Get Fresh Minds

Why #Eastwooding has no place in idea generation.

2012-09-11T08:00:00-05:00

It was a moment made for instant Internet fame. At the RNC, actor Clint Eastwood delivered what was supposed to be a rousing take-down of the sitting president of the United States of America. The moment was spoiled, however, by the fact that President Obama was not actually there.

Instead, viewers laughed uneasily as Clint spent 11 long minutes lecturing to an empty chair.

Clint had barely exited the stage when the Internet meme was born. #Eastwooding - as talking to an empty chair came to be called - spread like wildfire as Twitter users crowed about how ridiculous it was to fake a conversation with someone who wasn't actually there.

But #Eastwooding is far more common than people think—especially during ideation.

Think about it. Has your team ever gathered to generate ideas and left your consumer out? My point is, when you're creating a new product or service that is designed to fulfill the unmet needs of your consumers, they should have an actual seat at the table—not an imaginary one.

Here's why it's so important to fill that empty chair:

Data sheets are no substitute for personal stories and insights.

If you're trying to generate ideas, no doubt you’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand your consumer. You've done statistical and focus group research to learn how your consumer behaves and how they react. You've compiled data about how they buy and use your product, and other products. You know what is important to them.

But when you're doing that kind of research, you miss out on the very personal stories that crystalize why your consumers behave the way they do.

There's a vast difference between clear, concise quantitative data that says moms do laundry because they love their kids, and sitting only feet away as a consumer holds up a picture of her sons and says:

"I really hate laundry. There's nothing that annoys me more. I put this picture above my washing machine so that when I have to wash their filthy, disgusting clothing yet again, I see their faces smiling at me. The picture reminds me how much I love them and why I do their laundry."

Data sheets and consumer polls are tools that tell you what's most important to your consumers. But hearing consumer insights straight from their mouths is what solidifies that data's importance in your mind and emphasizes the importance of including it in your idea generation.

An empty chair means someone else's perspective is ultimately the most important.

If the chair is empty, it's easy to assign your own assumptions about beliefs and behaviors onto your consumers. When Clint was talking to an invisible President Obama, the only voice the President had was the one assigned to him. Obama couldn't explain why he made certain decisions, or what was most important to him, or even attempt to change the tone of the conversation. Instead, what mattered was how Clint thought the President would respond—and what responses best suited Clint's objectives.

Ideation is not a neutral activity. There are always people who want to direct how it goes and the types of ideas that emerge.

Maybe a leader wants their ideas to be recognized. Maybe team members want to make sure that the ideas of their leader rise to the top. Maybe a scientist or a lawyer want to make sure that the team goes nowhere near ideas that the company can't make happen. Maybe the entire team wants to enter a new market in a certain way. Those factors all influence ideation sessions.

But when consumers are sitting there, they cannot be ignored. If an ideation session goes completely off base, they can tell you. If you start making assumptions about why they behave in a certain way, they can tell you that's not the case. Or if your team can't figure out why consumers do something, they can shed light on the situation.

When the consumers’ chairs are empty in ideation, they're at risk of being the least important people in the room.

There's no way to build out of the box.

When the consumer's chair is empty, you’ll ultimately find yourself at an impasse during ideation. Your team knows all about your product or service—and all about what is possible in the real world. That expertise about your subject area ultimately puts a box around the possibilities you can generate.

On the other hand, your consumers know nothing about the rules, regulations and natural laws around your product or service. They are, however, experts on themselves. You might have research on hand about your consumers’ lives—but they live them. They live in the situations that lead them to make purchasing decisions and they have the unmet needs you're trying to fill.

When you seat the consumer at the table during an ideation session, you can combine your expert knowledge about the product with their expert knowledge about how they live their lives

And, most importantly, you can use your consumers' as launching-off points. You can pitch an idea over to them, and then they'll put a different spin on it when they send it back.

During ideation, your consumers will push your team to open their minds to new possibilities. Then your team can challenge your consumers for new possibilities in order to make something crazy work. Both groups challenge each other to go beyond their relative expertise to come up with something that they wouldn't have on their own—and the results are often something completely new. That can't happen with a one-sided conversation.

Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention is generating such attention online because he pretended to have a full conversation with someone who wasn't there.

The real problem with Clint's speech wasn't that he looked silly talking to an empty chair. The problem was that by talking to an empty chair, he missed out on the most important parts of an actual conversation.

Don't risk doing that when you ideate. Giving your consumers a seat at the table during idea generation allows you to bring in their personal experiences and their expertise about their own lives—and ensures that their voice is heard over all the other competing objectives in the room. That's how to come up with ideas that truly resonate in the market.

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Katie Konrath helps companies come up with "ideas so fresh... they should be slapped" at leading innovation company Ideas To Go. If you're interested in having her speak to your organization, she'd love to hear from you.

This post was originally published on the Ideas To Go Blog.

Staying Hungry: How Michael Phelps & Apple fell flat in '12

2012-09-04T16:17:13-05:00

July 28th, 2012. London. A man on the verge of glory climbed on the starting blocks of his first final of the 2012 Summer Games. Earlier that day, he had unexpectedly squeaked his way into the final by only 0.07 of a second. As he crouched for the start, the crowd roared for him. When the buzzer blew, he did something that no one expected: he finished a well-beaten fourth.

Two days later, Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympic athlete ever as his 18th and 19th Olympic medals were placed around his neck. Over the next days, he added three more—finishing his career with more Olympic medals than 82 countries.

Yet even as his name was written in the history books, it was obvious that the rest of the world had finally caught up.

He was still magnificent, but Michael Phelps was no longer unstoppable.

In the world of innovation, those shocking upsets lurk on every successful product’s horizon. An amazing product like the iPhone will take over the market. Challengers quickly rise and are just as quickly vanquished. Like Michael Phelps in 2008, the new product seems unstoppable.

Until suddenly, shockingly, it’s not.

Like Michael Phelps, the iPhone is without a doubt the greatest competitor in its category. No phone has sold so much and so consistently been tops for so many years. It has also worn the unstoppable label.

But right before it was named the most valuable company in history, Apple also tasted defeat. When customers bought 2.5 million fewer iPhones than expected this spring, Apple missed its earnings goal - something it has only done a handful of times in the past decade. At the same time, Samsung announced the Galaxy S3 smartphone—and the world pounced.

Before the Galaxy S3 even left the factory at the end of May, it had over 9 million pre-orders (2 times more pre-orders than for the latest iPhone.) In a shocking upset, the Galaxy S3 became the fastest-selling gadget in history.

What happened? How did Apple and Michael Phelps fall so short so fast?

Quite simply, they lost their hunger to push the envelope. They had reached the top—and instead of pushing to reach the next level—they paused to enjoy the moment.

Between Beijing and London, Michael Phelps cut down the mileage he swam and dabbled in alternative training methods. Competitors such as 400 IM gold medalist Ryan Lochte trained harder—and their intensity paid off. Phelps even admitted after the 400 IM that he had come up short at the end of the race.

Like Phelps, Apple stopped being so hungry this past year. The highly-anticipated iPhone 5 did not arrive in 2011 as expected. Instead, Apple disappointed with iPhone 4S—an improved fourth generation iPhone. Upgraded hardware and a nifty new speaking app simply weren’t enough to hold the lead when Samsung sought to change the game with their Galaxy S3.

When companies have a successful product, it’s tempting for them to take that as an opportunity to catch their breath and enjoy their success. But that’s when it’s most critical to keep the hunger level alive!

The instant something reaches the top, challengers have a benchmark and a target.

Between Beijing and London, elite swimmers studied Michael Phelps’ success. They studied his fitness regimen, analyzed his stroke and matched everything he did right. And then they dedicated themselves to going beyond.

The same thing happened with the iPhone. Samsung took some parts of the iPhone that consumers loved—and then asked themselves, “What’s next?” They studied consumer trends, gathered insights and unmet needs—and then set off to create a game-changer. And they succeeded.

In London, Michael Phelps was able to pull himself back to the top—but it was obvious that he was no longer an unstoppable force. In October, Apple has a chance to regain their dominance when the iPhone 5 hits shelves—but they are no longer the innovator to beat.

Reaching the top is an incredible feat—but staying at the top means staying hungry. There’s always a challenger waiting in the wings to take it away.

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This post was originally published on the Ideas To Go Blog.

The value of different perspectives

2012-08-23T14:30:00-05:00

When's the last time you got a reminder that not everyone thinks the same way you do? I did not long ago - and I'm still laughing about it!

A couple months ago, I was in San Francisco for a meeting with co-workers. I decided to stay over the weekend to play tourist - and just for fun, arranged my schedule so I could play a game with the local underwater hockey team.

Before I left, another Minnesota Underwater Hockey player and I chatted on Facebook about how cool it was that I'd get to swim with the San Francisco Sea Lions on Friday night. I mentioned I was even bringing my own fins! I was really excited!

That night, in San Francisco, one of my co-workers approached me with a concerned look on her face. She touched my arm and asked "Are you really swimming with sea lions on Friday?" When I nodded, she continued, "I didn't know you could do that. Isn't it really dangerous?"

Taken aback, I realized that my co-worker was on the verge of an intervention. Why? Because she was expecting me to get in the water with this:

Whereas in my mind, I was planning on doing this:

Not quite the same thing at all! We both had an image in our mind about the Sea Lions - but our perspectives were very, very different!

This is why I prefer to generate ideas with others even though I'm an introvert.

Every single person brings a completely different perspective to an ideation session that is based on their personal history and knowledge base. And that's excellent for ideation because it expands the range of possibiliities exponentially.

When I brainstorm on my own, it's easy to get stuck on a single train of thought. But just bringing another person into the conversation will usually bring up a connection or direction that wouldn't have come up otherwise.

And if you take everyone's different perspectives as a jumping off point for ideation, you can really get a diverse set of ideas. (Which is exactly what you want!)

For the record though, if you ever come across me chatting casually about playing with Sea Lions, Loons, Swordfish, Hammerheads, Oysters or Narwhals - you can rest assured that they won't be the biting kind!

Brag about being a gamer if your company needs ideas!

2012-07-16T17:41:00-05:00

Not long ago, I heard a really interesting talk at the World Innovation Forum that completely changed my view on gamers. One of my favorite parts about the World Innovation Forum - besides all the creativity – is that they always have at least one speaker who challenges the way we think. This year, it was Jane McGonigal - who was there to tell us why Gamers are changing the world, and why gaming actually enhances creative ability.

And after hearing her, I wholeheartedly agree – and I’ll go so far as to say that if you play games (either on the computer or with a console), you should be telling people about it as your personal brand.

Here’s why:

First, being a gamer is no longer an anomaly.

Jane told us that there are now over 1 billion gamers on the planet who spend an hour a day playing a connective game – and that the number of gamers has doubled in the past 2 years. Doubt that?

Gamers aren’t just teenage boys playing Call of Duty. They’re moms playing Words with Friends, movie stars playing World of Warcraft, medical patients playing games that assist with their recovery and all your peers who keep sending you those darn requests in Farmville. (Or is that you?)

Angry Birds itself has over 1 billion players. And in the US, 99% of boys under 18 and 94% of girls play over 8 hours of connective games every week.

Nearly everyone is a gamer now.

But most importantly, Gaming enhances creativity!

In my last post, I wrote about how business leaders worldwide overwhelmingly rank creativity as the number one leadership competency of the future. As a result, if you’re not incorporating it into your brand, you’re leaving opportunities on the table.

As Jane told us about at the World Innovation Forum, gaming is a powerful stimulant to creative ability. When researchers studied the gamers, they discovered that among the top 10 emotions gamers feel while they play, creativity comes in at number one. (Also high-ranked are emotions such as excitement, curiosity, surprise and love – all emotions that enhance the creative process!)

Researchers also found that the more children play connective games, the higher they score in creativity in the Torrence Test of Creativity.

(Which is among the tests my company, a leading innovation firm, uses to evaluate our Creative Consumers® Associates.)

Why is this? It’s simple - because gamers are constantly practicing how to come up with new solutions! They are faced with a challenge they’ve never seen before and they have to overcome it. And, 80% of the time, they fail.

As Jane writes on her Tumblr:

“People who spend a lot of time failing in game worlds are less put off by failure in the real world. They’re more like to stick at it and get to a successful conclusion where other people would quit."

Games give gamers the ability to take small risks over and over again – and gives them a clear sign of victory when they come up with a creative solution that works. So they are motivated to keep trying new solutions whenever they have a challenge. And that enhances their creative ability through practice and gives them the courage to be creative in other areas of their lives!

Gamers are also adept at the collaboration needed in the workplace to solve creative challenges. Nearly two-thirds of the games played today are collaborative. Which means that gamers are learning how to work with others to come up with new solutions – and not just in the game. It turns out that social gamers are three times more likely to help others in real life than nongamers. And, when Gamers play with people they know in real life, they become better at working with those people (as they learn the strengths and weaknesses of each person and alter their collaboration styles accordingly.

Fascinating, huh? And not something I’d ever have expected!

So if you’re a gamer in a field that needs creativity, it’s time to stop hiding that aspect of yourself. Stand tall and proclaim that you are someone who fails frequently, who tries new challenges constantly, who collaborates frequently with others and who is great at finding solutions to challenges. Those are all positive attributes of being a gamer. Own them!

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This post was originally published on the Personal Branding Blog.

Creativity: Your Brand is not Complete without this Skill

2012-07-09T17:00:00-05:00

When you’re figuring out how to brand yourself for your dream career, you spend oodles of time discovering what you need to demonstrate in your brand to achieve your goals. But, what if I were to tell you that – no matter your field of how much pondering you’ve done – you’re probably forgetting to emphasize the single most important skill you need?

This is a skill that gets a lot of hype, but at the same time, usually gets pushed aside. It’s a skill that everyone has, and can develop more fully – although it’s also one often believed to be soley an innate skill. It’s also one of those soft skills that isn’t quantifiable. But most importantly, it’s the skill that over 1500 CEOS from over 33 industries worldwide believe is the ”most important leadership competency of the future”.

Do you have it? Depends – how creative do you consider yourself?

In a 2010 global survey by IBM, CEOs worldwide ranked creativity as a more essential skill than dedication, ability to manage, integrity or vision for the leaders of tomorrow. Be assured though, that when they talk about creativity, it’s not about the artsy, sparkly meaning that is often given to the word.

This is the creativity that deals with new markets, new competitors, rising levels of complexity and everything else that results from an increasingly-connected global world where change happens daily.

In order to be on top – or to get there in the first place – it’s no longer enough for companies to manage themselves effciently. No, in order to be successful today, companies of all sizes need to create. Investing in creativity gives a company more strength and security than any other thing it can do.

Companies know this, and they’re looking for people – either as employees or as consultants – who are creative and can help them thrive.

At this point, some of you will probably be protesting that you’re simply not creative – so your personal brand will be fine without espousing any creativity. (“Thank you very much.”) And you wouldn’t be alone in saying this. A recent study by the European Centre for Strategic Innovation that found that 67% of business leaders believe great innovators are born and not made.

However, it’s absolute hogwash to say you’re not creative. (And taking the easy way out.)

Renowned innovation researcher Clayton Christensen and the other authors of The Innovator’s DNA have found that people who believe they are creative become so. Other researchers have found in studies of identical twins that (unlike intelligence) only 30% of creative ability has a basis in genetics. And innovation gurus like Edward de Bono, Michael Michalko, Genrich Altshuller and many more have developed techniques that anyone can use to generate ideas.

Instead, as those researchers, innovation gurus and the CEOs in the IBM study have found, creativity is a skill that can be developed – and should. Every person has the ability to be creative: they just need to find the right technique that works with their style of thinking.

So, if you don’t already consider yourself creative and are not demonstrating your creativity already in your brand – or you are not actively learning how to become more creative, you’re leaving a giant hole in your personal brand. Are you willing to risk not having the “most important leadership competency of the future”?

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This post was originally published on the Personal Branding Blog.