Innovation

January 31, 2011
How We Get the Job Done
Most people think that creativity is a mystical state available only

to the chosen few.
The effort, they imagine, takes a lot of time and hard work. And
since they don't have the time and don't like hard work, they
reason that higher states of creativity are just not in the cards for
them. And so it isn't.
But creativity isn't a mystical state. It's a natural state -- a human

birthright. The people in your organization, in fact,
arealready creative. The only thing is: their natural creativity is
being obscured by their own habits of mind and a variety of
bothersome organizational constraints.
Their challenge is the same one as seeing the "hidden" arrow in the
FedEx logo (look between the "E" and the "X").The arrow has always
been there, but most people never notice it.
This is the work of Idea Champions. We help people see what

they already have, but don't know how to access.
We help people make meaningful adjustments of vision, insight, and perception so they can acknowledge,
embrace, and apply their innate ability to be more creative on the job -- and, for those clients who want to
reinvent their "innovation process", we help them figure it out.
What follows is a brief summary of how we do this...
1. Know Thy Customer:

Long before we ever get into a room with participants, we do our due diligence -- learning about WHO we are
serving, WHAT they expect, and HOW our time with them will be the most significant.
Sometimes this takes the form of phone interviews. Or online polls. Or studying key documents our clients
send us in order to understand their current reality, industry, business challenges, organizational constraints,
and hoped for outcomes.
2. Customization:
Based on our assessment of our client's needs, we put together a game
plan to get the job done. Towards this end, we draw on more than 100
"innovation-sparking" modules we've been developing since 1986.
3. Co-Creation:
Early in the design process, we invite our clients to give us feedback
about our approach. Their feedback stirs the creative soup and provides
us with the input needed to transform a good session design into a great one.
4. Spacing In:
We make a great deal of effort to ensure that the space in which our sessions take place are as ideal as
possible. Form may follow function, but function also follows form.
When participants walk into an Idea Champions session, they begin "mind shifting" even before the session
begins. It is both our belief and experience that culture/environment is a huge X factor for creativity and
innovation.
5. Drive Fear Out of the Workplace:

Peter Drucker, America's sage management consultant, was a big proponent of removing fear from the
workplace. So are we. Towards that end, each of our sessions begins with a norm-setting process that makes
it easy for participants to establish a dynamic culture of innovation for the day.
6. Mindset:
Organizations don't innovate, people do. But not just any "people." No. People who are energized, curious,
confident, fascinated, creative, focused, adaptive, collaborative, and committed.
People who emerge from our sessions are significantly more in touch
with these "innovation qualities" than when they began. Their minds
have changed. They see opportunities when, previously, all they saw
were problems.
They let go of perfectionism, old paradigms, and habitual ways of

thinking. In their place? Open-mindedness, listening, idea generation,
original thinking, full engagement, and the kind of commitment that
drives meaningful change.
7. Balancing Polarities:
Human beings, by nature, are dualistic, (i.e. "us" vs. "them," "short-term" vs. "long-term," "incremental" vs.
"breakthrough," "left brain" vs. "right brain".)
The contradictions that show up in a corporate environment (or workshop) can either be
innovation depleters or innovation catalysts. It all depends how these seeming conflicting territories are
navigated. Idea Champions is committed to whole-brain thinking -- not just right brain or left brain thinking.
Our work with organizations has shown us that one of the pre-
conditions for innovation is a company's ability to strike the balance
between these polarities.
Each workshop we lead and each consulting engagement we commit

to is guided by our understanding of how to help our clients find the
healthy balance between the above-noted polarities.
8. Expert Facilitation: "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile when

someone contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind,"
wrote St. Exupery.
This, quite simply, is what Idea Champions does. But we do far more than just contemplate. We also architect
and build.
Since 1986, we've been facilitating innovation-sparking engagements for a wide variety of industries. We have
mastered the art and science of turning lead (or leaders) into gold. And we can train your people to do the
same thing we do.
9. Experiential Challenges: "What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand."
So said the great Chinese sage, Confucius. This 14-word quote describes the essence of our work. Simply put,
we get people off their "ifs, ands or buts," and into the experience of what's possible.
While we value theory, research, models, data, best practices, business cases,
and most of the other flora and fauna of business life, we've come to
understand that the challenge of sparking insight, breakthrough, and change, is
best accomplished by doing -- not talking.
That's why all of our sessions include experiential challenges that provide
participants with visible ways of seeing innovation in action -- what supports it
and what obscures it.
10. Emergent Design: Awakening the creativity of an organization's workforce

is not a follow-the-dots exercise.
Although all of our interventions begin with carefully crafted project plans and agendas, our facilitators are
fluent in the art and science of making the kind of real-time adjustments, refinements, and improvisations
that are the difference between a good session and a great session.
Facilitators who attempt to imitate our approach find it difficult to succeed without first learning how to master
the art of emergent design. The good news is that it can be learned -- and this is just one of the things we
teach in our Train the Trainer programs.
11. Edutainment: Idea Champions sessions are a hybrid of two elements: education and entertainment. We
know that when participants are enjoying themselves their chances of learning increase exponentially.
That's why we make all of our sessions a hybrid of education and entertainment. Participants do not get tired.
They do not get bored. They do not sneak long looks at their Blackberries.
12. Full Engagement: Idea Champions sessions are highly participatory. Our facilitators are skilled at
teasing out the brilliance of participants, regardless of their social style, job title, or astrological sign.
But perhaps more importantly, our facilitators know how to help

participants tease out each others' brilliance. Eventually, everyone gets
into the act. The shy people take center stage and the power players
take a back seat. The collective wisdom in the room gets a much-needed
chance to be accessed and expressed.
13. Convergence: Idea Champions is successful because what we do

works.And one of the reasons WHY it works is because our sessions help
participants translate ideas into action.
Ideas are powerful, but they are still only the fuzzy front end of the
innovation process. Ultimately, they need to turn into results. Creativity needs to be commercialized. Our
workshops, trainings, and consulting interventions help our clients do exactly that.
14. Tools, Techniques, and Takeaways: Ideas Champions closes the gap between rhetoric and reality. We
don't just talk about innovation or teach about it -- we spark the experience of it. And we do that in very
practical ways.
One way is by teaching people how to use specific, mind-opening techniques to access their innate creativity.
Another way is by providing our clients with a variety of innovation-sparking guidelines, processes, and
materials that can be immediately used on the job.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:06 PM | Comments (1)
10 Levels of
Communication
Intimacy
Collaboration Training
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:38 AM | Comments (1)

Rose Colored Funny Business
Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the

night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge.
"Watson," he says, "look up in the sky and tell me what you
see."
"I see millions of stars, Holmes," says Watson.
"And what do you conclude from that, Watson?"
Watson thinks for a moment, "Well," he says, "astronomically,

it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially
billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is
approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and we are small and insignificant. Uh, what does that tell
you, Holmes?"
"Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!"
Right on, Holmes!
For those of you trying to figure out why your business isn't more innovative, consider the above joke. The
answer is in the punchline.
Your CEO looks up and sees the Board. Your CFO looks up and sees Wall Street. Your CIO looks up and sees
Blackberries. Your HR Director looks up and sees diversity. And your workforce? They don't look up --
overwhelmed as they are with the tasks they've been given to deliver on next quarter's results.
The beauty of the Holmes/Watson joke (excerpted from Thomas Cathcart's

and Daniel Klein's delightful book, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...) is
that it cuts to the core of the issue in very few words.
Humor does that. Which is why the Court Jester was the one who had the
King's ear.
HAHA and AHA are two sides of the same coin. The same thing that triggers
laughter triggers insight.
It's all about a momentary shock to the system -- the unexpected...a

surprise... delightful discontinuity. And when thathappens -- when we are
momentarily boggled by an input that does not fit with our logical
expectations, VOILA!Breakthrough! And along with it, a jolly good time.
Unfortunately, the sound of laughter in the workplace is often interpreted by

managers as proof of a slacker workforce -- as if laughing and working were
mutually exclusive.
Nothing could be further from the truth. "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think"
explained Clarence Darrow.
Or how about this from Carl Jung? "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by
the play instinct arising from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves."
Or this from Isaac Asimov: "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries,
is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny.'"
OK. These two innovation consultants walk into a bar...
January 29, 2011
The Idiot's Guide to Launching Successful Innovation Task

Forces
During the past 25 years I've seen a lot of innovation task

forces come and go. Some of them looked good at the beginning
and died a slow death. Some of them looked bad at the
beginning and died a quick death. And some of them actually
succeeded.
And so, at the risk of giving your task force one more task to
do, please take a few minutes to review the following guidelines.
They will save you time. They will save you headaches. And they
may even save your company...
20 TIPS FOR INNOVATION TASK FORCES
1. Quit now if you're not really into it.
2. Make sure everyone else on the task force really wants to do the work.
3. Get completely clear on what your "task" really is. Clear, as in specific, with definable deliverables.
4. Establish clear agreements at your first meeting. Otherwise, prepare for chaos, wheel spinning, indecision,
and the corporate hoky poky.
5. Make sure you have committed senior leader sponsors.
6. Clarify the lines of communication to senior leadership.
7. Get clear agreements with the senior team. Know their

expectations. And make sure they know yours.
8. Meet more often than you want to. (If you only meet once a month, fuggedaboutit.)
9. Make sure the person who facilitates your meetings knows what they're doing.
10. Limit the size of your task force to seven. Any more than ten and you'll have a "task crowd."
11. Have a sense of urgency, not panic.
12. Celebrate your successes, even if they're small.
13. No triangulating!
14. Honor your commitments. (And renegotiate the ones you can't meet).
15. If a task force member starts to flake out, ask them to either step up or step out.
16. Take notes at your meeting and distribute them within 24 hours.
17. Invite non-task force members to participate in your meetings every once in a while. Don't become a cult.
18. Speak your truth to senior leaders. If they're not holding up their end of the bargain, you're wasting your
time.
19. Communicate what you're doing to the rest of the company. Don't keep it a secret.
20. Do whatever is necessary to stay inspired. (All too often task forces implode under the collective weight of
their own seriousness, stress, and attempt to appear professional).
What have I forgotten? Please add to this list, oh esteemed present and former innovation task force
members. Let it rip!

January 28, 2011
If You Want to Innovate, Listen!
If you're interested in raising the bar for innovation in your

organization,start listening more. Listening, quite simply, is the most
powerful form of influence.
Generally speaking, when we think of influencing others we are thinking

about our ability to get others to think and act in ways we want them to,
in ways that serve our interests and objectives.
The influence process is most often conceived as the ability to provide

compelling arguments -- that is, arguments that are indisputable and
indicate there is only one way to proceed.
The influence process is seen as the ability to turn aside all alternative
ways of thinking, to demonstrate their inadequacy in the service of
making one's own position more compelling.
The ability to influence goes beyond the ability to make a compelling argument, of course. It can also involve
the use of power, seduction, or fear to drive others to a particular outcome.
What is much more rarely recognized is the role of listening and empathy in the influence process.
Listening to what concerns and drives others provides a powerful basis for influence because it is by
showing how your perspective will affect the concerns and interests of others that you gain others' interest
and support.
But the case for listening and empathy goes much further.
If you can truly understand what others value and are concerned about,
it can lead you to change your position about what is required to achieve
the goals you are striving for.
If you deeply understand others, you can mobilize them, not by

manipulation -- but by gearing your approach to address the real needs
and interests of your stakeholders.
Listening and appreciating multiple viewpoints can help you gain more acceptance for your ideas and better
ideas. And, as it all plays out, these better ideas will eventually attract more support and increase your
influence -- so you can then listen more and attract more support.
-- Barry Gruenberg

January 27, 2011
36 Awesome Quotes on Time
The biggest excuse people make about why they can't innovate is the lack of time. Really?
1. "Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is to say 'I don't want to.'" - Lao Tzu
2. "To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." - Leonard Bernstein
3. "Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were
given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert
Einstein." - H. Jackson Brown
4. "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein
5. "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a
time."- Abraham Lincoln
6. "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives,
stop thinking and go in." -Napoleon Bonaparte
7. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other
people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out
your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to
follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what
you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve
Jobs
8. "Time isn't precious at all, because it is an illusion." - Eckhart Tolle
9. "Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." - Jim Rohn
10. "Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends." - William Shakespeare
11. "Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." - William Penn
12. "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." - Henry David Thoreau
13. "Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short
for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity." - Henry Van Dyke
14. "You may delay, but time will not." - Ben Franklin
15. "If you want work well done, select a busy man -- the other kind has no time." - Elbert Hubbard
16. "What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not
know." - Saint Augustine
17. "Pick my left pocket of its silver dime, but spare the right -- it holds my golden time!" - Oliver Wendell
Holmes
18. "Both young children and old

people have a lot of time on their
hands. That's probably why they get
along so well." - Jonathan Carroll
19. "My time is now." - John Turner
20. "All my possessions for a moment

of time." - Queen Elizabeth
21. "What may be done at any time

will be done at no time." - Scottish
proverb
22. "Half our life is spent trying to find

something to do with the time we have
rushed through life trying to save." -
Will Rogers
23. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx
24. "I've been on a calendar, but I have never been on time." - Marilyn Monroe
25. "The surest way to be late is to have plenty of time." - Leo Kennedy
26. "A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours." - Milton Berle
27. "The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet." -
William Gibson
28. "The key is in not spending time, but in investing it." -

Stephen Covey
29. "It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are
we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau
30. "Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of
themselves." - Lord Chesterfield
31. "In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do;
it is not really the time but the will that is lacking." - Sir John Lubbock
32. "I am definitely going to take a course on time management -- just as

soon as I can work it into my schedule." - Louis Boone
33. "You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." - Charles Bruxton
34. "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." -
- Michael Altshule
35. "Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can't afford to lose." -
Thomas Edison
36. "The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something." - Carl Sandburg

January 26, 2011
Obama's State of the Union WordCloud
Size of the words indicate frequency of use.

Thanks to Jean Marie Bonthous for the heads up.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:21 PM
January 25, 2011
We're All in This Together!
COMING SOON! Idea Champions' new virtual collaboration training, featuring Master Coach/Trainer Paul Roth.
Watch this space for the announcement.

The Perfect Woodstock Getaway
When it's time to get away to fabulous Woodstock, NY, consider staying at the Blue Pearl. This extraordinary
guest cottage is the perfect retreat for anyone looking to chill (especially this winter.) Located less than a mile
from the center of town, the Blue Pearl is gorgeous, cozy, and warm. Mention the phrase Idea
Champions when you book your stay and get a free copy of Awake at the Wheel and a year's subscription
to Free the Genie.
The Power of Positive Feedback
Most high level executives do not expect a lot of recognition from others. Neither do they give a lot of
recognition to others.
Many managers are like the classic husband who, when his wife complains that he doesn't tell her he loves her
any more, responds that he told her he loved her when he married her -- and would have let her know if
anything had changed.
Similarly, most managers act as if the act of hiring an employee is recognition enough -- this in spite of the
fact that every one of these managers wants to be valued and appreciated by their superiors, and is regularly
disappointed by the lack of appreciation coming their way.
In today's workplace, there is a great fear that only the most extraordinary achievements warrant recognition
and that all "just good" performance is merely what should be expected and does not require any special
recognition.
The fear most manager's have? That "excessive" recognition will dilute the praise they give and reduce future
motivation for outstanding performance.
The data, of course, indicates otherwise.
Acknowledgment of good performance increases the probability of

more good performance. And specificity of feedback -- telling
people exactly what you liked about what they did and why you
liked it -- dramatically increases the likelihood of that performance
occurring again.
The bottom line?
If we can get to a place where we are more generous and specific

in the expression of our positive feedback, we will notice, in time, a dramatic increase in the quality of
employees' performance and their overall satisfaction with work.
-- Barry Gruenberg
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)January 24, 2011

The Genie Is a Leprechaun Today
When was the last time

you saw a genie
dressed like a leprechaun?
Probably not
in this lifetime.
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50 Awesome Quotes on Vision
1. "If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney
2. "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has
genius, and magic and power in it. Begin it now." - Goethe
3. "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high
and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo
4. "It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what
are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau
5. "You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You
lead by going to that place and making a case." - Ken Kesey
6. "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside awakens." - Carl Jung
7. "The empires of the future are empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill
8. "If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
9. "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible." - Jonathan Swift
10. "Management has a lot to do with answers. Leadership is a

function of questions. And the first question for a leader always
is: 'Who do we intend to be?' Not 'What are we going to do?'
but 'Who do we intend to be?' - Max DePree
11. "Vision without action is a daydream. Action with without

vision is a nightmare."- Japanese Proverb
12. "The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Alan
Kay
13."Where there is no vision the people perish." - Proverbs

29:18
14. "Vision without execution is hallucination." - Thomas Edison
15. "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." - Warren Bennis
16. "If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what
you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise." - Robert Fritz
17. "Create your future from your future, not your past." - Werner Erhard
18. "To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind." - Seneca
19. "You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the
right direction." - Alvin Toffler
20. "To accomplish great things we must dream as well as act.: - Anatole France
21. "A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it." - Soren Kierkegaard
22. "A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so
they will try to get there." - David Gergen
23. "The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision.

It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on
every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet." -
Theodore Hesburgh
24. "Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then
we shall find the way." - Abraham Lincoln
25. "Dreams are extremely important. You can't do it unless

you can imagine it." -George Lucas
26. "Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your
ultimate achievements." - Napoleon Hill
27. "Pain pushes until vision pulls." - Michael Beckwith
28. "Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action." - Warren Bennis
29. "The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his
leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows
which is which; he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide
whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both." - Buddha
30. "Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction." - Kenichi Ohmae
31. "It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision
does." - Peter Senge
32. "In the business world, the rearview mirror is always

clearer than the windshield." - Warren Buffett
33. "A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent

vision unless it expresses his core values, his basic
identity. One must first embark on the formidable journey
of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic
soul." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
34. "The best vision is insight." - Malcolm Forbes

35. "You have to know what you want. And if it seems to take you off the track, don't hold back, because
perhaps that is instinctively where you want to be. And if you hold back and try to be always where you have
been before, you will go dry." - Gertrude Stein
36. "The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." - Albert
Einstein
37. "I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That's were
the fun is." - Donald Trump
38. "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." - Arthur Schopenhauer
39. "People only see what they are prepared to see." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
40. "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision." - Helen Keller
41. "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly
drive it to completion." - Jack Welsh
42. "A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become
something more." - Rosabeth Moss Kanter
43. "If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac
Newton
44. "The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they
become obvious." - John Scully
45. "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and
endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with
success unexpected in common hours." - Henry David Thoreau
46. "Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground." -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
47. "Looking up gives light, although at first it makes you dizzy." -

Rumi
48. "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of
focus." - Mark Twain
49. "In order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles." - - David Ben-Gurion
50. "The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel
Proust
Big thanks to Val Vadeboncoeur for locating most of these quotes.

January 23, 2011
The Cult of Monetization
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone has asked me if I make money
from my blog -- and a dollar for every time one of these people has used the
"M" word, asking me if I've found a way to "monetize" the effort.
Well, before I answer their frequently asked question, let me begin with the
basics.
The word "monetize" completely repels me. If there is one word in the
English language I could live without it would be that word.
What? "Leverage," "incentivize," and "maximize" aren't enough? Now we

need "monetize?"
I've got nothing against money. I like money. I like having it. I like spending
it. I've (help!) got two kids to put through college soon. It's just that
not everything we do needs to be monetized.
I feel really good about hugging my kids without monetizing the effort. I also feel really good about walking
my dog without monetizing the effort. Same goes for laughing, breathing, singing, listening to music,
watching a sunset, writing poetry, volunteering, talking to friends, and reading books.
I don't get paid a penny for any of these things.
But somehow, blogging has to monetized? No, it doesn't.
The weird thing is, whenever I'm

asked by well-meaning friends if
my blogging has helped me grow
my business, my response is
usually tinged with a subtle form
of defensiveness, bravado, and
hocus pocus about "building a
brand."
I confess. My response has not

always been authentic because I
have bought into the assumptions,
doubts, and "business acumen" of
my inquisitors.
The fact of the matter is this: I

blog because I love it. I love to
write. I love to communicate. I
love to connect. I love to inspire. I love to stir the soup, share ideas, experiment, provide a service, learn,
discover, and be part of a community that is passionate about growth.
NOTE: The previous paragraph is not marketing copy. Neither is it my new mission statement, or attempt to
get more Twitter followers.
We live in an age that is far too focused on money. People have confused it with a lot of other things: like
happiness, for example... and meaning.... and fulfillment... and the innate thirst to make a contribution to
others.
I'm not suggesting that money is evil or my clients should start paying me in yak milk. No.
What I'm saying is this: Not every action needs to be monetized. Some things should be done for the sheer
joy of it.
And you, bloggers, out there -- stand up for yourselves! Stop playing the game of "building a business case"
every time someone asks you if all the time you spend blogging is worth it.
Of course, it's worth it! But the measure of it's worth cannot always be measured in dollars and cents.
January 22, 2011
A Sign of the Times
I've been doing some fascinating research lately on the origins of common
objects in our lives -- things we see daily, but often take for granted.
Like the Stop Sign, for example.
Most people think the Stop Sign was created to regulate traffic. Not true.
According to Dr. Ellison Burke of theGlobal Institute for Cross-Cultural

Studies, the origin of the Stop Sign has nothing to do with traffic -- and
dates back several thousand years.
Historical references to the Stop Sign have been noted in more than 27
civilizations, most notably Babylonia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Crete,
Rome, and the Han Dynasty.
According to social scientists, each of these civilizations experienced one or more

periods of rapid growth now referred to in the literature as "Societal Acceleration
Syndrome" -- the way in which daily transactions speed up in proportion to a
civilization's escalating Gross National Product.
In other words, speed has become one of the most statistically predicable indicators
of a civilization's development and, as I will get to later in this posting,
eventual decline.
My research doesn't end here, however.

In each of the above-mentioned civilizations, there have always been a small, but vocal, group of citizens who
-- concerned about the quickening pace of daily life -- have warned about this phenomenon.
Indeed, a joint longitudinal study conducted by the American Archeological

Institute and the Asian Society for World Growth, has revealed that this
"small, but highly committed group of citizens" has made repeated efforts to
diffuse their respective society's "escalating addiction to velocity."
In Sumeria, for example, a fringe group of philosophers and poets routinely

posted "Styopsian" signs at strategic intersections throughout the country --
not to stop traffic, but to stop unnecessary "mind movement."
Their effort resonated with the citizenry and eventually led to the widespread appearance of what modern day
sociologists now refer to as "stop signs" -- in urban centers, small villages, cattle crossings, universities, and
even cornfields.
One of the most curious facts I've unearthed in my research is this: For the past 2,000 years, Stop Signs,
regardless of the country of origin, have always been octagonal.
Apparently, each side of this iconic 8-sided, cross-cultural symbol of hoped-for stillness, has been imbued with
a secret teaching of great import:
1. Slow down
2. Pay attention
3. Look around
4. Pause
5. Look within
6. Breathe deeply
7. Appreciate
8. Move consciously
And so... the next time you see a Stop Sign, you may want to remember that you
are in the act of receiving a very ancient message -- one that preceded Starbucks,
Twitter, YouTube, MTV, and email by thousands of years.
Next week... the YIELD SIGN.
ED NOTE: It has recently come to my attention that some readers of this blog have questioned my research
methods and the veracity of my findings. A quick Google search of "Dr. Ellison Burke" and the "Global
Institute for Cross-Cultural Studies," they claim, reveals not a single link. Frankly, I am baffled by their
assertions and have assigned five of my brightest research assistants to get to the bottom of this
immediately. In the meantime, you may want to contemplate the semi-ancient words of modern day social
scientists, Simon and Garfunkel:
"Slow down, you're moving too fast. Ya gotta make the morning last..."

January 21, 2011
Listen to Your Subconscious Mind
If you study the lives of people who have had Eurekamoments,

you'll discover that their breakthroughs almost always came
after extended periods of intense, conscious effort.
They worked. They struggled. They abandoned all hope. They

recommitted -- and then the breakthrough came. And often at
the most unexpected of moments.
They weren't buying lottery tickets at their local deli, hoping to

win a breakthrough fortune. They were digging for treasure in
their own back yard.
Rene Descartes (Mr. "I-Think-Therefore-I-Am") got the Scientific Method revealed to him in a dream. Elias
Howe arrived at the final design for the lock stitch sewing machine in a dream. Richard Wagner got the idea
his uber work, Das Rhinegold, while stepping onto a bus after long months of creative despair.
In other words, the conscious mind works overtime in an attempt to

solve a problem or achieve a goal. Unable to come up with the
solution, the challenge gets outsourced to the subconscious mind,
which then proceeds to figure things out in its own, sweet time.
Of course, all of this assumes we are listening to that still small voice of
wisdom within us.
Well then, what's a not-so-still, left-brained, bottom-line-watching

business person to do if he wants to increase the odds of tapping into
his inner Einstein.
Here's a start:
This week, keep a log of your most inspired ideas, intuitions, and
dreams. When something pops for you (an inspired thought, an inkling,
a sudden insight) write it down -- even if it doesn't make sense. Then,
at the end of the week, read your log.
Look for clues. Notice patterns. Make new connections. See whatinsights come to mind -- and if they do, let
us know.
More on the subconscious mind

January 20, 2011
Not THINK Tanks, THANK Tanks!
I'd like your feedback on a new idea of mine which I have playfully named
THANK TANKS (with the help of one of my FB friends).
The idea, still rough, is for organizations to provide their employees with a
practical way to express their appreciation (of each other and the business)
-- instead of always harping on what's wrong.
In the same way that "Quality Circles" were a big hit in the 80's, THANK
TANKS (i.e. "Appreciation Circles"), might be exactly what the doctor ordered
for these difficult times.
The idea is related to the practice ofAppreciative Inquiry, but is not focused
on improving organizational processes. Rather, it focuses on the all-too-rare
moment of people appreciating each other.
I realize that some business leaders will consider this a trivial

pursuit. So be it.
I'm betting there are many forward thinking leaders who will be
open to the idea -- especially if the execution of it is simple,
engaging, low cost, and raises morale.
Your thoughts? Ideas? Feedback? How do you see this working

inyour company?

January 19, 2011
20 Awesome Quotes on Beginning
1."Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and
power and magic in it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2. "There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth -- not
going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha
3. "Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." - Meister Eckhart
4. "All great ideas and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning." -
Albert Camus
5. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu
6. "Beginnings are always messy." - John Galsworthy
7. "When there is a start to be made, don't step over! Start where you
are." - Edgar Cayce
8. "So many fail because they don't get started -- they don't go. They don't overcome inertia. They don't
begin." - W. Clement Stone
9."Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Seneca
10."The beginning is the most important part of the work." - Plato
11."The beginnings of all things are small."- Cicero
12. "What's well begun is half done." - Horace
13. "Every exit is an entry somewhere else." - Tom Stoppard
14. "The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small
stones." - Chinese Proverb
15. "No good ending can be expected in the absence of the right
beginning." - I Ching
16. "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." - Martin
Luther King
17. "Beginning is easy -- continuing hard." - Japanese Proverb
18. "There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." - Louis
L'Amour
19. "The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette."- Henry Hoskins
20. "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -
St. Francis of Assisi
Thanks to Val Vadeboncoeur for locating these quotes
Creativity as Applied Imagination

Lucid exposition on creativity by Sir Kenneth Robinson. (Hint: it's not just about thinking stuff up. It's about
DOING things...)
January 18, 2011
Are You an Idea Addict?
There are lots of things in this world people get addicted to: alcohol,
nicotine, heroin, sex, and iPhones just to name a few.
But perhaps the biggest addiction of them all is the addiction to our
own ideas. Here's how it works:
We think something up. We feel a buzz. We tweak it, we name it, we

pitch it, and POOF, the addiction begins.
At first, like most habits, it's a casual pursuit with a thousand positive
side effects: increased energy, renewed focus, and a general feeling of
well-being. Like wow, man. But then...
We think about it in the shower. We think about it in the car. We think

about it when people are asking us to think about other things. We
even dream about it.
Soon we want everyone to know about it. We want them to feel the buzz. We want them to nod in agreement.
We want them to recognize just how pure our fixation is.
If this is where it ended, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I

wouldn't be calling it an addiction. Maybe I'd be calling it an
"inspiration," or a "commitment" or a "visitation from the Muse."
But it doesn't end here. It goes on and on and on and on -- often
to our own detriment.
If you have a business, of course, you want to conjure up cool ideas. That's a good thing. But if you cling to
ideas just because they're yours, or just because you've invested major mojo in them, then it's definitely time
to rethink where you're coming from.
The story behind the creation of the iPhone is a good example of what I'm talking about.
Steve Jobs and his Apple team had to face the music and back off their own addiction to what they had
created in order to create something even greater.
Here's what Steve had to say about the matter...
"There always seems to come a moment (when what you're doing) is not quite working. Take the iPhone. We
had a different enclosure design for the iPhone until way too close to the introduction to ever change it. And I
came in one morning, and I said 'I just don't love this. I can't convince myself to fall in love with this. And this
is the most important product we've ever done.
"So we pushed the reset button.We went through all the zillions of
models we made and ideas we'd had... It was hell because we had to
go to the team and say, 'All the work you've done for the last year,
we're going to have to throw it away and start over, and we're going
to have to work twice as hard now because we don't have enough
time.'
"And you know what everybody said, 'Sign us up.'
That happens more than you think because this is not just
engineering and science. There is art, too. Sometimes when you're
in the middle of one of these crises, you're not sure you're going to
make it to the other end. But we've always made it, and so we have
a certain degree of confidence, although sometimes you wonder."
101 CreativiTeas for Thirsty Innovators
No matter how many times I tell people there's no such thing as a

"magic innovation pill," every one keeps asking.
I don't have the magic pill. But I DO have something even better --
avirtual potion that has the potential to liberate you and all your co-
workers from the bothersome obstacles that keep sabotaging your
innate ability to innovate.
All you need to do is read the list below, pick the CreativiTea you most
need to imbibe, and take a virtual drink. Bottoms up!
1. Opening Up to PossibiliTea
2. Easy Going FlexibiliTea

3. Gandhi-like HumiliTea
4. Well-timed AdaptabiliTea
5. Taking Care of Details Amidst InfiniTea
6. Loosey Goosey ManeuverabiliTea
7. Acceptance of MortaliTea
8. Flashes of NonsensicaliTea
9. Beyond MoraliTea
10. An Occasional Dose of RealiTea
11. Following Your Passion With ImpuniTea
12. Balancing PolariTea
13. InterdimensionaliTea
14. Total QualiTea
15. Unfettered CreativiTea
16. Appreciation of DiversiTea
17. Tuning in to SynchroniciTea
18. OriginaliTea
19. UnconventionaliTea
20. Old Fashioned PracticaliTea
21. CuriosiTea
22. Celebration of IndividualiTea
23. A Deeper Sense of InevitabiliTea
24. Letting Go of FutiliTea
25. A Transformed MentaliTea
26. Go With the Flow FluidiTea
27. Baby Oh Baby SensualiTea

28. WhimsicaliTea
29. Child-like SimpliciTea
30. Tiger-like FerociTea
31. Nose to the Grindstone DurabiliTea
32. Let it Rip TheatricaliTea
33. Grrr!! TenaciTea
34. Authentic AuthenticiTea
35. Mucho GenerosiTea
36. Acceptance of AsymmetricaliTea
37. Quick Moving MobiliTea
38. Enlightened SpiritualiTea
39. Day By Day ClariTea
40. Sylvester Stallone MusculariTea
41. In the Moment SpontaneiTea
42. Twelve Step SobrieTea
43. Beethovian VirtuosiTea
44. Wild Maniacal HilariTea
45. Increased CapaciTea
46. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTea
47. Lucid PerspicaciTea
48. Ha Ha Ha LeviTea
49. Focused SingulariTea
50. A Daily Shot of InsaniTea
51. Expressing Your PersonaliTea
52. Frontal NudiTea

53. International CommuniTea
54. Much More VarieTea
55. Information Highway ActiviTea
56. Higher ProductiviTea
57. Que Sera SororiTea
58. Off the Wall BanaliTea
59. Alimentary CanaliTea
60. Relaxed InformaliTea
61. Sprint? Verizon? AT&Tea?
62. Understanding Primal CausaliTea
63. SpecificiTea
64. Huge Amounts of PubliciTea
65. Give Up Feeling ShitTea
66. IntentionaliTea
67. Beyond Beyond MetaphysicaliTea
68. A Bowl of Soup and a BLTea
69. Hip Hop, Reggae MusicaliTea
70. Calling on Your Own DiviniTea
71. A Touch of SubtleTea
72. Profound ProfundiTea
73. Bottom Line ProfitabiliTea
74. Surprise and SerendipiTea
75. Do It Now InstantaneiTea
76. Proven CertifiabiliTea
77. Solid MarketabiliTea
78. Truth, Love and BeauTea

79. ExponentialiTea
80. Let Go and Be EmpTea
81. We Are the World SolidariTea
82. A Twist, A Change, Some NovelTea
83. Getting Down to the Nitty GritTea
84. San Andreas FaulTea
85. Midwestern SinceriTea
86. Transcending Financial ScarciTea
87. Death of CertainTea
88. Buddha and KrishnamurTea
89. You Don't Have to Feel So GuilTea
90. Total ResponsibiliTea
91. Challenge AuthoriTea
92. Anyone here From Joisey CiTea?
93. More and More CredibiliTea
94. Get it Done MasculiniTea
95. Be More Receptive to FemininiTea
96. A Three Month Vacation in TahiTea
97. Get Rich and Become a CelebriTea
98. Much Deserved SereniTea
99. Hot Diggity DoggiTea
100. Tons of PositiviTea
101. If All There Is Is Now, What Is EterniTea?

January 14, 2011
When a Best Practice Is a Worst Practice
I'm a collector of best practices. I like to find out what

forward thinkingindividuals andorganizations have done to
accomplish extraordinary results.
Sometimes I share these stories in my kick

asss orworkshops.
Invariably, my stock rises when I tell these stories. People

think I know stuff. They get giddy. They take notes. They
think about how to adapt these best practices
to theirorganization.
But then things get weird.
People start becoming satisfied with emulating other

people's lives. Instead of thinking up their own best
practices, they imitate. Ouch!
The spirit of innovation gets replaced by the religion of innovation.
Gone is reflection. Gone is the process of discovery. Gone is the ownership that comes with birthing new
insights. In it's place?Simulation. Imitation. And, all too often, the blind following of pre-packaged solutions.
I'm not saying there isn't value in paying attention to other people's
best practices. There is.
But when when imitation replaces creation, something invariably

gets lost -- and innovation eventually goes down the drain.
Idea Champions
Cartoon
Image
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:47 PM |Comments (1)
January 13, 2011
To VLOG or not to VLOG

I'm thinking of starting a VLOG and want your input. Instead of justwriting a bunch of stuff, what about me
delivering the message, on camera? Here's how the Geico caveman does it.
PS: My award winning book, features the most innovative caveman of all time -- Og, the inventor of the
wheel. Buy it on Amazon

50 Awesome Quotes on Risk Taking
1. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius,
power and magic in it." -- Goethe
2. "Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or

nothing."-- Helen Keller
3. "It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's
because we dare not venture that they are difficult." -- Seneca
4. "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is
possible to go." -- T.S. Eliot
5. "What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple.
Whether you are willing to do it is another matter." -- Peter Drucker
6. "Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is." -- Jimmy Carter
7. "I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." -- Pablo Picasso
8. "Life is being on the wire, everything else is just waiting. -- Karl Wallenda
9. "If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough." -- Mario Andretti
10. "Don't be afraid to take a big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small
jumps." -- David Lloyd George
11. "It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live
at all." -- William James
12. "Do one thing every day that scares you." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
13. "Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own,
instead of someone else's." -- Billy Wilder
14. "The dangers of life are infinite, and among them is safety." -- Goethe
15. "Do not fear mistakes. There are none." -- Miles Davis
16. "A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he
has done." -- Cardinal Newman
17. "Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast." -- Tom Peters
18. "Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do." -- H.
Jackson Brown, Jr.
19. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the
bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in
your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain
20. "Leap and the net will appear."-- Zen Saying
21. "The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear

and get a record of successful experiences behind you. Destiny is not
a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be
waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." -- William Jennings Bryan
22. "Pearls don't lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it." -- Chinese proverb
23. "Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome." -- Samuel Johnson
24. "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to
blossom." -- Anais Nin
25. "Are you placing enough interesting, freakish, long shot, weirdo bets?" -- Tom Peters
26. "Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash." -- General George Patton
27. "I can accept failure. Everybody fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Fear is an illusion." --
Michael Jordan
28. "Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor." --

Anonymous
29. "Yes, risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would

be called 'sure-thing-taking.'" -- Jim McMahon
30. "People who don't take risks generally make about two big
mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two
big mistakes a year." -- Peter Drucker
31. "Necessity is the mother of taking chances." -- Mark Twain
32. "99 percent of success is built on failure." -- Charles Kettering
33. "Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first." -- Frederick
Wilcox
34. "What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?" -- Robert Schuller
35. "Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers." -- Mignon McLaughlin
36. "You can only be as good as you dare to be bad." -- John Barrymore
37. "Anything that is successful is a series of mistakes." -- Billie Armstrong
38. "Give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
39. "If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It's much easier to apologize than it is to get permission." -- Rear
Admiral Grace Hopper
40. "If you risk nothing, then you risk everything." -- Geena Davis
41. "Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear
most." -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
42. "Remember, a dead fish can float down a stream, but it takes a live
one to swim upstream." -- W.C. Fields
43. "Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be
wise." -- Anonymous
44. "To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose
oneself." -- Soren Kierkegaard
45. "You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take." -- Wayne Gretzky
46. "It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves." -- Andre Gide
47. "Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments
you make the better." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
48. "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." --
Andre Gide
49. "Danger can never be overcome without taking risks." -- Latin Proverb
50. "I'll play it first, and tell you what it is later." -- Miles Davis
Thanks to Val Vadeboncoeur for gathering these goodies. If you have other favorites, let us know.

January 12, 2011
The 8 Levels of a Brainstorm Session
Most people think brainstorming sessions are all about ideas --

much in the same way Wall Street bankers think life is all about
money.
While ideas are certainly a big part of brainstorming, they are

only a part.
People who rush into a brainstorming session starving for new

ideas will miss the boat (and the train, car, and unicycle)
completely unless they tune into the some other important
dynamics that are also at play:
1. INVESTIGATION: If you want your brainstorming sessions to

be effective, you'll need to do some investigating before hand.
Get curious. Ask questions. Dig deeper. The more you find out what the real issues are, the greater your
chances of framing powerful questions to brainstorm and choosing the best techniques to use.
2. IMMERSION: While good ideas can surface at any time, their chances radically increase the more that
brainstorm participants are immersed. Translation? No coming and going during a session. No distractions. No
interruptions. And don't forget to put a "do not disturb" sign on the door.
3. INTERACTION: Ideas come to people at all times of day and under all kinds of circumstances. But in a
brainstorming session, it's the quality of interaction that makes the difference -- how people connect with
each other, how they listen, and build on ideas. Your job, as facilitator, is to increase the quality of interaction.
4. INSPIRATION: Creative output is often a function of mindset.

Bored, disengaged people rarely originate good ideas. Inspired
people do. This is one of your main tasks, as a brainstorm facilitator
-- to do everything in your power to keep participants inspired. The
more you do, the less techniques you will need.
5. IDEATION: Look around. Everything you see began as an idea in

someone's mind. Simply put, ideas are the seeds of innovation --
the first shape a new possibility takes. As a facilitator of the creative
process, your job is to foster the conditions that amplify the odds of
new ideas being conceived, developed, and articulated.
6. ILLUMINATION: Ideas are great. Ideas are cool. But they are also a dime a dozen unless they lead to an
insight or aha. Until then, ideas are only two dimensional. But when the light goes on inside the minds of the
people in your session, the ideas are activated and the odds radically increase of them manifesting.
7. INTEGRATION: Well-run brainstorming sessions have a way of intoxicating people. Doors open. Energy
soars. Possibilities emerge. But unless participants have a chance to make sense of what they've conceived,
the ideas are less likely to manifest. Opening the doors of the imagination is a good thing, but so is closure.
8. IMPLEMENTATION: Perhaps the biggest reason why most brainstorming sessions fail is what happens
after -- or, shall I say, whatdoesn't happen after. Implementation is the name of the game. Before you let
people go, clarify next steps, who's doing what (and by when), and what outside support is needed.
Virtual Brainstorm Facilitation Training
Live Brainstorm Training
Cartoon
January 11, 2011
The Value of Nothing
When children are born prematurely, they are placed in incubators until
ready for the world. When fields stop producing, farmers let them lay
fallow -- until the soil's nutrients are restored. When a baseball player is in
a slump, he's given a day off to get his game together.
It's the same with innovators -- or should be. They, too, need to incubate.
They, too, need to lay fallow. They, too, need an occasional day off --
especially if the results they're looking for aren't showing up.
You already know this. That's why sometimes you choose to "sleep on it" before making a decision.
Pausing isn't necessarily procrastinating. Done well, it's an act of renewal -- a chance to relax and let your
subconscious shine -- a natural phenomenon that's all-too-rare these days -- especially in organizations where
everyone is being driven to produce.
Face it. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
THE TECHNIQUE
1. The next time you are working hard, but getting no results -- notice it.
2. Take a break.
3. Breathe.
4. If you feel the urge to produce, let the urge pass.
5. During this time, notice the ideas that come to you -- and write
them down.
Excerpted from Awake at the Wheel.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:24 PM| Comments (1)
January 10, 2011
Innovation from the Inside Out

These days, almost all of my clients are talking about the need to establish a culture of innovation.
Some, I'm happy to report, are actually doing something about it. Hallelujah! They are taking bold steps
forward to turn theory into action.
The challenge for them is the same as it's always been -- and that is, to find a simple, authentic way to
address the challenge from the inside out -- to water the root of the tree, not just the branches.
Guess what? Systems are not sufficient to guarantee change. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes,
"Systems die. Instinct remains."
This is not to say that organizations should ignore systems and structures in their effort to establish a culture
of innovation. They shouldn't.
But systems and structures all too often become the Holy Grail -- much in the same way that Six Sigma has
become the Holy Grail.
Unfortunately, when the addiction to systems and structures rules the day, an organization's quest for
a culture of innovation degenerates into nothing much more than a cult of innovation.
Organizations do not innovate. People innovate. Inspired people. Fascinated people. Creative people.
Committed people. That's where innovation from the inside out. On the inside.
The organization's role -- just like the individual manager's

role -- is to get out of the way. And while this "getting out
of the way" will undoubtedly include the effort to formulate
supportive systems, processes, and protocols, it is
important to remember that systems, processes, and
protocols are never the answer.
They are the context, not the content.
They are the husk, not kernel.
They are the menu, not the meal.
Ultimately, organizations are faced with the same challenge that religions are faced with. Religious leaders
may speak passionately about the virtues their congregation needs to be living by, but sermons onlyname the
challenge and remind people to experience something -- they don't necessarily change behavior.
Change comes from within the heart and mind of each individual. It cannot be legislated or evangelized into
reality.
What's needed in organizations who aspire to a culture of innovation, is an inner change. People need to
experience something within themselves that will spark and sustain their effort to innovate -- and when
they experience this "something," they will be self-sustaining.
They will think about their projects in the shower, in their car, and in their dreams. They will need very little
"management" from the outside.Inside out will rule the day -- not outside in. Intrinsic motivation will flourish.
People will innovate not because they are told to, but because theywant to. Open Space Technology is a good
metaphor for this. When people are inspired, share a common, compelling goal and have the time and space
to collaborate, the results become self-organizing.
You can create all the reward systems you want. You can reinvent your workspace until you're blue in the
face. You can license the latest andgreatest idea management tool, but unless each person in your
organization OWNS the need to innovate and finds a way to tap into their own INNATE BRILLIANCE, all you'll
end up with is a mixed bag of systems, processes, and protocols -- the husk, not the kernel -- the innovation
flotsam and jetsam that the next administration or next CEO or next key stakeholder will mock, reject or
change at the drop of a hat if the ROI doesn't show up in the next 20 minutes.
You want culture change? You want a culture of innovation?
Great. Then find a way to help each and every person in your organization come from the inside out. Deeply
consider how you canawaken, nurture, and develop the primal need all people have to create something
extraordinary.
Photo
January 07, 2011
A Sure Fire Way to End Terrorism
OK. I know this headline seems bold. Even presumptuous.

But bear with me. I'm inspired. And even more than that
-- on the brink of a breakthrough
But first, some back story...
A few months ago, my awesomely cool, smart, and

creative daughter, Mimi, turned 13 and invited 12 of her
girlfriends to our house for a celebrational sleepover.
The first 30 minutes were great as each girl, gift in hand,

was dropped off by a parent, who, upon surveying the
room, offered my wife and I a glance of great compassion
as if to say "Better you than me."
The girls? Don't ask...
They talked. They texted. They talked. They texted. Ate chocolate. Brushed hair. Played music. Painted
fingernails. Laughed. Texted. Called friends. Finished not a single sentence, rolling their eyes every time a
parent entered the room.
Mindful of my daughter's need for space and my own weird tendency to be a little too present when her
friends were around, I retreated to my bedroom like some kind of mid-western chicken farmer looking for a
storm shelter.
I tried reading. I tried napping. I tried meditating.
Nothing worked.
My attention was completely subsumed -- taken over by an invisible vortex of swirling social networking
energy being channeled by a roomful of partying 13-year old girls -- the next generation of, like, whatever.
And then, with absolutely no warning, everything became

suddenly clear. In a flash, I understood exactly how to end
terrorism once and for all.
THE PLAN:
For starters, the government flies a squadron of 13 year-old girls

to Guantanamo -- or wherever high profile terrorists are being
interrogated these days.
The girls, impeccably guarded by the highest qualified soldiers

available, are walked into a prison waiting room where the shackled terrorists are already sitting.
Immediately, the girls begin texting, eating chocolate, talking, painting fingernails, and exponentially
interrupting each other with a steady stream of "OMG's" and other, esoteric internet acronyms none of their
parents have a clue about.
The prisoners, at first, find the whole thing amusing -- a delightful break from their dreadful prison routine.
They smile. They wink. They remember their youth.
But the girls, wired to the max (sugar and wi-fi), radically pick up the pace of their texting and talking like
some kind of futuristic teenage particle accelerator.
After five minutes, the prisoners stop smiling. After ten, they become silent. After twenty, they start twitching.
A lot.
They try covering their ears with their shackled hands, but the chains are too short. They start looking madly
around the room, hoping to catch the eyes of their jailers -- but
their jailers sit motionless, miming the movements of the
twelve texting teenagers.
A few of the terrorists start crying. A few go catatonic. And

then, the roughest looking of the bunch -- a tall man with a
long, jagged scar on his left cheek -- calls out in his native
language.
"STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I'll TELL YOU EVERYTHING

YOU WANT TO KNOW."
The guards nod and switch on the nearest tape recorder. But
it's totally unnecessary.
The girls, totally tuned into the terrorists' confessions as if watching the finals of American Idol, are texting
everything they hear to a roomful of Pentagon heavyweights in an undisclosed location.
The information proves vital to our national defense.

Within three days, a record number of terrorist cells are taken down. Word gets out to the global terrorist
community and, in only a matter of weeks, it becomes impossible for the Jihadist movement to recruit.
Yes, of course, the ACLU raises a stink about this "new strain of American torture," but a thorough
investigation by a bi-partisan task force of international peacekeepers proves to be inconclusive. No long-term
damage to the prisoners can be detected.
On a roll, my daughter and her rock-the-world friends create a Facebook Group that teaches other 13-year old
girls how to help the cause. A movement is born.
Soon, hundreds of teenage girl "patriots" are dispatched to war zones around the world -- radically decreasing
the incidence of terrorism on all seven continents.
Subsequent interviews with former Jihadists reveal that merely the threat of being in a room with 12 texting
13-year old girls was enough to get them to lay down their homemade bombs and return to farming.
Peace comes to the Middle East. Pakistan and India make up. (Make up, girls!) The Golden Age begins.
As you might guess, HBO and Hollywood come calling.
Big time producers want to do a reality show and a major motion picture, but the girls -- newly inspired by the
impact they've had on the world -- refuse to become a commodity as they prepare (OMG!) for summer camp
and 8th grade and the September launch of that next, cool cell phone with the incredible keyboard.
January 06, 2011
The Homeless Man with the Golden Pipes

If you're one of the 12 people left on planet Earth who hasn't seen this video, here ya go -- the story of a
homeless man who went from the streets to the airwaves overnight, reconnecting with his gift, his dream, and
his faith. Never give up! Anything is possible!
The Top 100 Lamest Excuses for Not Innovating
If you need to do something different, but find yourself procrastinating, your

excuse is probably on this list. And while you may have all the "proof" you
need to prove yourself right, being right doesn't necessarily increase your
odds of innovating. So, take a look, note the ones that bug you, and find a
way to go over, under, around, or through them.
1. I don't have the time.

2. I can't get the funding.
3. My boss will never go for it.
4. Were not in the kind of business likely to innovate.
5. We won't be able to get it past legal.
6. I've got too much on my plate.

7. I'll be punished if I fail.
8. I'm just not not the creative type.
9. I'm juggling way too many projects.
10. I'm too new around here.
11. I'm not good at presenting my ideas.

12. No one, besides me, really cares about innovation.
13. There's too much bureaucracy here to get anything done.
14. Our customers aren't asking for it.
15. We're a risk averse culture. Always will be.
16. We don't have an innovation process.

17. We don't have a culture of innovation.
18. They don't pay me enough to take on this kind of project.
19. My boss will get all the credit.
20. My career path will be jeopardized if this doesn't fly.
21. I've already got enough headaches.

22. I'm no good at office politics.
23. My home life will suffer.
24. I'm not disciplined enough.
25. It's an idea too far ahead of its time.
26. I won't be able to get enough resources.

27. I don't have enough information.
28. Someone will steal my idea.
29. It will take too long to get results.
30. We're in a down economy.
31. It will die in committee.

32. I'll be laughed out of town.
33. I won't be able to get the ear of senior leadership.
34. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
35. The concept is too disruptive.
36. I won't be able to get enough support.

37. I don't tolerate ambiguity all that well.
38. I'm not in a creative profession.
39. Now is not a good time to start a new project.
40. I don't have the right personality to build a team.
41. Our company is going through too many changes right now.
42. They won't give me any more time to work on the project.
43. If I succeed, too much will be expected of me.
44. Nothing ever changes around here.
45. Things are changing so fast, my head is spinning.
46. Whatever success I achieve will be undone by somebody else.

47. I don't have enough clout to get things done.
48. It's just not worth the effort.
49. I'm getting close to retirement.
50. My other projects will suffer.
51. Been there, done that.

52. I don't want another thing to think about.
53. I won't have any time left for my family.
54. A more nimble competitor will beat us to the punch.
55. Teamwork is a joke around here.
56. I've never done anything like this before.

57. I won't be rewarded if the project succeeds.
58. We're not measured for innovation.
59. I don't have the right credentials.
60. We need more data.
61. It's not my job.

62. It will hard sustaining the motivation required.
63. I've tried before and failed.
64. I'm not smart enough to pull this off.
65. I don't want to go to any more meetings.
66. It will take way too long to get up to speed.

67. Our Stage Gate process will sabotage any hope of success.
68. I'm not skillful at building business cases.
69. Summer's coming.
70. The marketplace is too volatile.
71. This is a luxury we can't afford at this time.

72. I think we're about to be acquired.
73. I'm trying to simplify my life, not complicate it.
74. The dog ate my homework.
75. Help! I'm a prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory.
76. My company just wants to squeeze more blood from the stone.
77. My company isn't committed to innovation.
78. I don't have the patience.
79. I'm not sure how to begin.
80. I'm too left-brained for this sort of thing.
81. I won't be able to get the funding required.

82. I'm getting too old for this.
83. We're too competitive, in-house. Collaboration is a rarity.
84. Spring is coming.
85. I'm hypoglycemic.
86. That's Senior Leadership's job

87. I'm thinking of quitting.
88. Market conditions just aren't right.
89. We need to focus on the short term for a while.
90. Innovation, schminnovation.
91. What we really need are some cost cutting initiatives.

92. Six Sigma will take care of everything.
93. Mercury is in retrograde.
94. IT won't go for it.
95. Maybe next year.
96. That's my boss's job.

97. That's R&D's job.
98. I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't.
99. First, we need to benchmark the competition.
100.It's against my religion.
HOW TO GO BEYOND THESE LAME EXCUSES
1. Make a list of your three most bothersome ones.
2. Turn each excuse into a question, beginning with the words "How can I?" or "How can we?" (For example, if
your excuse is "That's R&D's job," you might ask "How can I make innovation my job?" or "How can I help my
team take more responsibility for innovating?"
3. Brainstorm each question -- alone and with your team.
4. DO something about it within the next 48 hours.
Other ways to go beyond. Or, hey, how about this. Or this or this.
January 04, 2011
Do You Really Need More?
An investment banker was standing at the pier of a

small coastal village when a small boat with just one
fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several
large yellow fin tuna. The banker complimented the
fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long
it took to catch them.
The fisherman replied, "Only a little while."
The banker then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer
and catch more fish?"
The fisherman said, "Why bother? I now have more

than enough to support my family's needs."
The banker then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the
village each evening and spend time with my family, I have a full and busy life."
The banker scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should
spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat! With the
proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you
would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a
middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your
own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You
would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the capital
city. After that, who knows, maybe you could take on the world!"
The fisherman asked, "How long will all of this take?"

To which the banker replied, "I'd say about 15 to 20 years."
"But what then?" asked the fisherman.
The Banker laughed, "That's the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your
company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions?...Then what?" the fisherman replied.
"Then you would retire and do whatever you want," said the banker."What would you want to do?"
The fisherman answered: "I would sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife,
stroll into the village each evening and spend time with my family."
Thanks to Neil Evans for submitting this wonderful story.
January 03, 2011
12 Ways to Make Bad Decisions
There are three things that continue to astound me about most

organizations: The cro-magnon way performance reviews are done; the
pitiful way brainstorm sessions are run and; the voo doo way decisions are
made. What follows is an elaboration of the third -- 12 all-too-common
phenomena that contribute to funky decision making. (As you read, think
about the teams you work most closely with -- and which of these behaviors
describes them).
1. Selective Search for Evidence:Gathering facts that support pre-

determined conclusions, but disregard other facts that support different
conclusions.
2. Premature Termination of Search for Evidence: Accepting the first

alternative that looks like it might work.
3. Inertia: Being unwilling to change old thought patterns.
4. Selective Perception: Prematurely screening out information not assumed to be useful.
5. Wishful Thinking: Wanting to see things in a positive light.
6. Recency Effect: Putting undue attention on recent information and experience while minimizing the value
of information collected in the past.
7. Repetition Bias: Believing what's been stated the most often and by the greatest number of sources.
8. Anchoring and Adjustment:Being unduly influenced by initial information that shapes your view of
subsequent information.
9. Group Think: Conforming to peer pressure or the opinions of the majority.
10. Source Credibility: Rejecting input from sources prematurely judged to not be credible (or not "cool" or
"in sync with the way you do business.")
11. Attribution Asymmetry: Attributing success to your team's abilities and talents, but attributing failures
to bad luck and external factors.
12. Role Fulfillment: Conforming to the decision making expectations others have of someone in your
position.

January 01, 2011
100 Reasons Why You Don't Get Your Best Ideas At Work
Since 1986, I've asked 10,000 people where and when

they get their best ideas. Less than 2% have said "the
workplace."
Based on my 25 years of working with a ton of innovation-

seeking organizations, here's my take on WHY:
1. Too much to do, not enough time.
2. Too many distractions and interruptions.
3. You work in a risk averse organization.
4. Sleep deprivation.
5. Mental clutter.
6. Fear that someone will steal your idea.
7. You don't think of yourself as creative.
8. Boring meetings that put you in a bad mood.
9. You're not measured for the quantity or quality of ideas you generate.
10. Stultifying routine.
11. You are worried about layoffs and don't want to draw
undue attention to yourself.
12. Poor ventilation -- not enough oxygen.
13. The last time you came up with a great idea, you were
either ignored or ridiculed.
14. It's not in your job description.
15. It's not in the strategic plan.
16. It's not in the cards.
17. It's not in the Bible.
18. Your manager has made it clear that he/she does not have the time to consider your ideas.
19. Lack of immersion. Lack of incubation.
20. No one's ever told you that they want your ideas.
21. You are understaffed and don't have the time to try an innovative approach.
22. You are angry at the company.
23. You get no input from people outside your department.
24. Your company has just been acquired and you don't want your new overlord to succeed.
25. You know there's no one to pitch your new ideas to -- and even if there was, it's a long shot they
would listen.
26. You're concerned that your great idea is so great that it will
actually be accepted and then you will be expected to work on it in
your spare time (which you don't have) with no extra resources
made available to you.
27. All your great ideas are focused on trying to get Gina or Gary, in
Marketing, to give you the time of day.
28. You're a new parent.
29. You've got other projects, outside of work, and have no energy left to think about anything else.
30. They don't pay you enough to think creatively.
31. You're expected to leave your mind at the door when you come to work.
32. No incentives or rewards.
33. You don't have the intrinsic motivation .
34. Actually, you don't want to be working at all -- and you wouldn't be working if the financial meltdown
didn't happen.
35. You have not identified a challenge or opportunity that inspires you enough to think up new ideas.
36. No timely feedback from others.
37. There's no one to collaborate with.
38. Constantly changing priorities.
39. "Work," for you is synonymous with things youhave to

do not want to do, thus creating two parallel universes that
never intersect.
40. You haven't read my award winning book yet.
41. It's too noisy.
42. Endless hustle and bustle.
43. You can't stop thinking about new ways to improve your Match.com profile.
44. You're too busy tweeting.
45. You have the attention span of a tse tse fly.
46. Just when a good idea pops into your head, you dismiss it as "not good enough".
47. Your left brain has become a kind of Attila the Hun in relation to your Pee Wee Herman-like right brain.
48. You didn't get the memo.
49. You are too busy deleting spam.
50. The brainstorming sessions you attend are pitiful.
51. You believe that new ideas are a dime a dozen.
52. You're not paid to think. You're paid to DO.
53. Actually, you don't have a job.
54. You are hypoglycemic.
55. You're not allowed to listen to music at your desk.
56. You have no sense of urgency.
57. Your office or cubicle feels like a jail cell.
58. You're too busy filling out forms.
59. Not enough coffee.
60. Drugs are not allowed in the workplace.
61. Existential despair.
62. There's a call on Line 2.
63. You have no time to incubate or reflect.

64. You've got to show results fast.
65. You know your boss will, eventually, get all the credit for your great ideas.
66. You've just been assigned to another project.
67. Brain fatigue.
68. You haven't tried Free the Genie yet.
69. You don't feel valued or appreciated.
70. You deciphered a much talked about sighting of a Crop Circle in England as meaning: "Stop coming up
with good ideas at work."
71. Every extra minute you have is spent on Facebook.
72. There's too much stress and pressure on the job.
73. Naysayers and idea killers surround you.
74. Inability to relax.
75. It's summertime.
76. You've got this weird rash on your leg and you think it might be Lyme's disease or leprosy.
77. What you think of as a great idea and what your manager thinks of as a great idea are two entirely
different things.
78. You know you won't get the funding, so why bother?
79. You're just trying to get through the day.
80. Every time you get a great idea, it's time to go to another meeting.
81. You only get your great ideas in the shower and there are no showers at work.
82. Your head is filled with a thousand things you need to do.
83. Relentless deadlines.
84. Too much input from others.
85. You have to stay focused on the "job at hand".
86. You'll only end up making the company richer and that is not what you want to do.
87. Those bright, annoying, overhead fluorescent lights.
88. No one besides you really cares.

89. You've just been assigned a project that is boring the hell out of you.
90. There is no one to brainstorm with.
91. Your husband/wife is complaining that all you ever do is work -- or

talk about work.
92. No alcohol.
93. Your cultural upbringing has taught you that it is not your place to
conjure up new ideas.
94. Your job is too structured to think outside the box.
95. People seem to be staring at you and that makes you self-conscious.
96. You're too busy complaining about the organization.
97. Wait! How come they're taking so much out of your paycheck?
98. You're only working there to beef up your resume for the next job.
99. A vast right wing conspiracy.
100. You let too many of the aforementioned 99 phenomena have their way with you. Your resulting
assessment of the corporate environment not being conducive to the origination of great ideas then becomes
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A big thank you to Jim Aubele, Fran Tyson-Marchino, Nirit Sharon, Cindy Pearce, Robert Fischaleck, Deborah
Medenbach, Amy de Boinville, Glenna Dumay, Bert Dromedary, and Sally Kaiser for their contributions to this
list.

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January 31, 2011

How We Get the Job Done

Most people think that creativity is a mystical state available only

But creativity isn't a mystical state. It's a natural state -- a human

This is the work of Idea Champions. We help people see what

What follows is a brief summary of how we do this...

1. Know Thy Customer:

5. Drive Fear Out of the Workplace:

They let go of perfectionism, old paradigms, and habitual ways of

Each workshop we lead and each consulting engagement we commit

8. Expert Facilitation: "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile when

10. Emergent Design: Awakening the creativity of an organization's workforce

But perhaps more importantly, our facilitators know how to help

13. Convergence: Idea Champions is successful because what we do

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:38 AM | Comments (1)

Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the

"I see millions of stars, Holmes," says Watson.

"And what do you conclude from that, Watson?"

Watson thinks for a moment, "Well," he says, "astronomically,

"Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!"

Right on, Holmes!

The beauty of the Holmes/Watson joke (excerpted from Thomas Cathcart's

It's all about a momentary shock to the system -- the unexpected...a

Unfortunately, the sound of laughter in the workplace is often interpreted by

OK. These two innovation consultants walk into a bar...

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January 29, 2011

The Idiot's Guide to Launching Successful Innovation Task

During the past 25 years I've seen a lot of innovation task

20 TIPS FOR INNOVATION TASK FORCES

1. Quit now if you're not really into it.

5. Make sure you have committed senior leader sponsors.

6. Clarify the lines of communication to senior leadership.

7. Get clear agreements with the senior team. Know their

11. Have a sense of urgency, not panic.

12. Celebrate your successes, even if they're small.

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If You Want to Innovate, Listen!

If you're interested in raising the bar for innovation in your

Generally speaking, when we think of influencing others we are thinking

The influence process is most often conceived as the ability to provide

If you deeply understand others, you can mobilize them, not by

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36 Awesome Quotes on Time

7. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

10. "Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends." - William Shakespeare

18. "Both young children and old

19. "My time is now." - John Turner

20. "All my possessions for a moment

21. "What may be done at any time

22. "Half our life is spent trying to find

28. "The key is in not spending time, but in investing it." -

32. "I am definitely going to take a course on time management -- just as

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Obama's State of the Union WordCloud

Size of the words indicate frequency of use.

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January 25, 2011

We're All in This Together!

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The Power of Positive Feedback