inquisitive Ask GREAT QUESTIONS and then SHUT UP and LISTEN and OBSERVE. Test and save questions that bring out answers full of possibilities. Some that work well: If we knew we d be out of business in 3 years, what would we start doing differently? What could we do that would make senior management sick to their stomachs? CHECK OUT: 75 Cage Rattling Questions by Dick Whitney & Melissa Giovagnoli, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 0070700192 Humor Humor has some basis in reality, but with a DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE / the UNEXPECTED / a BROKEN RULE / a CONTRADICTION / EXAGGERATION. Humor depends on THE TWIST (Setup Twist Punch Line) Innovation depends on THE TWIST (Challenge Twist Ideas) Do you Make funny remarks? Tell funny personal stories? Create a fun atmosphere at work? Use funny quotes? Tell jokes? Use funny cartoons or props? Thievery GENERALIZATIONS and ANALOGIES are IMPORTANT! What s that LIKE? Your SPECIFIC Situation/Challenge Your Situation/Challenge GENERALIZED Look for IDEAS to APPROPRIATE from other situations. GO TO SCHOOL on others who are SMARTER or BETTER than you are. WHO ELSE does SOMETHING SIMILAR to your business challenge? Your Situation/Challenge GENERALIZED WHO ELSE Faces This? HOW is SOMEBODY ELSE doing it? Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 3 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Interesting Look beyond strengths and weaknesses/minuses. What is INTERESTING in life? In business? Turn minuses into INTERESTING stuff. What s FASCINATING about your foibles? PLUS MINUS INTERESTING How can you CHANGE these to be EVEN BETTER? What s FASCINATING about these? What s SUPRISING about these? What can you LEARN? What RECOMMENDATIONS would you make? Persistence Innovation is a NUMBERS GAME You ve got to take the TIME to GET a BROAD RANGE of POSSIBILITIES. BREAK DOWN INHIBITORS to innovative thinking - Think SMALL PLATE restaurant. Cheerleader Create an ENVIRONMENT through your words that GROWS ideas: Tell me more. What are you so excited about with the idea? How s it different to the way the world is now? How did you get the idea/where did it come from? What would it look like? What do I stop doing in order to do what you re suggesting? If I really believed in the idea, how would I tell others the good things about it? What would the consequences be? That s great! Could it also CHECK OUT:?WHATIF! www.whatif.co.uk?whatif! Creativity Test - www.whatif.co.uk/test/creativity_intro.html Pause to CELEBRATE SUCCESS. Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 4 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
T E C H N I Q U E Guidelines Stimulants There are SOME RULES to follow for effective innovation: DON T start with a BLANK piece of paper use a TOOL. NARROW your FOCUS. THINK about common situations in NEW WAYS. FAST, FURIOUS brainstorming spurts. Say WHAT COMES to MIND DON T SELF-CENSOR or censor OTHERS. SAY ALL your ideas ALOUD. WRITE them ALL down. Encourage WILD IDEAS. BUILD off of others ideas. CREATE COMBINATIONS. SUGGEST how another idea can be TURNED into something BETTER. Have a BAG of GOODIES TOYS as random inputs & DISTRACTIONS FROM the NORM, POST-IT notes, SHARPIE markers. Be CHILD-LIKE. Introduce RANDOM inputs to spur NEW THINKING. How is the situation like an OBJECT or WORD that s new? Pop Culture Examples Random Words Pictures Use UNUSUAL MAGAZINES as idea STARTERS. Set a DEMANDING GOAL for the NUMBER of IDEAS. Then do 10 MORE MINUTES and 25 MORE IDEAS. Don t underestimate CAFFEINE. Twist Use TECHNIQUES and TOOLS to increase your INNOVATION SKILLS. Test 3-5 techniques that you can modify and keep coming back to in various situations for: Generating LOTS OF IDEAS: _ Handling THREATS & OBSTACLES: _ Drawing out OUTRAGEOUS IDEAS: _ PRIORITIZING ideas: _ Trait Transformation GREAT for generating LOTS OF IDEAS. Take the characteristics or attributes of your innovation challenge and then TRANSFORM each using the following: Make Bigger / Do More of Replace Remove Customize Make More Complex Make Smaller / Do Less of Turn Around Standardize Simplify Eliminate Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 5 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Twist (Continued) HEN HOW S - Take concepts that are interesting, intriguing, or novel, but that aren t currently possible to implement, and ask, How could we create these benefits in ways that would? Be Simplest? Be Feasible? Take best advantage of consumer perceptions? Send fear into the competitors hearts? Bring new users to the category? Arouse interest and curiosity in the marketplace? Contradict history? Be most outrageous? Don t settle for anything less than 10 answers to each question. Google Search: innovation creativity techniques brainstorming tools A BUNCH of POSSIBILITIES A Recommended Expert for INNOVATION HELP: http://www.theidealoft.com Book: The Marketer's Visual Toolkit, by Terry Richey - Publisher: AMACOM; (April 1994) ASIN: 0814402135 Prioritize Revisit your PURPOSE & PRIORITIES make sure EVERYONE KNOWS THEM. CONSTRUCTIVELY CHALLENGE ideas to develop & prioritize. Ask HOW and WHAT questions. Prioritize: Cost Benefit, Ease to Implement Strategic Fit Complex - Simple, Evolutionary - Revolutionary Create Create an ARTIFACT SOON to see how it might work. Learn what might work and what might not. Make RECOMMENDATIONS & clearly present your RATIONALE. Learn how to COMMUNICATE your IDEAS in MULTIPLE WAYS words, numbers, flow charts, pictures, video, music, etc. PROTOTYPING @ IDEO The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman, 2001. ISBN: 0-385-49984-1. http://www.ideo.com Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 6 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
ATTRIBUTES / CHARACTERISTICS Make Bigger / Do More of Make Smaller / Do Less of Replace Trait Transformation Turn Around Remove Standardize Customize Make More Complex Simplify Move Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 7 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com
Taking the No Out of Innovation Mike Brown Mike Brown is Vice President-Strategic Planning & Research at Yellow Roadway Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, and one of the largest transportation service providers in the world, with more than 70,000 employees and $9 billion in annual revenue. is based in Overland Park, KS. At YRC, he s responsible for all customer research, market analysis, and strategic market planning, including playing a primary role across the corporation s subsidiaries to align marketing activities. At Yellow, Mike has led a team of marketing communications professionals responsible for advertising, direct marketing, merchandising, and sponsorship & event marketing, including Yellow participation in NASCAR and sponsorship of the bi-annual Transformation-Business & Logistics Conference. Mike has been at Yellow (whose corporate color is orange) since 1990. He is well known as a brand cheerleader within the company and has been referred to in Fast Company magazine as the Cal Ripken, Jr. of Yellow fashion for wearing orange socks to work nearly every day since October 22, 1997. Other presentation topics from Mike Brown include: Lessons in Leading Change Leading with a Smile How to Get a Plan Done When You Hate Doing Planning Sponsorship Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Get Yourself Into Doing Better Presentations Leading & Living Through Culture Change Building Your Internal Brand Team Game Plan Working with External Business Partners Mike Brown Phone: 913-266-6575 Email: mike.brown@yellowroadway.com or mbbcab@aol.com Taking the NO Out of InNOvation Mike Brown, 2005 8 Contact Mike Brown at mbbcab@aol.com