From creator to innovator 004

Warning – This is a working session!

Actual playing and thinking will be

necessary!

From Creator to Innovator

Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.

Theodore Levitt

A person might be able to play without being creative, but he sure can't be creative without

playing.Kurt Hanks and Jay Parry

A Rube Goldberg Machine

• A Rube Goldberg machine - a deliberately over-engineered machine that performs a simple task in a complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction

• Rube Goldberg (1883–1970)

In Action

If you build it…

• In the box - the parts you need• Think out of the box and build a Rube Goldberg

machine• Purpose:

– To move a rubber ball a minimum of 30 cm

• Important rules– You must be able to reset the machine within 2 minutes to

run again– The machine must have at least 15 parts– Time: 15 minutes

Ready….. Set …… Go!

The failure of creativity

• How many ideas do you come up with on a given day?

• How many do you put forward for consideration?

• How many gets implemented?

• Why?

Opportunities for innovation starts with…

Having a creative idea

• Easy enough!

– Brainstorming

– Lateral thinking

– A different point

of view

Success is on the far side of failure.Thomas Watson Sr.

Most people never pick up the phone, most people never ask. And that’s what separates, sometimes, the people that do things from the people that just dream

about them. You gotta act. And you gotta be willing to fail… if you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.

Steve Jobs

If you build it… Part 2

• Integrate the machines• Purpose:

– The total machine must move a rubber ball 1m at the end

• Important rules– You must be able to reset the machine within 2 minutes to

run again– The machine must have at most 38 parts– The original machines must be clearly identifiable

• Time: 15 minutes

Ready….. Set …… Go!

Get your creative idea into the implementation mix

• Sell your idea!

• Expect resistance

– Levels of acceptance

• Believe!

It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you.

Tony Benn

You

Your group/team

Your organization

Your market

Your technology

Implement with gusto

• Execute

• Enthuse

• Ensure acceptance

By changing nothing, nothing changes. Tony Robbins

Innovation— any new idea—by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeated

attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted

and internalized by an organization. This requires courageous patience.

Warren Bennis

Build evidence for creativity and innovation

• Evidence creates the benefit trail

– Creative thinking

– Idea generation

Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?

No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.

One person recently, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"Yes, I said. I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.

Isaac Asimov

If you build it… Part 3

• The machine must activate the mystery section

• Time: 5 minutes

Ready….. Set …… Go!

Process, process, process

In conclusion

Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys

into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries. Innovation arises from on-going circles of exchange, where

information is not just accumulated or stored, but created. Knowledge is generated anew from

connections that weren't there before.Margaret J. Wheatley

And as you go, OK Go!

Thank you!

[email protected]